Vivienne immediately left the dining room as soon as André disappeared from sight. Her steps were fast, her face calm, but her mind was in chaos. The moment she was alone, she let out a sharp sigh and muttered under her breath, "Finally. Finally I can breathe."
Her heart was racing, but her head was already working. She needed to think. She needed to plan.
The golden horse. That was all that mattered.
She wandered the halls of the château, her eyes moving over everything. Every door, every portrait, every polished column. Everything looked ordinary, too ordinary. It was maddening. There was no secret glow pointing the way. No little trail of golden dust to lead her to the prize. Just thousands of rooms that all looked the same, thousands of doors that led to endless corridors.
"If I start searching one by one, I'll be here until I'm ninety," she thought bitterly, dragging her hand along the wall as she walked.
