[This post is from Neve’s point of view.]
“Who are the strangers, Mum? Why are they here?”
Neve froze for a few seconds at the sound of her son’s voice, relief warring with sudden anguish. Of course he’d have heard there were strangers, and of course he’d want to know more. In that, he was like both of them—like both her and Cameron—and damnably so at that. She set down the blanket she was folding and turned to face him where he stood in the doorway to her room, his expression just shy of anguished. Her breath caught.
“Croí daor,” she said softly, beckoning him into the room she’d long shared with his father. “Where were you two? I was worried.”
“Fishing,” he said as he eased inside. “Out at the lakeshore. Didn’t hear any horns or sense anything amiss. We wouldn’t have known anything happened if people didn’t keep asking where the hell we were.” Artorius frowned. “Lin said that you’d have answers.”
Not nearly so many as you’d like, I think. Her lips thinned slightly and she nodded, waving for him to sit down on the bed with her. Tory frowned, but sat, his gaze intent on her.
“That’s never a good sign.”
Neve choked on a laugh and shook her head. “I suppose it’s not, is it? I don’t have many answers and I imagine what I’m able to tell you will only spark more questions.”
“Right now all I have are questions, Mum. Some answers would be welcome no matter what.”
That’s what you think now. She sat down with him on the bed, drawing one leg up beneath her and watching his face, his eyes. He looked so much like his father sometimes it made her ache, though she knew that Cameron saw more of her in his son than she did. Perhaps each of them were just seeing what they loved in the faces of their children.
“So who are they?”
“One of them is your cousin. The rest are his friends.”
