Chapter 3 The moon hung above them like an indifferent witness

The night air was thick with unspoken words. The moon hung above them like an indifferent witness, casting cold light on the two women who were as much strangers as they were connected by fate.

Celestine felt the weight of the wristband in her hand. The plastic was smooth against her palm, but the truth it held felt jagged-like shards of glass lodged too deep to remove.

"I didn't ask for this," Celestine whispered, her voice cracking. Her breath trembled as she stepped closer to Seraphina, the shadow of her life unraveling with each second. "I swear, I never knew about you. About what happened to you."

Seraphina's eyes were hard, like stone. The bitterness in her heart cut deep, far deeper than the years of neglect, the years of living with the orphanage's cruel embrace. "You think I believe that? You're standing here, dressed in silk, with a life I was supposed to have. You think I care whether you knew or not?"

Celestine's hands clenched into fists, the flashlight trembling in her grip. "I don't want your anger," she whispered fiercely. "I just want answers, too. I didn't get any of the answers I wanted growing up. I didn't know where I came from. I didn't know my real name. I never asked for this-" She stopped, as if too much had poured out too fast.

Seraphina's gaze was unyielding. "Then why are you here? To apologize for living my life?"

"I-" Celestine hesitated, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat. "I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm asking you to help me figure out what happened. To figure out who did this to both of us."

Seraphina scoffed. "Help you? You want me to help you? After everything?"

"I know it's hard to believe," Celestine said, her voice quieter now, "but I didn't ask for this life. I never wanted to live in a gilded cage while someone else rotted away. I never asked to be the face of the family. I never wanted this privilege."

Seraphina's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to feel pity. She didn't want to care. But a strange feeling began to stir beneath her anger. Maybe it was empathy. Maybe it was something darker-resentment for having to share her space with this woman who had everything.

"Then why," Seraphina's voice was hoarse, "did no one ever tell me the truth? Why did I have to live like that while you were living here, in luxury? You had a family, people who loved you. I had nothing."

"I had nothing either," Celestine murmured, the words almost lost in the wind. "I spent my whole life in a world where everything was decided for me. Where I never got to choose. Do you think it was easy to grow up in a family like mine? To have everything but nothing at the same time?"

Seraphina didn't say anything. She stared at Celestine for a long moment. Her mind was a storm, torn between disbelief and the glimmer of something she hadn't expected to feel-doubt. For so long, she'd believed the story that had been fed to her. That she was nothing. A discarded child. A mistake.

But Celestine wasn't who she had imagined. She was different. Fractured in her own way. And Seraphina, for the first time, wondered whether she'd been looking at the wrong target all along.

Before she could respond, footsteps echoed from the direction of the house. The sound was slow, deliberate. Two shadows approached.

Celestine's heart skipped a beat. "Get back," she hissed under her breath, but it was too late. The figures emerged from the darkness, two of her father's most trusted guards, their eyes scanning the grounds.

Seraphina's body went rigid, her eyes darting to the fence she had climbed just moments ago. But before she could move, Celestine's hand shot out, grabbing her arm with surprising strength.

"No," Celestine whispered urgently. "Stay. Don't run."

"Why?" Seraphina asked, her voice harsh. "What are you planning?"

"I need you to trust me," Celestine's voice was steady, but her eyes were wide, filled with something Seraphina couldn't place. Fear? Determination? It was all tangled in one, something desperate.

Seraphina jerked her arm free, glaring at Celestine. "Trust you? After everything?"

Celestine took a step back, her breath shallow. She turned to face the guards, her voice rising with authority. "You there. What are you doing out here?"

The guards stopped in their tracks, their gaze faltering only for a moment before one of them responded, "We were just making sure everything is secure, Miss Avarelle. It's late."

"Everything is fine," Celestine snapped, voice firm. "Go back inside."

They hesitated for a second longer before nodding and retreating back into the shadows.

The silence that followed was suffocating. Neither woman moved.

"You... helped me," Seraphina said slowly, her voice barely a whisper.

Celestine turned to face her fully now. "You're not the only one searching for answers."

Seraphina felt something shift in the air between them, a delicate balance of something fragile. Trust? Unlikely. But there was no denying the strange pull, the connection between them now, forged in shared pain and uncertainty.

Celestine spoke again, quieter this time. "If we're going to find out the truth, we need to start at the beginning. Together. I can't do this alone."

Seraphina met her gaze, searching her eyes for any trace of deceit, but found nothing there but something raw-desperation. She didn't know what to make of it, or if she was ready to take that leap of faith. But one thing was certain: she had nothing left to lose.

"So, what now?" Seraphina asked, her voice still low, but now filled with something else-curiosity, perhaps.

Celestine exhaled. "Now, we break open the past. And we expose every secret they tried to bury."