Liam slowly lowered himself onto one knee beside the unconscious boy, his expression becoming much more serious as he looked at the child's pale face. Only a few hours ago, Leo had been standing in this very village with curiosity in his eyes, asking Liam if he had come to kill the ghost that had taken his brother. Now that same child lay completely motionless in his mother's arms, his chest rising and falling so faintly that someone who was not paying close attention might have thought he was already dead.
Liam looked toward the grieving woman. "What happened?"
The woman's lips trembled.
"I-I…" Her voice broke immediately, and she swallowed hard as tears continued rolling down her cheeks. "H-He…"
She couldn't finish.
Her hands tightened around Leo's small body as though she were terrified that if she loosened her grip for even a moment, something would take him away from her completely.
