How is it possible I didn't know about you?
How did I lose five years of this?
You're mine. You don't know it yet, but you are. And I'm going to get you out of here. Give you the life you deserve. The life she deserves.
A shadow falls across the doorway.
I know who it is before I turn. Feel her presence like a shift in the air.
Keira stands in the hallway, watching us.
Her expression is unreadable, but her eyes are full of accusation.
I straighten. "Madame."
"Henri." My fake name sounds twisted coming out of her mouth. She's pissed. "I didn't expect to find you here."
"I was doing a sweep of the east wing. Heard a noise."
"A noise." She doesn't believe me. I can see it in the way her eyes move between me and our son.
"Mamma!" Hale scrambles to his feet and rushes toward her. She catches him easily, pulling him into her arms with a tenderness that makes me so fucking jealous.
I would do anything to hold them both right now.
"Hello, my love." She presses a kiss to his hair. "Did you eat dinner?"
"Most of it. The peas were gross."
"Peas are good for you."
"They're still gross."
She laughs so freely, and I feel lucky to be a bystander in this moment between them. I love watching her like this. Being a mother. Holding our child. Smoothing his hair. Whispering something that makes him giggle.
Then her eyes lift to meet mine over Hale's shoulder, and all the warmth vanishes.
"You should go. There are eyes everywhere in this house. You don't want to give anyone the wrong impression."
"And what impression would that be?"
"That you care about things you're not supposed to care about."
I'm running extremely low on self-preservation right now.
"Are you one of those things, madame?"
She draws in a breath. "Henri?—"
I hold her gaze, letting the silence become its own kind of answer.
Then I decide this isn't how I want this conversation to go. Not here, and not with Hale watching.
I nod once and turn toward the door.
"You remind me of someone I used to know."
Her whisper stops me cold in my tracks.
