married off his daughter

a surgeon. He spent his final years trying to find this house again to finish what he started in the Great Fire.”

Zainab appeared in the doorway, her hand resting on the frame. She wore a shawl of deep indigo, and her unseeing eyes seemed to pierce through Julian’s finery.

“And you?” she asked. “Did you come to finish his work?”

Julian sank to one knee continue reading …