Athea's admission removed the impatience from Calyra's expression.
Athea kept her attention upon the distant residence.
"I can explain why I sent him away," Athea continued. "I can explain the laws that existed when he was born, the scrutiny surrounding this family and every danger he would have faced if anyone discovered him. All of those reasons remain true, but they do not change the fact that Ysmeine raised him while I remained absent."
"You protected him," Calyra said quietly.
"Yes, I did. However, telling him that would sound as though I expected protection to erase everything my absence cost him," Athea said.
Protection had required distance at first. It had not required every year of silence that followed. Athea had repeatedly convinced herself that approaching him later would be safer than approaching him now, until eighteen years had accumulated through a succession of reasonable delays. And now it felt more difficult.
Athea lowered her gaze to the table.
