Maximilian watched Catherine from a distance.
He had been there when she briefed Sebastian. She spoke calmly, decisively, as if giving orders came as naturally to her as breathing. And Sebastian simply nodded, agreeing without hesitation—like a knight who had already pledged himself once before.
As if some forgotten part of him still remembered she had once been his queen.
She didn't look at Maximilian even once.
Was she truly that angry because he hadn't told her that Dr. Eileen Morcant was his mother? Or had he misstepped somewhere else entirely?
He pressed a hand lightly against his chest.
She looked perfectly fine on her own. Untouchable. Self-contained. She didn't need him.
Yet he… He felt like she was the oxygen he breathed.
If not for the bracelet binding them together, she might not even allow him to stand near her. There was too much between them. Too much history. Too many truths she had forgotten.
And he remembered all of it.
