“We only wanted to frighten her!” The words came out of Sabetha in a rush, high and cracking, and they were the worst thing she could have said, because they were not a denial.

“Nobody was ever going to let the baby actually get hurt!

It was only to make her show everyone what she really is, only to —”

“You used my granddaughter,” Beaufort said, “as a piece of leverage.”

“I did it for this family!”

“No.” The old man’s voice was hollow and final.