Chapter 29

"I can't believe this is happening to me. They had been my parents for twenty years. Now," she whispered, her heart pounding in her chest, "I will know that they are not my parents?" Emaline's countenance fell as she kicked the wall outside the infirmary.

Alaric let his beloved alone. Emaline found solace in this matter, as it allowed her to release her pent-up frustration. One of Susan's telltale signs in recognizing Ophelia lies in a peculiar marking on her groin, known only to herself, Alaric, and the parents who have been identified.

If Susan's statement is false, how is it that knowledge of that matter has come to light? Alaric's attempts to manipulate her into despising her own parents were futile, for that was not the image she held of the man in her mind.

"Do not doubt me, my love," he said with a confident tone. "The mere suspicion that I could be involved in such a matter causes me great pain. The truth is all that I desire, for your own benefit. In the name of my late pa