"Let me be her judge, Lucien," Aveline said.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. Then Aveline turned away.
She needed to leave. She needed to find that woman. She wanted to look into the eyes of the person she now suspected had shattered her life and ask one simple question.
Why?
What darkness could have taken root in a heart to make someone hunt a little girl? To hunt a mother... and the man who loved her?
She had spent years believing her parents had died for something meaningful.
A conspiracy. A secret… Maybe some grand political scheme.
Not... Not because of jealousy. Not because one woman could not bear the shadow of another.
The thought sickened her.
She had barely taken two steps when a heavy thud echoed through the laboratory. She stopped.
Behind her, Lucien had fallen to his knees.
"Please..." His voice shook so violently it scarcely sounded like his own. "...she's not to blame."
Aveline slowly turned back. Her fingers curled into fists.
