Page 58 of Dishonor Among Thieves
“I’m a sea troll! And I loooove eating kiddie meat! Raaaaawr!!” Flynn’s voice boomed through my closed door, Remy’s and Tabitha’s distinctive squeals bouncing through the home.
“Flynn’s about to become a very different kind of apprentice,” I laughed.
* * *
Ivo,the stone-faced little boy who seemed unaware that smiling and laughter were expressions used by children, seemed to discover that his lips could curl upward when he was around Gia. The boy chattered to her nonstop and even reached his hand out to offer her a glimpse at something he held very, very dear: a lock of his hair.
“Oooh,” Gia said, nodding, looking partly uncomfortable and partly touched. “Thank you for sharing that.”
I ran my hand over Ivo’s smooth head and bent down to explain what was happening. While all the children would need to understand that we were leaving, Ivo would need a little more time to process.
“Ivo, do you understand that Gini did some very wrong things?” I kneeled, eye-level with the child.
“Hmmm.” His expression was flat but for the tiniest wrinkle between his brows. “She left us foundlings alone overnight. That was irresponsible.”
I stifled a laugh, absolutely certain that the four-year-old had learned the big word just last night. Valkiva no doubt had used that very word to explain what was happening to the children.
“That’s right,” I said. I touched the hand that gripped the lock of his hair. “You remember when you made the decision to cut your hair off?”
He ducked his chin once, a barely perceptible nod. “It felt right.”
I nodded. “And yet…” I lifted the hand that clutched his hair and kissed the back of it. “You’re not really ready to let go, are you?”
He blinked twice very quickly but did not answer.
I stood up and waved a hand around the sitting room. The other foundlings were gathered about the fire where Flynn was standing on a chair impersonating some type of very large bird. I hoped he wasn’t putting ideas of the vengersax into the children’s heads so soon before bedtime. But both Rain and Neo had their arms crossed over their chests, amused smiles on their faces. Gia sat on a chair reading through notes inked in a leather-bound book she’d taken from Gini’s room.
“This place has been your home for a very long time,” I reminded him. “Do you remember living someplace else before here?”
He blinked twice.
“Hmm-mmm,” I said, nodding. “You know that things change, Ivo. When something leaves your life, you may feel very, very sad about it. Or maybe angry. But you know that other things come into your life to replace those things that left. Wouldn’t you agree?”
He didn’t blink, just stared with his thin lips pressed firmly together.
“For example,” I went on, “when you decided to cut your hair. Remember how beautiful it was? You had the prettiest long, dark curls. But you decided to cut them. That was a choice you made. And now, even though you may miss them sometimes, how do you feel about your hair?”
I gave a playful rub to the short bristles on his head.
“It was time,” he said simply.
“Exactly,” I said. “It was time to change from one thing to another. From curly hair to very short hair. Both are good, though. You lost your curls but gained a different kind of hair. The same thing happens with homes. Like the home you had before you lived here.”
He blinked twice.
“And now that Gini has left this Realm…”
“She is dead,” he said matter of factly. “Valkiva stabbed her, and she died.”
I sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, thinking several steps ahead of what I wanted to say. “Yes, Ivo. That is what happened. But you know now that Gini is gone, we need to decide if we want to stay here.”
He stared down into the fist that gripped his hair. “We cannot stay here. I don’t want to stay.”
I cocked my chin at him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Why? Why don’t you want to stay here?”
“Scary,” he said, sounding every bit the four-year-old he was.
I could understand how frightening this all must have been, and I was torn between pushing the child to talk about his fears or to focus on the news I needed him to adjust to.
