Chapter 38 – The Thing About Silence
(Serena's POV — The Estate, Day Eight)
The phone call came at eleven in the morning.
I was in the garden — Lucian's garden, though I had taken to walking it like it was mine, which said something about what three weeks in this house had done to the borders of my self — when Mona appeared in the archway with her hands folded and her face very, very still.
Mona's face was never still.
"Miss Vale."
I set down the book. "What happened."
Not a question. Something in her expression made questions redundant.
"It's your mother. The hospital called." She paused. "There were complications following the surgery. They need someone from the family—"
I was already moving.
— — —
I found Lucian in his study, jacket on, phone at his ear, and I knew before he
