CHAPTER 4

Armel watched the shock and confusion on Harley’s face with clinical detachment before he glanced at Raphaël. The little boy stared up at him solemnly, his pretty little face surrounded by her mass of golden curls and his pink cheeks glowing with health.

The little boy was not a de Roquefort, thank God, Armel thought with quiet certainty. This child would not suffer the way his twin brothers had suffered… He’ll never be the victim of the devastating illness that had taken his little brothers’ lives before they were one year old.

He had been a teenager when his mother had given birth to Gerard and Julian. The twins had appeared normal but within a few months from birth, during a routine control, the doctor told his parents that both Gérard and Julien, suffered from Rett syndrome, a fatal genetic illness, especially in boys.

After their sudden deaths, the doctors had warned his parents there was a 50% chance that he had also been affected. Somehow, Arme