I have been broken by this house and this mate-bond and the thing that lives inside your father that neither of us can name or cure or outrun, and my leaving is not about my son. My leaving is about a woman who tried everything and ran out of everything at the same time.
You were the reason I stayed as long as I did. Every morning I woke up in this house and chose another day, it was because of you. Your face. Your laugh.
The way you used to climb into my bed during the bad nights and press your back against mine and whisper “I’m here, Mama, the bad thing won’t come while I’m here.”
You were my reason, Knox. You were never my cause.
I have asked Mathilde to take you somewhere safe. She has the plan and she has the money and she is braver than I am, and I pray to the Goddess that by t
