Asher

I hear every word of Juliet’s conversation with Alethea, and my mind instantly flashes back to a dream I had not long ago—a boy who looked exactly like me, lost and terrified in a dark forest.

I remember his face, the way he called out for help. Could it be that I have a child? A son Alethea has kept hidden from me all this time?

Then there’s the name, Declan. It’s familiar, yet I never thought much of it before.

But now, it clicks. If he’s running a fever and calling out for his mother, that means he’s not just a random child. He’s real. And he might...