It was a week before the royal ball, he had everything he needed for Greta's gown, he had his own outfit in his closet, and he was more than ready for the whole oncoming fiasco to end. And he just wanted someone to remember his birthday. He dug in his pocket, fingering the bracelet he'd received from the messenger boy, Jaq, who'd taken to running all Rafe's messages. Rafe had rewarded the boy, at first by giving him a few extra coins, then by taking the child out to pick toys for his younger siblings—the poor boy was the eldest of seven with only one brother in the mix of girls—and then by bringing food to the family while their mother slowly recovered her health. He was tempted to adopt Jaq as his own, if his mother wouldn't mind, and move them all into a house he had designs of buying the day after his birthday. But now, he just wasn't sure. He rubbed the bracelet with his fingertips. Would he be good enough? He looked around at the garden. Only flowers were there. Would he know how to handle Jaq and his siblings if their mother was willing to move somewhere that wasn't the slums?
