My heart was pounding like a war drum. I couldn't breathe properly as I stared at Alaric, trying to process what the guard had just said. A woman claiming to be my mother? After all these years?
"Isabella?" Alaric's voice sounded distant despite him standing right beside me. His hand found mine, steady and warm. "Are you all right?"
I blinked, forcing myself back to the present moment. The entrance hall suddenly felt crowded with too many Thornes—Alaric's father, grandmother, and now this mysterious carriage at our gates.
"I..." My voice cracked. I cleared my throat and tried again. "I'm not sure."
"This is most irregular," Dowager Duchess Annelise huffed, clearly annoyed at having her entrance overshadowed by some new drama. "Who would arrive unannounced during a family dinner?"
Lysander Thorne shot his mother a warning look before turning to me with unexpected kindness in his eyes. "Perhaps you should sit down, Duchess. You've gone quite pale."
