"Open the gate, Kael, and open it now, because it is midnight, and it is me, and I have a suitcase, and I have nowhere else to go, and I am not leaving, and I am not going back, and I am standing at your gate, Kael, and I am standing in the cold, and I am standing alone!"The bell rings, and it rings loud, and it rings in the quiet house, and I sit up in bed, and my heart is pounding, and Clara is beside me, and she sits up too, and her eyes are wide, and my father is in the hall, and Mr. Graves is at the door, and Sam Porter's men are at the gate, and the night is dark, and a woman is standing at the gate, and she is holding a suitcase, and her coat is thin, and her hair is loose, and her face is pale, and it is Lilith, and it is my wife, and it is the woman who spat on me, and who left me, and who killed my children, and who called my daughter an error, and she is standing at my gate, at midnight, with a suitcase, and she is saying she has nowhere else to go, and the whole house is

"Kael, she is still here, and she is still in the gatehouse, and the lamp is still on, and she has not slept, and I have watched the window all night, and I am tired, Kael, and I am tired of watching a wife who should be gone!"Clara is standing at my bedroom window, and it is morning, and the light is grey, and her hair is loose, and her eyes are tired, and she has not slept, and I have not slept, and the gatehouse lamp is still burning across the garden, and Lilith is a shadow behind the curtain, and she is waiting for the morning, and waiting for me, and my father is in the hall, and Mr. Graves is in the hall, and Sam Porter is at the gate, and the house is awake, and the house is waiting for what I will say when I walk down the stairs."Clara, I gave her one night, and one night is over, and the sun is up, and she must go, and Sam Porter will walk her to the road, and that is the end of it, and that is what I promised, and that is what I will do, so come down with me, Clara, and s

"Lilith, what are you doing here, and what are you doing in Clara's shop, and why are you holding a broom, and why are your hands red, and why is your coat wet, and tell me, Lilith, and tell me now, because I came to find you, and I came to take you home, and I did not come to find you sweeping for Clara Hayes!"Ethan is standing in the doorway of the back room, and it is afternoon, and his work clothes are dusty, and his hands are dirty from the docks, and his face reddens, and his voice is loud, and Lilith freezes, and the broom stops, and Clara comes in from the front, and her face is hard, and her hands are on her hips, and she stands between Ethan and Lilith, and she speaks, and her voice is cold, and it is the voice of a woman who owns this shop, and who will not let a man shout in her back room, not Ethan, and not anyone, and not today."Ethan, get out of my shop, and get out now, because Lilith works here, and Lilith sweeps here, and Lilith eats here, and you do not work here,

"Young master, sit down, and sit down now, because I have carried this for twenty five years, and I have carried it in silence, and I have carried it because your father told me to wait, and your father told me to wait until the pieces were ready, and the pieces are ready now, and I will tell you one piece, and it is my piece, and it is the piece I saw with my own eyes!"Mr. Graves is standing in the library at Hillcrest House, and it is late, and the lamp is low, and my father is sitting by the fire, and Clara is sitting by the window, and Julian is sitting by the door, and Sam Porter is standing by the wall, and I am sitting across from Mr. Graves, and his hands shake, and his voice breaks, and he is an old man, and he has served this family for fifty years, and he has never shaken like this, and he has never spoken like this, and the room is quiet, and the quiet is heavy, and it presses down on us all."Mr. Graves, tell me, and tell me slow, because you said you were there that nig

"Kael, I found her, and I found her in a small theatre, and I found her singing, and I found her alone, and her name is Vivian Ross, and she sang with Elena, and she knows, and she will tell you, and she will tell you tonight, if you ask her kindly, and if you ask her like Elena's son!"Mr. Graves is standing in the hall at Hillcrest House, and it is evening, and a woman is standing beside him, and she is old, and her hair is grey, and her dress is black, and her hands are shaking, and her name is Vivian Ross, and she was Elena's friend, and she sang with Elena in the hall by the river, and she has waited twenty five years for a knock, and she has waited with a song, and she has waited with a name, and she looks at me, and her eyes go wide, and she puts her hand over her mouth, and she whispers, and her whisper is Elena, and it is mine, all at once."Kael, and you have her eyes, and you have her mouth, and you are her son, and I knew you would come, and I knew your father would come,