“You weren’t ready to know. You’re still not ready. Look at yourself. You’re barely in control.”
“I have a son.” He said it again, tasting the words. “A five-year-old son I’ve never met. Never held. Never—” His voice cracked. “His first words. His first flight. Five years of his life, gone.”
“You were at war. You can’t blame—”
“I’ve been back for weeks!” The roar shook the entire tier. “Every day, you looked at me. Flew with me. Comforted me. And never once mentioned mychild?”
Ghantal looked shaken by the force of his fury. “I worried for his safety.”
He scoffed. “He would be safe with me, and you know it.”
“I feared he would set you back in your recovery,” she admitted.
“Set me back?” A child gave him something to live for. A reason he shouldn’t burn down Solvantis with everyone in it. He had been betrayed from the top of the Tower to the bottom. “Get out.”
“I’m your mother!”
“My mother would have told me I had a son.” He moved toward her, each step deliberate. “My mother would have treasured her grandchild, not hidden him in the rookery like shameful secret. You’re no better than the mind masons, building walls between me and truth.”
“I was protecting him! Protecting you both!”
“You were protecting yourself. Your reputation. Your ambitions for climbing the tiers.” He opened the door, holdingit wide. “Get out of my home. Let one of your high-born friends take you in until I arrange another eyrie for you. I don’t want to see your face.”
Ghantal flinched as if struck. Then she straightened, gathering the shreds of her dignity. “When you calm down—”
“I will never calm down about this. I will never forgive this.” He met her eyes, letting her see the depth of his rage. “You don’t know the pain of a broken bond.”
“No,” she agreed quietly. “Only the pain of one left intact.”
How dare she fling his absent father in his face, as if there were some parallel? His father made a choice to leave. His mother was the one who’d kept him from his own son. He had no parents. He had no mate. He had no family save the child he’d never met.
“You are no longer welcome here. If I see you again, I will pretend I don’t know you.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“You didn’t raise a liar.”
She studied his face for a long moment, then walked through the door. Just past the threshold, she paused.
“His name is Loïc.”
Then she was gone, leaving him alone with the ruins of everything he knew as dawn broke and his heart turned to stone. His mate was dead. His mother was dead. His father was dead.
But he had a son.
He had a son.
Chapter 25
Idabel
Dusk came gray and bitter, matching the ache in Idabel’s chest. She’d barely slept the night before, replaying Brandt’s words over and over.
She’d lain awake, listening to Loïc’s soft breathing, and tortured herself with the words until she wondered if she should even be his mother.
At work, she’d put on a brave face for Betje so she didn’t worry, but all Idabel could think all day wasyour love is poison.
She was making stew for supper when the firm, familiar knock came. Ghantal to pick up Loïc for flying lessons.
