Scylla watches the young mare carefully, knowing that bad news can cause any number of reactions. Heaven knows she isn’t going to be winning any awards for her own feelings – she’s not generally known for a calm demeanor under stress. Evren is good, though, and reveals almost nothing.

In hindsight, Evren’s frown should have set off alarm bells for Scylla, but she only feels a slight uneasiness. The bay and white mare’s pause is unnaturally long, and the contemplative look on her face would have had a less world-wise horse taking a step back. Scylla has always prided herself on her patience, however, and waits for Evren to gather her thoughts.

When the words finally come, Scylla’s entire universe comes to a standstill. She blinks. She goes over it again, but it doesn’t make any more sense a second time. She blinks again. All at once, the news penetrates the fog that has descended on her brain. Her response surprises even her.

”You’re lying,” she says flatly, glaring at Evren. ”Apart from being tired, he was fine when I saw him.” In her shock and denial, her mind forgets that almost a full year has passed since she’d seen Orhan and there are plenty of things that could have happened to him in that time. ”Now tell me the truth…where is he?”

Her head and heart are pounding furiously as her anger simmers just below the surface. Not even the fact that she’d been right about this being Orhan’s daughter can distract her from her desperate need to make sure that this surreal conversation is a dream. Because Orhan can’t be dead, not after they’d just found out about each other. He can’t be dead.