Chapter 4
There it was.
The future.
The favorite hiding place of present ambition.
“What future?”
Corinne straightened.
“A realistic one.”
I waited.
“Mabel is six.”
“Yes.”
“She is your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“And the only Valecrest child.”
“Yes.”
Corinne’s mouth tightened.
“You know what the old families will say.”
I did.
Some already had.
A daughter.
A young girl.
No son.
No brother.
No male cousin close enough to look inevitable.
Old men confuse familiarity with destiny.
“So your solution was Oliver.”
“He’s family through me.”
“No.”
My voice stayed low.
“He’s your nephew.”
“Which makes him family.”
“Not Valecrest.”
That hurt her.
Good.
Not because blood superiority mattered.
Because she had been quietly blurring a boundary without permission.
Corinne believed I needed a boy raised near me so captains would eventually see him as natural support for Mabel.
Then perhaps guardian.
Then representative.
Then—
something more.
“You think my daughter needs a future man standing beside her before she even loses her first tooth?”
Corinne snapped:
“This world will eat her alive.”
I stared.
There was fear beneath the cruelty.
Real fear.
That mattered.
But then I remembered the dog bed.
Fear had become permission.
“You could have told me.”
“You refuse to discuss succession.”
“She is six.”
“That’s exactly why we need time.”
No.
That was exactly why we had time.
I looked at Celestine.
“Did you know any of this?”
Her face was pale.
“No.”
Oliver looked between adults.
Confused.
Good.
He was not part of the scheme.
May you like
He was material inside it.
Just like Mabel.
