THE WOMAN HE WAS ORDERED TO DESTROY

f, her bag tossed onto the console, halfway across the living room-her mind still stuck on the work waiting for her on her laptop. At first, she nearly didn't bother picking it up, figuring

address. No

e, written in el

ra La

re, unmoving,

e wasn't the type to spark odd gestures or cryptic mail. Her life was built on routine-a handful of friends she co

nished when V

llowed, a few

pt shifting, but the ending was always

learned to l

n, picked up

ts size, od

he carried it to the dining table, opened it carefully.

e world stopped. She

zed the wom

aring back at her was unmistakeable. Dark hair, refined features, th

mo

e Lau

outline, brushing over the woman she'd spen

he woman stand

nd wen

knew it, too

ne Val

f the Valer

, businesses big enough to bend entire industries. Leontine rarely turned up in publi

m her mother to Le

mis

by side, close. Isolde looked right into the camera. Leontine had

s heart

never spoken of

on

ters, forgotten photos, searching for anything to explain where or why she

the photo

back, a

ed about why s

rred as she s

met plenty who found twisted delight in others' wounds. But this was different. Too precis

e photo over.

ing fe

r mother and Leontine stood a glass structure, a narrow stone staircase

ith her phone,

ght in the d

st until years after her mot

ut tw

oss

seen swore Isolde vanish

asn't twenty-f

ied about

ut when her mother

ll worked

ose digital files she'd collected on Isolde. Birth records, old reports

disappeara

: twenty-fiv

down at the

she wh

once more, scoure

was

er than the dis

ed-work done after her moth

e was taken

p, pushed away

apartment fe

qu

ws, the hallway towards

he back of her neck-settled in. Like she w

cked th

door?

ny? L

ows?

looked exac

not

he living room, some

he television consol

stop

losed that d

over, pulled

ere. Emergency cash? Untouched. The jew

e in wasn't

ooking for so

scanned

d her mother's box

ty files. Isolde left it behind when she disappeared. Vespera could never get

ied to t

inet wa

eart

t under the f

f the desk, placed

st

. When she was a teenager, she tried to open it over an

she

came f

d her to

ached for

tled in, heavie

ked at

back at

mattered enough for someone

he lifted

k click

pped br

o money. No f

black card pressed into

icked

lem shone on

ircled by deli

knew tha

rion fam

r's things be hidden with the emblem of a f

pped th

ing on

thing m

ant Vespera to uncove

know: the Valerions