Alistair sat alone for a long moment after his wife left, staring at the data tablet that held the thin file on Lin Yue. A woman with no past, no family, no history before she appeared in his son's car eight days ago. The timeline bothered him more than he wanted to admit. She arrived, she was registered, she gave birth. All in the span of a week.
He picked up his pen and turned it over in his fingers, a habit from his youth when he had sat in this same room learning from his father. Uriel had been a difficult child, stubborn and proud, but he had never been a fool. If he had chosen this woman, there was a reason. The question was whether that reason was love or something else entirely.
He set the pen down and stood.
He found Lyanna in the corridor outside, speaking with an attendant about arranging transport. She looked up when he approached, one eyebrow raised.
"Wait," he said. "I am coming along."
