I considered only the magnitude of the challenge I was setting for myself and the eagerness I felt setting out to conquer it. To conquer her. Because I resolved in much the same way I resolved to solve my mother’s murder and resolved to save Cosima from the Order of Dionysus that I would show Elena Lombardi what it was like to live and love freely. And I’d do it by loving her. First, I just had to trick her into letting down her shields long enough to let me try.
