A woman in uniform behind a metal desk looked up. “Can I help you?”

“I need to go somewhere where my father doesn’t get to decide who I am.”

She studied me for a long, silent moment. Then she slid a recruitment form across the desk.

That was the beginning of the life they never saw coming.

Alden finished to thunderous, polite applause. He raised his flute high, smiling broadly, like a man blessing his own reflection. Then he turned to Liora and gestured graciously.

“Say something to our guests, my dear. Something sweet for the occasion.”