Chapter 32

Nine days had passed since my first lesson with Marianne, the deadline drawing closer faster than I had imagined it would, my doubt returning after a few days; filling my mind with reasons why I couldn’t do it, why I never would.

I had tried my best, giving it every effort with no success, my mood deflated and low as I collapsed back onto the small mattress; the freezing room oddly comforting me.

I needed to rest, to have a break from the constant demands of Mari, she wouldn’t give up; she couldn’t understand why I was failing. But I could, I wasn’t as good as they believed me to me, I wasn’t as powerful as they had hoped. I was nothing.

I closed my eyes, Silas had been gone from Paris for three days and for that time, our connection had been lost; it clearly didn’t work over long distances. I couldn’t feel him any longer, I couldn’t sense his presence in the city or in th