Agathe whimpered, and her eyes were filled with guilt. “I heard you, when I was smaller and Fritha was just a baby. I could hear you at night, screaming in your dreams. You were scared they would come for you, that they’d find you. I thought you were going to trade me for your freedom.”
Lucia smiled, the way only a mother could, as if she was about to tell a secret, about to admit that there were stars in the sky only because she had wished for there to be beauty in the dark, to scare their fears away. “Of all my accomplishments, you, your sister, and your father have been the best in my life, the ones I am most proud of. I would give up everything I have and am, if it meant I could keep you. You are my freedom.”
Arvid smiled lovingly at his wife and stepped next to her, locking their fi
