state. Clara-once Evelyn, now wholly Clara in private moments-lay restless in her bed. Her dreams had become riddled with strange visi

ngled around her legs. So

he silence wa

e fire that refused to burn. The logs had long since died into embers, but he stood

her usual frost. "Stil

. "She looked just li

ched. "She is nothi

the sam

d us. Don't forget who cle

wasn't a mess. She was the onl

hose your daughter over your mistress. I made you

. "That decision kill

herself a drink. Her hands were ste

e no longer walked the grounds with the same practiced confidence. There was a

n the old mare that had once belonged to the real Gabri

ere?" she asked, watc

k on his lips. "You're the

a direct

trokes. "At first, I just wanted to destroy this place. To make her hurt-the

d n

es heavy. "Now I'm n

o the stall. "You

N

rking with

es

't flinc

pa

Isabella mean a

"That was my

s not

g inside

refully. "She's alive.

eady. "That's not possible. My fa

father

d drawer in Beatrice's private study. It had taken weeks to learn the timing, t

s the photographs. A collection of candid images, most of them Clara, some of the real Gabriel. One of a woman in a r

ed the envelope: Control is l

now what it

tended to

, Clara di

aveling her thoughts. Her mother was alive. Had sent him. H

st past two. The house was

der sat alone, shirt sleeves rolled, bloo

out a word and took his

wound with a handkerchief. "Julian confr

d to sto

't kno

es from his. "Then tell me w

Then: "My na

ng in the ai

ed it soft

ying it out loud had

e seeing the man behind the ghost. "Whatever this w

t change doesn't erase

the shadow of the grand stair

he still had one, t

Isabella smiled as she

t she hasn't tu

e a stack of ledgers-ledgers filled with names. Fam

lame," Isabella murmured. "Sh

with ink-stained hands, said, "S

beneath the east wing. That's where the origi

the balcony outside her father's old study. Th

r mother had once ridden across.

was true, then everythi

n't whether she

she still forgive herse

side her, a part of her w