"Perhaps," I said, gasping for air. "But I know what it feels like to have no one. In my darkest moments, I was always alone. And when someone told me yesterday that I wasn't... I felt happy."
Lirael stood by the window, one foot already outside. But my bitter voice made her freeze.
"Lirael. Your family—my kin… You even may be my direct descendants. I want to find them too. They accepted me. They gave me something I never had."
"Then why… why can't we leave now?"
I wanted to reach out to her. But my body wouldn't move. Her Control Technique still bound me.
"We have no plan. We don't know where to begin. Lady Elise said she would file a missing person's report. That will be our chance… to start the search."
Her hands trembled. Tears rolled down her face—not of rage, but of helplessness. She knew the truth deep down, but couldn't accept the loss.
When her anger subsided, the Control Technique dissolved.
