Chapter 16
Emma tried to resign.
I almost laughed when she told me.
“Why?”
She looked embarrassed.
“I brought chaos into your dining room.”
“You lifted a serving dome.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“A bird flew out.”
“Not your fault.”
She looked down.
“I should have noticed someone changed the tray.”
There it was.
Blame traveling downward again.
I had seen enough of that.
“No.”
Emma looked up.
“My security missed it. My cousin manipulated service. You uncovered it.”
“I only recognized the pendant.”
“Exactly.”
She stayed.
Not because I ordered her.
Because Elena asked her to.
The two had become close.
Maybe because Emma never asked for details Elena did not volunteer.
That kind of quiet is rare.
I reopened the east gardens months later.
Not the underground room.
That remained sealed.
Elena chose that.
The glasshouse itself was rebuilt.
Clear panels.
Wide doors.
No locks from the outside.
Thomas returned the bird cages.
The first morning Elena walked inside, she stopped at the threshold.
I stayed behind her.
“Do you want me with you?”
She thought.
“Yes.”
One word.
Enough.
We entered together.
No guards.
No Adrian.
No ghosts pretending they owned the floor.
Elena touched one of the new frames.
“This doesn’t look the same.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
I smiled.
That surprised her.
Then she smiled too.
We did not rebuild the old glasshouse exactly.
That mattered.
May you like
Healing was not restoration.
Some structures deserved replacement.
