Perched on a hill just outside of Aix-en-Provence, the estate exuded an air of tranquility and mystery, mingled with the aroma of fading lavender and the weight of history.
With its seemingly endless fields of vineyards giving way to olive groves and the Mediterranean light painting everything in shades of gold and amber, the trip through the Provençal countryside had been a true meditation. They had rented an unremarkable automobile in Marseille and driven along the meandering roads that wound their way up through valleys where mediaeval troubadours had sang of courtly love and Roman armies had marched.
It was originally owned by Lilia's mother. Prior to the glass and steel skyscrapers. Prior to the falsehoods that had established an empire based on unstable principles. Before the bat
