Page 147 of Ivory Ashes

Suddenly, Dante darts out of Viviana’s arms and runs down the hall. I hear his little feet scampering on the steps.

I start to follow him, but Viviana steps into my path. “Let him be. He wants to be alone.”

A door slams somewhere upstairs.

“You don’t know that.”

“I do,” she insists. “He is hiding in a closet right now because he knows I won’t follow him in there. He knows I don’t like feeling trapped.”

The casual mention of her claustrophobia is a reminder as much as it is a challenge. She’s driving the knife of guilt in a bit deeper.

All of this is my fault and she wants me to know that.

As if I don’t already.

“I’m not doing this to hurt him.”

“That doesn’t mean you aren’t hurting him anyway,” she spits. “You’re hurting all of us.”

The knife in my gut twists and saws.

“We’re in the middle of a war. Do you think I should let the two of you wander around in the yard and pick flowers when, any minute, a fucking army could tear down the gates?”

“I think you should give us a choice!” she fires back. “I think you should talk to me. We are both his parents. You told me that we would work together.”

I also told her I wouldn’t send him away. But that was before we landed in the middle of a war. Things have changed since then.

“How about, for right now, we work together to get my son out of a fucking closet?” I snarl. “Let’s focus on that.”

None of this is resolved, but this is an issue we can both agree on.

Viviana grudgingly follows me upstairs.

53

VIVIANA

It takes twenty minutes and a king-sized chocolate bar to lure Dante out of Mikhail’s closet. I couldn’t even blame him—I wanted to crawl in there right along with him, to be honest, claustrophobia be damned.

Now, he’s in bed, nibbling on the top of his chocolate bar and looking reproachfully at the two of us like we might snatch him up by the collar and haul him out of the house at any second.

I would never do that.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Mikhail.

“You’re safe here for tonight,” Mikhail tells him. “Nothing will happen to you while I’m with you.”

“Then why do I have to leave? Why can’t I stay here?”

“Because I can’t always be here with you. Sometimes, I have to leave.”

Dante flings a hand at me. “Mama is here. She’s always here.”

Against my will, but the kid does have a point.

Mikhail sighs. “Listen, Dante… I should have found a better way to tell you about your new school. If it helps, I think you’ll really like it.”

Fat fucking chance.

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