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I looked over my shoulder to see him under the rising moonlight.
“Sorry for startling you,” he said.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You said you never knew your mother?”
We were both staring at her tent now.
“Yes,” he replied. “Didn’t know my father either. The man who found me said I was left at the doorstep of a rich family. He always thought taking me in was a kindness on his part. He said he gave me a skill that I could use my whole life. He taught me how to thieve, you see, and he claimed those rich fae would simply turn me into a servant for their household.”
“Perhaps he was right,” I said.
“That’s what they did to you,” Dearen agreed.
“They did,” I said. “But being a servant wasn’t the worst part of it.”
“I choose to believe that my parents didn’t know any better,” Dearen continued.
“You do?” I asked. “I wouldn’t take you for an optimist.”
He chuckled. “Me neither... But it fits... Your mother left you with rich folk, assuming you would be well taken care of. My parents tried the same thing. Maybe every parent who abandons their children has that assumption.”
“That’s not enough,” I said. “Who would do such a thing? Leave a child?”
I was surprised to hear my voice shake.
“I wonder that too, sometimes,” he said. “But I never got a chance to find out.”
There was a loaded pause. The wind howled against the trees on our right as though it, too, wanted to add its opinion on the matter.
“You’re saying I have that chance now,” I said. “I don’t know if I want to.”
“You said when you visited her mind,” Dearen continued. “You saw her with a dark fae.”
I nodded.
“That means she has answers to questions we might not even know to ask,” Dearen said. “If you don’t want to confront her, I can go in and ask her about it.”
“She might not tell you,” I replied. “She has been refusing to speak with anyone other than me.”
“I know,” Dearen replied. “I was just offering in case...”
“In case I’m afraid?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
I wasn’t offended. And Dearen knew.
“I’m not afraid,” I replied. “Even if she tells me she left me because she hated me, I think I’ll be all right. I lived without a mother for so many years, I don’t need one now.”
I felt Dearen stirring.
“You’re right. That’s easy to handle,” he said. “If it were me, I would be more afraid if my mother apologized and asked for forgiveness.”
“Why is that?” I asked, not daring to meet his gaze.
“I think I would forgive her,” Dearen said.
I had nothing to say to that. After a moment, Dearen gave me a little pat on the shoulder as though to comfort me. I squeezed his hand to show him that I was not offended by what he said.
