Page 50 of Truth (Wicked Empire 2)

Ten

Davit

“Please,”she said, her voice a strangled cry.

“Take the baby from you?” I said, blinking at her.

My words had the effect of making her cry harder, and I reached for her face, reminding myself to be gentle, held her until she looked into my eyes.

“Please, Davit,” she said.

I didn’t say anything, not at first, too stunned to really respond.

Instead, I watched her as the tears fell, brushed them away, or at least tried to, until my fingers were wet with them.

She looked away, and I held her like that until the tears slowed, and then finally stopped.

I don’t know how long that was, but when she breathed out deep and met my eyes, I asked the question that I could barely allow myself to form.

“You think I would do that?”

She narrowed her eyes and, took a deep, gulping breath.

“Amethyst, you think I would do that? Take the baby from you?” I repeated.

“I know what family means to you,” she finally said.

I couldn’t interpret her voice, wasn’t sure if I heard hope, resignation, or something else altogether.

“I…”

It was my turn to trail off, to lose my voice.

I took a deep breath, tried to calm my swirling emotions, and then met her eyes again.

“You know what happened to my mother. Know that I never got to see her face, hear her voice. Feel her touch,” I said.

“Yes,” she responded.

“You know that, and you think I would do the same thing to my own child? Deprive him of the love that I have always longed for?”

Her eyes widened. “I—”

“You think I’m a monster,” I said quietly.

I had told myself I needed to be patient, that she had acted on instinct, but I realized how mistaken I had been.

She had run because she was afraid.

Not only did she not trust me, she thought I was evil.

“I—”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said.

“Davit—”

“No. It doesn’t matter what you think about me. Just like it doesn’t matter what I think about you. I had no intention of taking the baby, Amethyst.”

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