Page 66 of Mother of Death and Dawn

I wouldmurdersomeone for tea.

She led us to another large mahogany door and ushered us inside. The room was light-soaked, with large windows revealing the sun setting over the grazing fields and a hint of the distant ocean. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases lined the walls, with a few couches and armchairs arranged in the center of the room. In between them, a little girl was kneeling on the floor over a book.

The girl’s head snapped up as we entered, and I almost let a“fucking hell”slip from between my teeth.

Brayan’s eyes stared up at me on the face of a ten-year-old girl. Dark curls fell to her shoulders, framing a nearly black gaze and slightly sunburnt cheeks.

The resemblance left me stunned.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said, pushing to her feet. “I didn’t know you’d be coming here.”

“Nothing you need to apologize for, sweetness,” Sella said. “We’ll just be a bit.” She kissed the girl on the forehead. The girl continued to stare at us, curious, as Sella rested her hands on the child’s shoulders.

Brayan looked—somehow—utterly neutral. Sella, too.

There was no way I could possibly be the only one to appreciate this situation for what it was.

Sella looked only at Brayan. “This is Adeline,” she said, lightly.

Silence, for a moment too long. Brayan just stared at Sella, and then Adeline, saying nothing.

It was getting awkward, so I said, “It’s lovely to meet you, Adeline,” which snapped Brayan out of his trance.

“We apologize for displacing you,” he said, politely. “Thank you for sharing your library.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” said Adeline, with the charmingly precocious voice of a well-trained noble child.

Sella chuckled, kissed Adeline’s head again, and sent her on her way. Adeline bid us a polite goodnight before disappearing up the stairs, leaving us in suffocating silence.

I shot Brayan a stare that he dutifully ignored.

“She seems polite,” he said, at last.

She seems polite, he fucking says.

“She is.” Sella smiled, faintly. “She’s wonderful.”

Brayan made a noncommittal noise.

“I have always told you exactly where I am, Brayan,” Sella said. “If there is anything you want to know about my life, or my daughter, I would be happy to share it with you. I will be truthful.”

Ascended fucking above. This was ridiculous.

Even I understood what was happening here. That she was daring him to ask her the obvious question.

There was a long silence.

And then Brayan said, “It’s been a very long day. I think I’ll excuse myself. Thank you.”

* * *

I corneredBrayan the moment the door was closed.

“Brayan, what the hell was that?”

“What do you mean?”

“What do I mean?That child—”

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