Chapter 8
Nadine did love Elsie.
That made everything harder.
She attended fevers.
Birthdays.
Nightmares.
She held my daughter after Marina’s funeral because I could barely hold myself together.
I would not rewrite that kindness because betrayal existed beside it.
Both were real.
I told her so.
She started crying.
“I never wanted to take her from you.”
“I believe you.”
Relief came too quickly.
“But you wanted the ability.”
It vanished.
That was the distinction.
Power unused is still power if someone secretly built it around your child.
Nadine insisted the compact was insurance.
Vale needed continuity.
I asked:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
She had no answer that did not destroy her argument.
Then Ashton spoke.
“Because you would have rejected it.”
Exactly.
Consent inconvenient.
Therefore secrecy.
I looked at him.
“What position did you want?”
His jaw tightened.
No answer.
Elise opened one folder.
A handwritten note.
A.V. — HOUSEHOLD AUTHORITY / SECURITY.
Ashton.
He had wanted control of the estate if the council activated.
The same estate containing Elsie.
He laughed bitterly.
“I was thirty-two.”
“So?”
“I thought responsibility would prove I belonged.”
There.
Another wound turned into ambition.
Ashton had spent his life as Nadine’s son inside a branch that never held central Vale authority.
The compact gave him a path.
Not boss.
Gatekeeper.
Sometimes access matters more than title.
Elise asked:
“Were you the one opening the garden door?”
Ashton looked at Nadine.
Then admitted:
“Twice.”
Interesting.
Not to help Elise.
To watch her.
He discovered she was entering and decided to track what she searched for before confronting her.
Nadine authorized three openings because she wanted Elise observed.
The fourth visit bypassed them.
“How?”
Elise smiled faintly.
“Marina showed me another passage years ago.”
Of course.
May you like
My wife had left everyone with separate maps.
Even dead, she was still better at this than us.
