“I grew up with hard men and callous women surrounding me. They cared little for compassion and mocked men such as Alois. My father called him a spineless fob caught in the past when elven kind were the guardians of this world,” Elliandre admitted, her hand briefly resting against Alyssa’s cheek.
“My mother was a gentle woman from another land, but by the time I grew into a woman myself, my father had killed the light in her eyes,” she admitted, and a slight bitterness laced her words.
“She became a sad shadow who obeyed her husband out of a sense of duty and ingrained fear. My father never hit her, but he used words like a weapon, and he wielded them well.”
The horrible sadness in her eyes betrayed her deep guilt. This unexpected admission gave them common ground, although Elliandre
