Naime stood alone on the wide veranda, her fingers curled tightly around the cold iron railing as she faced the restless ocean. The horizon stretched without mercy, a hard line dividing steel blue water from a sky swollen with salt and wind. The air smelled of brine and distance. Gusts tore through her hair and slipped beneath the thin fabric of her blouse, wrapping around her like unseen hands. She folded her arms across her chest, but the chill had already settled deep in her bones.
Nanny Melanie’s voice echoed in her mind, soft and cautious, as though even the truth required gentle handling.
Drake had not always been this way.
There had been a woman. Zhinkee. There had been laughter in this house once. Plans whispered late at night. A child growing quietly, not yet born but already l
