Seeing the familiar charm – turquoise, for life and protection; the Sun's eye, for warding away evil; a small magic, a little shard of luck – Qebhet felt another pang and her vision blurred with moisture. She swiped at the tears with the back of her hand and sniffed.
"The night of the shooting... his brother forced him to come. It was supposed to be his blooding." Was it still a betrayal of confidence, when the person who had confided in her was no longer a person? When he had no means of communicating his wishes, and perhaps no way of understanding? Qebhet wasn't sure, and the uncertainty twisted at her gut as she spoke. "Kaden didn't want to be there, he never wanted to hurt anybody. He was trapped. Ronan fired the gun so he wouldn't have to."
Qebhet looked back at Kaden, gazing into his eyes. "That's why you took the baby, isn't it, Kaden? So he wouldn't have to grow up in a place where boys are trapped into becoming killers. You wanted to give him a choice, like Ronan wanted for you." She scrubbed at her cheeks again and drew in a shuddering breath. "It was brave, what you did. I wish for your sake you hadn't done it, but... it was brave. You were brave."