Chapter 425
Chapter 425:
Glass cases lined every wall, each one holding objects of extraordinary age and rarity. It took her only a few seconds to understand what she was looking at — the historical pieces being exhibited and exchanged at tonight’s event. Items that had left her country centuries ago and were only now beginning to find their way home.
Asher had arranged for Alma to bring her here. He had known, without being told, exactly what this would mean to her.
The realization moved through her like something warm and unhurried — the particular comfort of being known by someone in a way you hadn’t asked for and hadn’t expected.
She stepped closer to the cases, drinking in each piece slowly. Once these objects were repatriated, they would go directly into secure storage. She might never have a chance to see them again.
She wanted to photograph everything but held back, uncertain whether the flash might damage what she was looking at.
Then something specific stopped her.
A deer-head sculpture. Part of a famous series of animal bronzes — the same collection that had sparked an international scandal at auction in 2009, sending the remaining pieces into hiding. She had never expected to encounter one in person, let alone here in Evira.
She leaned in for a closer look — and her excitement went cold.
One of the antlers was snapped clean off.
She stared at the break. A treasure this significant, this irreplaceable, and someone had allowed it to be damaged like this. The fracture was recent — the edge too clean, the surrounding surface too unweathered. This had happened recently, and it hadn’t been an accident.
𝗝𝗼𝗂ո 𝗈𝘶𝗋 с𝗈𝗺𝘮u𝗻𝗶𝗍у 𝗈ո
The door creaked behind her.
She turned.
“Asher p>
He sat in his wheelchair in the doorway, looking at her with a quiet, warm smile. A week apart, and yet the sight of him made something settle in her chest that she hadn’t realized had been unsettled.
She crossed the room quickly. The words she’d been carrying dissolved somewhere between her heart and her throat, and she stood in front of him without saying anything at all.
Asher’s smile held. “The exhibition ends tonight and they’ll start packing everything up. Go have a proper look while you still can p>
“I want to look at them with you,” she said softly.
She moved around behind his wheelchair and began pushing him gently toward the cases.
Asher fell quiet for a moment as they came to a stop before the deer sculpture. He saw the damage at once. “Was it like that when it arrived, or did someone break it recently p>
“Recently,” Kristine said, leaning in. “The fracture pattern shows it. Someone did this not long ago.” She pressed her fingers lightly against the glass case and frowned.
Asher had little attachment to antiques in the abstract, but watching the sadness cross her face was enough. “Can it be repaired?” he asked.
“It’s possible,” she said, with a small, rueful smile. “Very difficult, but possible.” She straightened. “Not that it’s my concern. Something like this will go to recognized experts. I’m only here to look p>
“But you want to be the one to fix it p>
“Of course I do,” she admitted.