“Renia was the witness,” I breathed in realization.
Two years ago, Renia Voltaire must have accidentally stumbled upon the moment that Eleanora’s soul left her body. To keep her quiet, Adrian had likely taken her captive and watched her every move. After spending two years trapped under Adrian’s thumb, witnessing his grotesque experiments and descent into madness, she must have come to the conclusion that Eleanora was the only person who could stop him—the very Eleanora who mysteriously got up and announced her retirement to the countryside only days after the events Renia had witnessed. The newspapers had run wild with the story, publishing it for days on end, so there was no way Renia had missed the news.
