Lucia was not in their quarters, so Lestor, after sheepishly asking several servants, tracked her down to the room that Rio and Silas had been given.
He knocked softly, then waited uneasily, shifting on his feet with nerves he had not felt since he was a boy.
The door gently opened, and there was his little Lucia. They stared at each other before she eased out into the hallway, closing the door softly in his wake.
“They are both sleeping, and the healer now has a guard with him. It is painful to watch the fear and disgust they feel for Azahra. It brings back far too many memories.”
Cautiously Lestor reached out and took Lucia’s hand, cradling it within his own much larger one, like the precious gift that it was.
“They are no more fools than I was when I first met you. You turned me ar
