Byrne sighed. “Thank you for telling me, Maye.”
“It’s not true, is it?”
“No,” he said. “I would never keep such news from them.”
Maye nodded, relieved. “They’ll come back, my lord. This is their home.”
He wished Maye was right in her prediction, but Byrne knew it could be years before he saw his children again. They wouldn’t return until it was safe, and it would not be safe with The Pretender on the throne and Aiden Quinlanden, his sycophant, eager to do any bidding to win favor. Even if Khallum’s plan blossomed to life, it would not change things overnight. There would undoubtedly be war.
Asherley had done right. He accepted that now. But the sting of their absence was no less keen. The dearth of their ringing laughter was a silence so loud it deafened him. He longed to hear their f
