THEODORE'S POV
Ludwig Laurent's aide delivered the summons at seven in the morning with the particular efficiency of a man who has been delivering summons his entire career and has learned not to read the faces of the people receiving them.
I came. Not because I was obligated. Because refusing would have told Ludwig something I was not ready for him to know.
I sit across from him now in the Laurent estate's private study — the same room where, according to Lucas's surveillance, Beatrice has sat across from this man twice in the past forty-eight hours. Head up. Spine straight. The wound in my chest has been re-dressed but the pain is real and I use it the way I use most discomfort: as a point of focus. Pain keeps the mind from drifting.
"What a great honour to host the patriarch of Schweitzer."
