~ • FLASHBACK • ~
A cold, biting wind whipped at Marissa's dark traveling cloak as she slipped back into the Thompson estate through a small, hidden servants' entrance. Lily, her face pale with terror, had met her at the rendezvous point, her carriage hidden in a grove of trees just off the main road. The "exile" had lasted only two hours. Lily had given her information about everything in a whisper.
Marissa moved through the sleeping, shadowed halls like a ghost. She did not go to her own chambers. She went straight to the nursery wing. The guards Lorena had posted were gone, having been dismissed after the Dowager left. The room was dark, the only light a single, flickering candle by the bed.
As she stepped inside, the door creaked open again behind her. It was Derek. He must have followed her from the entrance. "Lily found me," he whispered, his voice a low, angry growl. "She said it was life or death. What is this?"
