Chapter 5
Adrian Sterling arrived at dawn.
I had him brought into the breakfast room.
Camille was already there.
No ring.
I had removed nothing.
She took the engagement ring off herself during the night.
Small honesty.
Adrian entered smiling.
Then saw Elise’s letter.
Smile gone.
“Where is the token?”
I asked.
He laughed softly.
“Safe.”
Wrong.
“Where?”
“With people who understand what it means.”
Old families.
Of course.
Richard had spent years telling Sterling elders that Elise nearly joined our bloodlines.
The silver token would make that myth look real.
Adrian intended to present it at our engagement council.
Camille beside me.
Oliver in another house.
Sterling relatives suddenly elevated from guests to “historic partners.”
Elegant.
“What do you get?”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Balance.”
Meaning power.
Whitmore had grown stronger after three rival branches collapsed.
Sterling wanted permanent influence before our marriage made it socially natural to demand.
Camille whispered:
“You said it was only about protecting my place.”
He looked at his sister.
There.
Not equal partners.
He had manipulated her too.
Protect your place.
A useful phrase.
Camille admitted her fear.
Oliver adored Nora.
Remembered Elise through photographs.
Rejected Camille when she tried to put him to bed.
She felt like an intruder.
Adrian told her Richard had predicted this.
The dead wife always wins unless the child is separated from the household pattern.
So Camille began locking Oliver in the old nursery during the searches.
At first because she needed the corridor clear.
Then for another reason.
She wanted Oliver to learn Nora could not always come.
That eventually he would reach for Camille instead.
My stomach turned.
“You manufactured fear so he’d need you?”
Camille started crying.
“I thought after the wedding—”
“No.”
My voice stayed quiet.
“You thought love was a position.”
Silence.
Adrian rolled his eyes.
“She was trying to become his mother.”
I looked at him.
“No.”
May you like
Then:
“She was trying to defeat one.”
