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The months that followed were quiet in the ways that count.

Eliana's company expanded. She built things from scratch that turned out to be worth building. Sebastian was there when she needed two pairs of hands and a second opinion, and absent when she needed to be alone. It worked between them in the way that things work when neither person is trying to win.

She heard things about Adrian, now and then. He was unwell — something systemic that settled in the body when a person carries too much for too long. He was in and out of the hospital. His company continued, but more slowly.

She sent nothing. She didn't answer the parcels that arrived occasionally at the Edinburgh address, and after a while they stopped.

Serena Holloway died in prison during Eliana's second year of marriage. There had been a confrontation with other inmates, a failed escape attempt, a collapse. By the time anyone was alerted, it was too late. Eliana heard about it from Oliver, who still occasionally sent brief, apologetic updates, apparently as penance.

She felt nothing particular about it. The damage that had been done to her was not undone by the ending of the person who'd done it. She had stopped waiting for that to change anything.