He stared at the page for a long moment.
Then he got up and went to his father's cabinet.
The lock was old. He'd broken it at sixteen and replaced it with something that looked identical and wasn't. His father had never noticed. His father had never thought any of his sons would be interested in what was inside.
He pulled out the text he'd read at sixteen and told himself was theoretical.
Historical. Irrelevant. The kind of knowledge you filed away because it was interesting and never thought about again.
He thought about it now.
He took it back to the desk and opened it and read the relevant passages again in the grey morning light. Slower this time. With Lilith's face in his mind.
He read it twice.
Then he set it aside and went back to the records.
Victoria.
He found her on the fourth search.
