Delia sat in the simple, quiet room of her grandfather's hidden home, the horrifying story she had just heard from her grandfather still echoing in her ears. Baron Edgar had just finished recounting every terrible detail to Delia concerning the transfer.
"The Baroness did all of that?" she asked again, her voice filled with a quiet, lingering unbelief, as if saying the words aloud might somehow make them less true.
Edgar, who was listening in a state of pale, silent horror, nodded his head, his own voice a low, guilty rasp. "I was careless," he said, shaking his old head slowly. "I never should have let that woman into our family. I never should have let her near you."
"No, Grandfather," Delia replied, a new, hard resolve in her own voice. "I was the one who was careless, too. I lived in that house for years, and I never saw the truth that was right in front of me. I never expected her to go this far."
" How is your father now?" Edgar asked, his face filled with worry.
