CHAPTER 1: The Child at the Crystal Doors

While police questioned guests, Edward took Lily and Samuel into a private sitting room behind the ballroom. The room had velvet chairs, a fireplace, and framed photographs of the Ashborne family from better years.

Lily stopped in front of one photograph.

A younger Clara stood between Edward and Daniel at a summer picnic. She was laughing, her head tilted back, one hand on Daniel’s shoulder. Lily touched the glass.

“She looked happy here,” Lily said.

Edward could barely speak. “She was.”

“What happened?”

The question was simple. The answer was not.

Edward sat carefully. “Your mother and I argued. I wanted her to marry someone useful to the family. She wanted to live honestly. I thought I was protecting her future. I was really protecting my pride.”

Lily did not answer.

Samuel watched Edward closely. He had hated the man for years, not because Edward caused everything, but because Edward had been powerful enough to prevent it and blind enough not to.

Edward looked at Samuel. “Tell me how she died.”

Samuel’s face tightened.

“She got sick. Pneumonia first, then complications. She refused hospitals because she feared Victoria would find Lily. I begged her. She said a hospital had already helped steal her life once.”

Lily’s chin trembled. “She said she was just tired.”

Samuel reached for her hand. “She didn’t want you scared.”

Edward covered his mouth.

In the ballroom, the world was learning of scandal. In the small room, a grandfather was learning the price of his absence.

Lily turned from the photograph.

“Are you going to send me away?”

The question broke him.