Chapter 18: Aldric Tells Maren the Truth About Her Mother's Death

Aldric did not sit down.

This was the first thing she noticed — that he had remained standing in the doorway between the sitting room and the kitchen, as though the act of crossing fully into one space or the other required a commitment he was still assembling. He held his tea the way a man holds something he has forgotten is in his hand. Behind him, the sitting room's single lamp threw a long shadow across the floorboards and did not reach the far wall.

Cael was not visible. Maren became aware, without quite hearing it, that the front door had opened and closed while she was writing, quiet as the page turning in a book read by someone who did not want to be caught reading.