The problem with a perfect mask is that perfection itself becomes the tell.
At half past seven, Mara passed Sal in the corridor outside the dining room. He was carrying a stack of bound ledgers toward the east wing office. As a long-term member of the estate's administrative staff, he had been managing the logistics for southern port operations for over three years.
When he saw her, he gave a simple nod that was neither too much nor too little.
Mara nodded back and kept walking.
That was the thing.
Everyone in the house reacted to her differently now… a residual charge from everything that had transpired since the wedding night. Elena remained careful and warm, while the kitchen staff were deferential in the way of people who'd been warned to be.
The security team treated her with the neutral efficiency of men simply following orders regarding the Regent's status.
