In the car on the way back, Olga did not speak.
She did not understand why she could not tell Cixi who she was. Why could she not pull the girl into her arms in the seat beside her and apologise for every year she had been gone and promise her every small thing she had been denied? She wanted to give Cixi everything Cixi had not received.
Before any of it, she would divorce Lorian.
Perhaps Cassian was trying to protect Cixi from Lorian. Perhaps that was why he had told her not to reveal Cixi's true identity. Perhaps that was the reason for the wait.
She would go back. She would talk to Lorian about divorce. The whole night, she thought of what Lorian did to Cixi. And how she survived all these years, feeling lonely. People who thought to sell her couldn't have loved her...
