Aveline walked away feeling defeated and hollow.
Was she too late? Would Lydia's fate have been different if she had made Lucien listen to her sooner?
The questions followed her with every step, and guilt and shame clung to her more tightly than her own shadow, weighing down both her mind and body.
The morning breeze was cool against her skin, and sunlight spilled softly across the grounds. Birds chirped from the trees, oblivious to everything that had happened, but none of it could lift the heaviness inside her.
She wasn't hungry. She hadn't slept properly. She couldn't sleep, and yet she was so exhausted that even keeping her eyes open felt like an effort. All she wanted was to find Hamilton again. She needed something familiar, something that did not ask questions of her.
"I found them."
The familiar voice almost made her walk straight into him. Aveline stopped abruptly and looked up, still lost in her thoughts.
Lucien stood before her.
