Everyone overlooks the child. Alseides words rattled through my head, expanding until I thought my skull would crack.“It has also occurred to me that perhaps this little one might have a part in your answer as well,” Laerni had said.Could Garret have more to do than being my anchor? Had Alseides inadvertently given me the answer I’d been staring at all along? That the Goddess had given me the one weapon the Magi wouldn’t have anticipated.I dropped my shields completely and let Garret spread into me like the dawn over a frosted lake, melting me at my core. My son’s love filled up every crevice where shadow once inhabited me. How could I have kept him out for so long? Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t care. Alseides could take my pain and make me feel safe, but it wasn’t real. My child was real. His love was real, and even from within my womb, he fought to keep me safe.His anger spiked as if he’d been trying to get my attention for hours and had degraded to throwing a mini-me-sized tantrum.
