"Where are they?" I stumbled forward with trembling legs. I desperately looked around and scanned the forest for any sign of my sons.
"I have to find them," I thought. "I have to save them."
"Mama!"
The sound of the familiar voice cut through the noise like a blade.
"Marcus?" I shouted hoarsely. I whipped my head around to the source. "No!"
There they were—my boys, all three of them—held tightly by hunters. They struggled against the hunters' muscular arms, and Marcus, Daemond, and Ksaver's eyes began to well with glistening tears.
"Mama!" Ksaver shouted before one of the hunters covered his mouth.
My eyes widened as I saw someone standing among the hunters.
"Samuel?" I cried out, disbelief washing over me. "What are you doing? Let them go!"
But Samuel's face held nothing. Gone was the man who had once shared warm smiles and kind words with me. Now, his eyes glinted with something far darker.
