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Nothing was okay. He was gone. Her son had disappeared, and she was the only one who could really live with it because she didn't even know him. And I really didn't want to think about all the other problems I had.

I felt overwhelmed, overloaded... and the pulling didn't stop, but I couldn't let it show.

“Do you have a few minutes?”

I looked at her again and nodded automatically, even though I would have liked to disappear into my guest room.

A soft smile touched her lips.

“Thank you.”

Something about her smile brought mine back. This woman radiated so much charisma. Or was it the fact that every time I looked at her, I was trying to recognize a little more of Julian in her?

We walked for a while, first across the meadow past the men training like savages and finally into the forest.

Natur Sounds

When Doves Cry (FX)

“How are you getting along here? I hope you’ve settled in quickly.” She said it as if she were the hostess.

“It’s okay... I miss my mother,” I confessed honestly. She was one of the last people I had to show strength to, so I gave up pretending I wasn’t the daughter of a Quatura.

A quiet stream rippled past us and caught my attention for a few seconds. Black butterflies fluttered around us. Butterflies I only knew from this forest. Like the one that had recently landed on my finger.

“She's a Quatura, right?”

“Does that bother you?” I asked, unable to hide the challenge in my voice.

Pity mingled in her expression. “Quatura and Senseque don't belong together.” Eventually, she laughed. “And yet I feel like sometimes it just happens.”

I detected something bitter in her voice. But maybe it was just my imagination, because she was still smiling.

“Anyway, Nickolas’ politics are none of my business. I just know how things are in Russia.”

“Is there peace between the species there?”

Again, she laughed softly. “Peace between any species has never existed in our country. It’s impossible to bring together things that don’t belong together.”

I was disappointed. She seemed to be just like everyone else here.

“That sounds rather pessimistic,” I admitted, letting my gaze wander over the nature around us. It was truly beautiful here, so alive, even in winter.

“Don’t hold it against me, but the past has taught me a few things.”

“Were you with a male Quatura?” I joked.

Tania's eyes widened. Eventually, she looked around and walked closer to me with her arms crossed.

“You shouldn't talk about things like that too loudly. Not here.”

Curiously, I observed her facial expressions.

She seemed afraid, but of what? Of the others in the Canadian pack? Of this conservative Code that everyone here except Alarik kept preaching to me?

“And to answer your question, no. Our family would never have allowed something like that.”

She continued walking, and for the first time since I was living under the same roof as Julian’s unofficial mother, she seemed nervous.