The young lady Lorimer only got her husband's regard back when her belly grew big with another child. As the expected day of birth grew closer, Liam begun to spend more and more time with her, but she couldn't shake off the impression that he was only interested in his unborn son.
She desperately hoped Liam was right and it would be a son this time, or she feared she would never get her husband back again.

Liam himself was not usually a praying man, but now he was spending more and more time in church, praying to the Watcher to give him a son. As he grew more and more worried about the future of his line, he swore to do anything necessary, to give up everything else, if only his noble name can continue.

Then the much awaited day finally came and Madeline went into labour. Liam spend the time pacing impatiently up and down the corridor, but when it was over and the midwives let him inside, he found his wife beaming with happiness, with a baby boy in her arms.
The Lorimer line was saved, at least if there was to be no unexpected disaster.

Liam considered baby Anselm a blessing, but he was to find out how fickle fate can be, especially when tempted.
Madeline was resting in her bed with a book, still weak from her childbirth only a few days ago, when a gust of wind overturned her candle directly on the bed and Madeline's dress. Before Madeline could put out her clothes, almost all bedclothes were on fire.

Young Anora ran to help her stepmother, but the fire was spreading quickly and soon they were both trapped behind a burning wall, trying to scream for help through thickening smoke.

Before the fire burned itself out, there was no way to help either of them anymore.

When Liam finally got there, his young wife and daughter were dying, the Grim Reaper himself towering above them. The Reaper turned its dark hood towards the shocked lord, offering him him the chance to bargain for his loved ones lives in a voice that echoed strangely in the silent room.
Liam didn't even notice the words, let alone care whether there was any kindness or anything else in them. He just flinched away from the hooded figure in pure terror, not even able to run despite it being the only thing he wanted to do at that moment.

The younger Lorimer children, including Liam's precious son, both survived, but when he was standing above Madeline's and Anora's graves, the lord looked as if he had aged many years in the few days stat passed since the fire.
He didn't even listen to Alvin's funeral speech. Instead he cursed the cruel Watcher silently, swearing to never visit the church again unless absolutely required and to never pray again in his life.

This wasn't the only funeral Alvin had to perform. After a silent and miserable life in the convent Lianrin fell victim to a lingering illness - or maybe a lingering loss of any will to live.
Apart from the nuns she was mourned only by her young son.

Even after his mother's death, however, Damien's life didn't change much. It was as quiet and uneventful as any life of any of the sisters, filled mostly with prayer and and study. Mother superior insisted on "bringing him up right", which mostly meant high demands on his work and obedience.

Despite all the discipline forced on him, though, Damien was well-liked in the convent. He seemed to inherit his father's winning smile and easy charm and even the otherwise strict nuns were not complete immune to it.