Belleah had barely been taken away when Aria pulled Elian close, her heart still pounding from the chaos that had unfolded.
Her son looked up at her with wide, innocent eyes — eyes so much like hers, yet every time she looked at him, a strange ache filled her chest.
He's not mine… not really…
But he trusts me.
He calls me Mom as if I've been his whole world.
And she… she didn't know how to stop caring.
Aria cleared her throat softly.
"Elian… I need to ask you something. Have you ever spoken to Belleah before today?"
Elian blinked. "Yes, Mommy. Once."
Her heartbeat quickened.
"When was this?"
"It was today," Elian said, small fingers fidgeting with the hem of his clothes, "when you and Father were talking… and Father told me to go with the maid because he thought you two needed privacy."
Aria remembered— she had been struggling to act naturally in this new life, to play the role of the real Aria without slipping up. Elian had been sent outside.
