NIRELLE

As I enter the living room, I see Lucien already waiting there. I was going to sit alone for a few seconds, staring at the moving images on the television, before I headed up to his study to tell him what had happened. His trust had included not reaching out to the bodyguards to ask about me, and from the way his eyebrows were knitted together, I could tell that he had been able to hold up his end of the bargain.

He rushed to me and began to check my body gently; it was almost as if he ...