MAXIMUS’S POV

Her eyes opened wide at my question, water dripping down her lashes like crystal tears. For a moment she looked at me as though I had asked something absurd, something ordinary.

“What do you mean?” she said lightly, though her voice trembled in a way she couldn’t hide. She tilted her head and offered me a weak smile. “Who am I? I’m Emilia. Hello…” She even lifted a wet hand from the bathwater in a mock wave, as if pretending this was all a joke.

But I didn’t smile.

“That’s not what I mean,” I said, my voice low, rough. “And you know it.”

The faint humor drained...