Aurelia's POV
I gently dabbed a cool cloth across Matriarch Genevieve's forehead, watching her chest rise and fall with each labored breath. The medical equipment surrounding her bed beeped steadily, a mechanical lullaby in the otherwise silent room.
"You're the only one who ever truly saw her," I whispered, carefully adjusting the pillow beneath her silver-streaked hair. "The only one who loved Violet besides me."
Genevieve remained still, her once-commanding presence now diminished in unconsciousness. I took her frail hand in mine, noting how the veins stood out beneath her paper-thin skin.
"I'll find her, I promise. And when I do, you'll be the first person I bring her to see."
The door behind me creaked open. I turned to find one of the medical assistants hovering uncertainly in the doorway.
"Mrs. Monroe, visiting hours ended thirty minutes ago," she said, her eyes darting nervously to Genevieve's monitors.
