“Achille,” he said, lips pursing. “Father Achille Altier.”

Coco snapped the locket shut. Without a word, she replaced her hood.

“Nice apron.” Beau grinned at the hand-painted roses on Father Achille’s apron. Brushstrokes large and uneven, they looked as though they’d been painted by a child. In blue and red and green.

“My nieces made it for me,” Father Achille muttered.

“It really brings out your eyes.”

Father Achille chucked the dish at him. Though Beau managed to catch the slippery plate against his chest, water still splattered his face on impact. Father Achille nodded in righteous satisfaction. “That’s the last dish of yours I’ll be washing, boy. You can scrub the rest of them yourself—and the scullery, thanks to her.” He jerked his thumb toward Lou in irritation. “There’s a bucket and a mop waiting for you.”

Beau opened his mouth to protest indignantly, but Célie interrupted. “Father Achille.” She swept into another curtsy, though not as low this time. Not as grand. She eyed his flowered apron and disheveled robes—the disrepair of the sanctuary—in thinly veiled disapproval. “I am pleased to meet you.”

Father Achille shifted awkwardly before her, as if unaccustomed to such pristine manners. If I hadn’t known better, I would’ve said he looked uncomfortable under her scrutiny. Embarrassed, even. “I knew your mother,” he finally said by way of explanation. “When I lived in Cesarine.”

“Of course. I will pass along your regards.”

He snorted again. “Better not. I said I knew her, not that I particularly liked her.” At Célie’s scandalized expression, he muttered, “The feeling was mutual, I assure you. Now”—he straightened with as much dignity as he could muster—“it isn’t my business to ask what you’re doing in Fée Tombe, Mademoiselle Tremblay. It isn’t my place to tell you how stupid you are for taking up with this lot. So I won’t. Because I don’t care. Just make sure you don’t cause any trouble before you leave.”

I stepped forward as he turned on his heel. “She needs an escort back to Cesarine.”

“Reid.” Célie actually stamped her foot now. “Stop being so—so—”

“Pigheaded?” Beau suggested.

Father Achille scowled at us over his shoulder. “I am not a babysitter.”

“See?” Triumphant, she beamed, pointing a finger in the air. “He will not take me, and the journey is far too hazardous to travel alone. I must remain here. With you.”

My jaw clenched. “You had no problem hazarding it before.”

“Yes, but—” Something akin to nervousness flitted through her eyes, and her smile vanished. “I—I might’ve . . . fibbed before. A small, inconsequential thing,” she added hastily at my expression. “I told you I’d left my coach at the stable, but really, er, in actuality, I might’ve made a wrong turn—”

“A wrong turn where?” I demanded.

“To the lighthouse.”

Father Achille slowly turned.

“I lost sight of you all just before dawn.” Célie twisted her hands together at her waist. “When I came to the fork in the road, I—I chose the path leading away from the village. I never dreamed you’d seek shelter in a church. Really, I am extraordinarily lucky to have found you at all—”

“Darling Célie,” Beau interrupted. “Please get on with it.”

She flushed again, dipping her head. “O-of course, Your Highness. Forgive me. When I neared the lighthouse, something moved in the shadows. It—it spooked Cabot, of course, and he nearly drove us off the cliff in his haste to flee. A wheel snapped on the bluff. I managed to free Cabot before the whole carriage tumbled into the sea . . . or at least, it would’ve if the creature hadn’t wrenched it free.” She shuddered. “I’ve never seen such a monster. Long, matted hair and skin cloaked in shadow. Sharp white teeth. It smelled of rot too. Decaying flesh. I’m quite certain if I hadn’t escaped on Cabot’s back, it would’ve eaten us both.” She exhaled heavily, lifting her eyes to mine. “So, you see, I left Cabot at the stable, not my carriage. I simply cannot return for it while it remains in the creature’s possession, and I cannot risk traveling without it either. I must stay with you, Reid, or I’ll never make it home at all.”

“Cauchemar,” Lou murmured.

I extended a weary hand to her. “What?”

With a small smile, she laced her fingers through mine. They remained like ice. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Yes, you—”

“A cauchemar has indeed taken up residence in the lighthouse.” At our blank looks, Father Achille grudgingly added, “A nightmare. That’s what the villagers call it, anyway. It found us here in Fée Tombe three days ago, and they’re all terrified.” He scowled and shook his head. “The fools are planning to raze the lighthouse in the morning.”

Something in his scowl made me pause. “Has this cauchemar harmed anyone?”

“Aside from me?” Célie asked. “It nearly frightened Cabot and me to death!”

Coco scoffed beneath her hood. “What a tragedy that would’ve been.”

“Coco,” Beau admonished. “That was beneath you. If you’re going to be spiteful, at least be clever about it.”

“Not spiteful at all,” she said sweetly. “I would’ve mourned the horse.”

“I beg your pardon?” Célie wheeled around to face her, mouth slack with disbelief. “I—I am terribly sorry about your m-mother’s necklace, Cosette, but I didn’t know—”

I spoke over her. “Has the cauchemar harmed anyone?”

Father Achille shrugged. “It hardly matters.”

“It matters to me.”

“That mob is coming, boy. You’ll get yourself killed.”

“You don’t care.”

“That’s right.” His nostrils flared. “I don’t. Cauchemars are notoriously cruel, but this creature hasn’t yet attacked. Last night, it broke into the boucherie and stole some scraps, but that’s the extent of my knowledge.” When I exchanged a glance first with Lou, then with Beau, he gritted his teeth and said, as if the words physically pained him, “You should stay out of it. This isn’t your fight.”