Chapter 10
I sent Lucien one message.
Not through Sabine.
Not through Faye.
Through the St. Alden innkeeper he trusted.
Owen has his name back.
Nothing else.
Then I waited.
Three days.
Four.
On the fifth, a car arrived at dusk.
No convoy.
No announcement.
Lucien stepped out alone.
I knew him instantly.
Older.
Leaner.
Different haircut.
Same way of looking at a building before entering.
He stood at the bottom of the estate steps.
I stayed at the top.
Neither moved.
Ten years.
There are no words designed for that.
Finally he said:
“You got old.”
I laughed.
Then hated that I laughed.
Then he did too.
We met halfway.
Did we hug?
Eventually.
Awkwardly.
Hard.
Not cinematic.
Real.
He pulled back first.
“I’m still angry.”
“Good.”
That surprised him.
“You should be.”
We went inside.
No guests.
No capos.
Just us.
Faye had already gone home to June.
Sabine stayed in the west wing by my order.
Lucien sat in Father’s old library and looked around.
“Nothing changed.”
“A lot did.”
“Furniture didn’t.”
Fair.
Then he asked the question that had lived between us for a decade.
“Did you send the note?”
“No.”
“I know.”
Hearing that mattered anyway.
“Did you know Victor wanted me gone?”
“No.”
“Did you take the chair easily?”
I thought.
“No.”
Then corrected myself.
“Easier than I should have.”
He looked at me.
I had been grieving.
Angry.
The family needed command.
I stepped in.
Part of me also felt relief that succession uncertainty ended.
Ugly truth.
“I hated myself for feeling it.”
Lucien nodded slowly.
“I might have hated you less if Sabine told me that.”
Of course.
Complexity again.
Then I asked:
“Why stay gone after you got Victor’s papers?”
He looked toward the window.
“Because I wanted to know if coming home meant becoming a symbol again.”
There.
Not fear of me.
Fear of the structure.
“Do you want command?”
“No.”
Immediate.
“What do you want?”
“My name.”
Fair.
“Owen remembered correctly.”
Fair.
“And Sabine to stop deciding what everyone needs to know.”
Very fair.
Then:
“And Faye left alone.”
I frowned.
“Why Faye?”
His expression changed.
May you like
Because Sabine had not merely threatened Faye tonight.
She had been controlling her for months.
