A shadow passed over my face. “Alina wanted to give me her journal. She insisted it held knowledge I would need. But I wanted no part of it.”
My voice dropped into something raw, something fractured.
“I only wanted her to leave.”
Olivia and Roman stared at me, their eyes full of something that felt like sympathy.
Pity.
A flicker of condescending compassion that made my blood boil, rage curling inside me like a caged beast.
I hated their glances—how they looked at me as if I were something broken, something to be pitied rather than understood. Their eyes wereknives, piercing through the fragile skin of my restraint, cutting deeper than I cared to admit.
Worse still, the longer I met their gazes, the more I felt myself drowning in despair.
I clenched my fists. “When I saw that Alina left the journal behind, I threw it against the wall. I didn’t want it.”
My voice softened, a bitter laugh escaping me. “But a picture slipped from its pages and fluttered to the ground.”
My gaze locked onto Olivia. “It was you.”
I exhaled, my lips parting slightly as I savored the memory. “I stared into the eyes of Isabelle.”
Something had stirred within me for the first time in years—something reckless, something foolish.
Hope.
I bit my lip, reliving the moment as though it had happened. “I thought I must be hallucinating. I shoved the picture back between the pages, stuffed the journal into the side stand drawer, and tried to forget it existed.”
I crossed the room, sinking into my chair, letting a strange peace settle over me.
I had told them everything.
The truth, raw and unfiltered.
For the first time in centuries, I had stepped out of the shadows and laid my soul bare before them.
I leaned back, letting the moment sink in.
“What happened to this child?” Olivia’s voice broke the silence, her grip tightening on Roman’s hand.
I met her gaze.
Then shrugged.
“You’ve already met her.”
Olivia sucked in a sharp breath.
Roman’s body went rigid. “What?” He leaned forward, eyes sharp with disbelief.
A satisfied smile spread across my lips. I tilted slightly, letting the revelation unravel between us like a secret in the dark.
“The child I have cared for ever since you both died…”
I paused, letting my words sink in.
Then I whispered, letting the truth land like a dagger.
