“You worried about tomorrow?” he asked.

“Probably more than I should be.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be there every step of the way.”

“To protect me from my grandmother or my grandmother from me?”

Soft lips kissed the back of her neck before she heard, “Both.”

Annwyl sat up in her bed, a book open on her lap. Fearghus would be coming home late tonight, but that just meant she had a little time to herself to read. Unlike most nights when she ended up happily wrestling with Fearghus.

In fact, she was so looking forward to some time to herself, when she heard that knock on her bedroom door, she sighed and crossed her eyes before she said, “What?”

The door opened and to Annwyl’s surprise, her son stuck his head in. “Hello, Mum. Got a minute?”

“Of course. Come in.” She put a leather strip in her book to mark her place and put the book aside.

“What are you reading?” he asked.

“A history about wars in the Eastlands.”

“Interesting?”

“Very. But you didn’t come here about books, my love. What is it?”

Talan closed the door and walked into the room, sitting on the bed by Annwyl’s hip. “I have something to show you.”

“Then show me.”

The boy sighed before pulling a scroll out of the top of his boot and handing it to his mother.

“Someone sending you messages?” Annwyl asked, taking a look at the once-sealed document. Usually Annwyl was informed about any messages that came in for her offspring, but she’d heard nothing about this. Not even from Dagmar.

“Aye.”

“Instead of me reading it, just tell me, Talan.”

He cleared his throat and Annwyl realized this was the first time she’d ever seen her son look . . . uncomfortable. And, to be honest, knowing he had the ability to feel that emotion was surprisingly soothing to her.

“It’s all right, Talan. Go on.”

“Promise you won’t get mad?”

“No.”

Her direct answer made him laugh. “True, I shouldn’t ask the impossible.”

“I thought you’d have known that by now. So what is it? What’s in this scroll you think I should see—without your father here?”

“Far, far to the west, past the Sovereign Provinces, is a brotherhood of monks.”

“Monks?”

He shrugged. “Monks.”

“And what do the monks want?”

“They’ve offered me a place to be trained in Magicks involving nature. Powers almost completely pulled from the earth as opposed to the gods.” “You want to join a monastery?”

“Not permanently.”

Annwyl had to quickly scratch her head to stop herself from laughing. “Do they know that you don’t think of this as a permanent solution?”

“I don’t know what they know. I just know what I know. And I know I’ve learned all I can from Aunt Morfyd, Aunt Talaith, and Grandmum. But I’m not done learning.”

Annwyl glanced down at the scroll in her hand. “Can I ask you a question?”

“I know I can’t have sex while I’m there.”

“That wasn’t going to be my question, although your immediate response was quite telling. Best not have that same response around your father. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Now my question is this.... Are you and your sister leaving because of me?”

It was only a moment, but she saw the look of surprise on her son’s face. The fact that Annwyl knew, without anyone telling her, that Talwyn was also getting ready to leave blindsided him. But he quickly concealed his surprise and answered, “I promise, Mum, if we could, Talwyn and I would stay here forever. Just . . . loafing around and getting in fights.”

“But you can’t because . . .”

“You know why. This isn’t the end of it for us. We’re not meant to be nobles like Lord Pombray’s boy or even our uncles. But what you’ve been telling us from the beginning is that without knowledge, we can’t lead, we can’t fight, we can’t do anything but hope others protect us. And, Mum . . . we just don’t have that luxury anymore.”

Annwyl nodded. “My own words thrown back at me . . . and yet they were brilliant words.”

Talan grinned. “Just like your son.”

Annwyl took his hand. “Are you truly comfortable with your sister going off with the Kyvich?”

“No. Not because I think it will be bad for her. But I know she has no intention of staying. And when she’s ready to go, that will be a problem.”

“For her?”

“For them.”

“And this . . . monastery? This is what you want?”

“No. But this is what I need. I will admit, I almost turned it down. Almost walked away. But you always said to trust my instincts and my instincts tell me to do this. Now. Not later. Right now.” He kissed the back of her hand. “And because I know you’re thinking it, I only look like I’m not listening to you. But I hear every word. And thank you. For surviving. For doing what you’ve done. I know for a fact, no other female in this universe could have been my mother.”

Fighting tears, Annwyl wrapped her arms around her son’s massive and still-growing shoulders and hugged him tight. They stayed like that until the bedroom door opened again and she heard Fearghus’s voice.