Chapter 21 Mate

• I sat at my desk in the dim light of my study, the fire crackling quietly in the hearth. The weight of unanswered questions and unknowns hung in the air like the thick smoke curling from the fireplace. Sir Francis sat across from me, his face lined with age and wisdom, the only man I trusted with the deeper truths of my existence.
• "I told her that she almost drowned when you saved her," Sir Francis said calmly, his gaze unwavering, as though he expected me to approve of this carefully curated version of the truth.
• I nodded slowly, staring at the dark wood of my desk. "Good. Until we understand how she was able to revive herself after being so close to death, no word of this should reach her." My voice was sharp, colder than I intended. But the mystery of her survival gnawed at me. Humans didn't just come back from the brink of death. Not like that.