Chapter 8
Sabine received us in a sunroom.
Tea waiting.
Insultingly calm.
Marina stood across from her.
No gown now.
Simple black dress.
Gideon’s ring in her pocket.
“Why?”
No greeting.
Good.
Sabine looked at me.
“This is family.”
I smiled faintly.
“So was my mother in the cage.”
She looked away.
Marina repeated:
“Why?”
Sabine finally answered.
Because Gideon chose Winterbourne over Voss.
That was how she saw it.
When he discovered Lucius’s betrayal, he could have used the chaos to build independent Voss power.
Instead he protected Rafferty’s father.
Protected Rafferty.
Accepted disgrace.
Then disappeared.
Sabine hated him for sacrificing their name.
After his escape, Gideon tried to reunite with his wife and daughter.
Sabine stopped it.
She told Gideon Marina’s mother refused contact because returning would put Marina in danger.
Then told Marina’s mother Gideon had been killed.
Two lies.
Both plausible.
When Marina’s mother died, Sabine completed the story.
Winterbourne killed Gideon.
Eleanor watched.
Rafferty inherited the benefit.
Marina grew up angry.
Useful.
“What did you want from me?”
Marina asked.
Sabine’s answer came softly.
“To remember who you were.”
No.
That was poetry.
I waited.
Sabine eventually told the truth.
Gideon still had followers.
Old Voss men who refused to attach themselves fully to Winterbourne after his disappearance.
They respected Marina’s blood.
If she returned one day with proof Winterbourne had destroyed Gideon, Sabine could unite them.
Marina was not only a daughter.
She was a banner.
Same disease again.
Adults seeing children and imagining future factions.
Marina laughed.
Cold.
“You stole my father so I could inherit his angry men.”
Sabine looked wounded.
“I protected you.”
Marina shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
Then:
“You curated me.”
