Victoria did not answer immediately.
From the guest room above them, I stood near the curtain while rain whispered against the windows.
“That frightens you?” she asked.
“No.”
“You have always been a poor liar with me.”
Richard’s footsteps moved across the hall below.
“She entered this house determined to fight everyone in it.”
“Perhaps she found everyone already fighting.”
“Victoria.”
“What?”
His voice lowered.
“So you agree with her?.”
“I agree that calling control tradition does not make it kinder.”
No one spoke again.
Then Richard said, “But You never complained before.”
Victoria gave a quiet laugh.
“I learnt not to.”
I stepped away from the door.
Some conversations were overheard by accident. Others became theft the moment one chose to remain.
A knock sounded before
