Chapter 25 An Unexpected Choice

• (Leonardo POV)
• I watched her kneel by the grave, watched her press her palm against fresh earth like she could reach through it and touch her mother one last time. Watched her shoulders shake with grief she was trying to keep private despite the armed perimeter I'd thrown around her.
• Vescari's words still hung in the air like poison gas. There are always choices. Even when they tell you there aren't.