Her husband cast her out for being “barren”—six years later, he came face to face with the son his own family had secretly hidden from him

looked at Isabella, then back at Mateo.

“Sometimes. But I’m trying not to obey fear anymore.”

Mateo considered that.

“Stormbite doesn’t like fear.”

“I understand.”

“No,” Mateo said. “He likes when people are scared but still do the right thing.”

Alexander’s eyes filled.

“Then Stormbite is wiser than I was.”

Mateo nodded. “He’s six hundred years old.”

Isabella continue reading …