The mud on Lucien's trousers had dried by the time his mother's voice broke the quiet of the yard.
"Lucien, what are you doing in the dirty mud?" His mother almost screamed, her eyes wide with genuine shock. Her clean-freak son, who usually hated being touched and detested kids, was sitting there completely nonchalantly in the dirt.
He didn't stand up right away. He stayed right there on his knees, staring at the little girl… at Seraphina, as she carefully guarded the small stick he'd abandoned in the soil. She didn't even flinch or look up when the sharp click of his mother's heels hit the gravel.
"Lucien? Heavens, what are you doing out here? Look at your clothes."
His mother stopped a few steps back, her nose wrinkling in disgust as she glanced at the surroundings. She didn't actually look at Seraphina's face. She looked through her, the exact same way she looked at a piece of furniture that she needed to discard.
