Emmelyn found Raphael in the rose garden that evening.
He was kneeling beside the flower beds, quietly planting something. When she came closer, she saw that they were small purple flowers. She didn't recognize them.
"Those are not from Draec," she said.
Raphael looked up and smiled. "No. They're called cris. They grow by the water in a valley very far from here." He patted the soil gently. "I thought Harlow might like them."
Emmelyn sat down on the stone bench beside the flower beds. For a while she didn't say anything. She just watched him work.
Eighteen years.
Eighteen years had passed since she met this man at the top of Mount Tempest. Back then she was a desperate young mother who had lost everything. Her husband believed she was a murderer. Her baby was on the other side of the world. Her mother-in-law was dead.
And then this strange young man with golden eyes appeared out of nowhere and offered her a miracle.
