Lara stood rigid in Madeline's arms, overwhelmed by the warmth of the embrace and by a flood of emotions she didn't know how to name.
For years, she had wondered where she belonged.
She had spent so much of her life feeling as though she were standing outside a door that everyone else seemed to have the key to.
Now, that door had opened.
And the answer was holding her as though she had never been lost at all.
Lara slowly closed her eyes.
Something inside her chest tightened painfully.
She could hear Madeline sobbing against her shoulder. She could feel the trembling of the woman's arms around her and breathe in the faint, familiar scent of her perfume.
And strangely... it felt familiar.
That scent. She had smelled it before.
At the Norse manor. At the party. During the countless brief encounters they had shared without either of them understanding why they were drawn to one another.
Perhaps her mind had forgotten.
