Chapter 9
Elena asked to see the three captains.
I said yes.
Her choice.
When she entered the library, all three men stood.
Not out of respect.
Shock.
Samuel began crying.
I hated him more for that.
Elena looked at each of them.
“You look older.”
Nobody answered.
She sat.
“Did any of you ever ask where my body was?”
Peter closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Did you ever ask why Salvatore wasn’t allowed to see me?”
Raymond whispered, “No.”
“Did you believe I deserved it?”
Samuel looked horrified.
“No.”
Elena nodded.
“Then what did you believe?”
Silence.
She answered for them.
“That whatever happened to me mattered less than keeping your seats.”
Nobody argued.
That was worse than confession.
Elena looked toward Adrian.
“You told them I died later?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Eight months after Matteo.”
She almost smiled.
“So for two years, you were the only one.”
Adrian said nothing.
She looked back at the captains.
“You followed him anyway.”
Samuel stared at Adrian.
“We thought Elena was gone.”
I interrupted.
“And that made Adrian trustworthy?”
No answer.
Elena touched the pendant.
“Do you know why I used the dove?”
They looked at her.
“Because every human route belonged to one of you.”
The sentence landed heavily.
Guards.
Servants.
Gardeners.
Captains.
Drivers.
Every person she might trust was attached to Bellandi hierarchy.
So she chose an animal.
A white bird flew farther through my family than truth could.
Emma stood near the door.
Elena looked at her.
“And then a maid lifted a plate.”
Again.
Someone outside the power structure became the person who delivered what powerful men had hidden.
I looked around the library.
The pattern embarrassed me.
The people with the least rank had repeatedly shown the most courage.
Thomas kept the birds.
Emma raised the dome.
May you like
Elena survived.
The men with titles had mostly protected themselves.
