The Gilded Cage
"I have a new child now. If you keep calling me that, he’ll get jealous."
Anna froze, stunned. "Who?!"
Samuel stepped up beside me, leaning into my embrace.
Around Samuel’s neck was the pendant that was carefully restored—its broken fragments now encased in gold, holding the emerald together like something precious reborn from ruin.
He had picked up every shattered piece from the floor, painstakingly fitting them back together before wearing it with quiet reverence.
What Anna had discarded, someone else cherished.
The mother she didn’t love—someone else did.
Anna’s mouth hung open in a silent gasp before a raw, heart-wrenching wail tore from her throat.