In the silence that followed, Amelia had to resist the urge to say something. She still didn’t know exactly what to say, but part of her just wanted to find out how Daniel felt about what he had just discovered about her. Amelia felt foolish for caring so much about his opinion, but she couldn’t help it. After all, Daniel had been the first person to tell her that the mark on her chest meant nothing more than a demonstration of her strength, and now she wondered if his opinion had changed and if he thought, like others, that the mark of rejection and impurity was fitting for her.
“I’m sorry for what happened to you,” he said so suddenly that it startled her. “Did they ever catch the man who hurt you?”
A bitter, involuntary laugh escaped her lips.
“They didn’t even try to catch him. T
