Jamie couldn't refuse Aria. Not when the woman's voice still trembled in her ears like glass on the verge of shattering. The image of Aria's tear-streaked face clung stubbornly to her thoughts, refusing to fade no matter how hard she tried to push it aside.
After all, the fragile, weeping woman was the reason Jamie had begun searching for Lyra in the first place. But now, after witnessing the raw, suffocating agony in Aria's eyes, something inside Jamie had shifted. A fierce defiance burned quietly in her chest, hot enough to dull the bite of the winter air.
Her true mistress, Celeste, had ordered her to abandon the search and return to raising Emma—a spoiled, troublesome child who commanded none of Jamie's respect. But Celeste's orders no longer held the same weight. The thought of turning her back on Aria now felt impossible.
At first, the search had only been a quiet repayment for the kindness Aria had shown her over the years.
