Chapter 4

There, on that pale skin, a crimson, crescent-shaped birthmark seared itself into my eyes.

In that instant a thunderclap went off in my mind, and every old agony and obsession snapped into place.

I had once had a birthmark exactly like it. It was a recessive trait passed down my mother's bloodline for generations, appearing behind the ear in the very same spot, identical in shape—a crescent arc so rare it was nearly unique. Apart from me and my parents, no one knew it existed. In childhood, playing too wildly, I'd knocked the same spot and left a scar over…