Inside, the room was soft and draped in expensive comfort. A little girl sat at a round table near the window, staring out at the garden as a young woman beside her read aloud in Russian. The child didn’t move.
Blonde hair in a neat French braid. Loose blue dress. Pale arms. She was thinner than she should’ve been.
Pretty and fragile,Faolan thought.Like a butterfly caught in a net
Dimitri murmured something in Russian, and the young woman gave a respectful nod before quietly leaving.
Faolan crossed the room and sat down opposite the girl.
She waited.
Then, gently “Hi. My name is Faolan. But my friends call me Fee.”
No response.
“Your papa’s worried about you. He thought it might help if we talked a little.”
The girl turned her head slightly, gaze still far beyond the glass.
“You see... when I was your age,” Faolan began softly, “some bad men took me. They locked me in a dark place. They hurt me again and again.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Faolan sensed the smallest flicker. But she was still not looking at her.
“The one who hurt me the most was a man named Tolya.”
That time, there was no mistaking it. The girl flinched.
“But I didn’t let him win. Not even when I felt I’d rather die. Because if I died, he got away with it. Right?”
She wasn’t sure if this was right, if these words were for a child. But Nadia wasn’t a child in the way children should be.
“I didn’t talk for a long time, either,” Faolan said. “I couldn’t eat. I thought I was broken. I was ashamed.”
She reached for honesty.
“But it wasn’t my fault. And it’s not yours, either. Slowly, I got better. I became a police officer. I help stop bad men from hurting girls like us.”
A long silence.
Then a soft voice, rusty from disuse. “Are you sure he’s gone?”
Faolan startled and looked into the softest dove-grey eyes she’d ever seen.
“Yes, Nadia,” she said gently. “He’s gone. He will never come back. And your papa will protect you. Always.”
A single tear slid down Nadia’s cheek. She looked down, silent again.
Faolan leaned forward slightly. “He probably told you he loved watching you do ballet, didn’t he? The evil man?”
A small, barely-there nod.
“So you stopped. Because you didn’t want to give him that.”
Another nod. This time, sharper, angrier.
“Well,” Faolan said softly, “he’s gone now. Don’t let him take anything else from you. Don’t give up what you love.”
The silence between them was considering, thoughtful.
