Nevara
“He forced me,” she said suddenly. “Your father. He forced me.”
The words landed heavy.
Kael went still.
I didn’t look away from her.
“He cornered me,” she continued, voice rising now—not hysterical, but edged with old bitterness. “He threatened my position. My livelihood. And when I finally leaned into what he wanted—when I trusted him—he called me a w***e and sent me away.”
Jonas’s small fingers curled into the fabric of his trousers.
“You think I wanted to raise a child alone?” she demanded. “You think I wanted to beg and scrape and build something from nothing?”
Her laugh was sharp.
“He denied him. Denied us. Said the child wasn’t his.”
Thoren didn’t move.
“But you knew he was,” he said quietly.
“Yes,” she snapped. “Of course I knew.”
“And instead of fighting him pu
