Chapter 40

Alaria

I watched them quietly.

Particularly because I don't even know what to say. I didn't know how I was going to be able to speak without my voice breaking or without saying something that I knew that I might end up regretting.

It was strange, seeing my daughter standing there, clutching her little hands together as she glared up at him with all the bravery she could muster.

And even stranger, watching him crouch to her level and actually listen.

When his larger hand wrapped around her pinky, I caught the faintest flicker of something in his face. Something softer.

But I refused to let myself linger on it. I refused to allow myself to hold on to it, but when he asked me the question, when he addressed it to me that we would not be running away, I found myself holding a breath that I knew I shouldn't be.

Anastasia pulled her hand back after their little promise and glanced up at me, uncertainty in her big eyes.