*Odette*
I fight not to show any reaction, but I'm fairly certain I have grown pale because my skin suddenly feels cold and clammy. "How old were you when he... died?"
"I was eight when he was hanged."
He says the words so casually, as though he's just informed me of his age the last time his father went out for a walk.
"I overheard the servants talking about the hanging that was to take place the following day. I collected newspapers for days and hoarded them away. I couldn't read, but I knew that one day I would, and if there was anything about my father in the paper, I wanted it. It was perhaps a year and a half later when I clipped that article..:" he jerks his head toward the shelves where he'd placed the box after I discovered it, “…hid it away. I never wanted to forget from whe
