I took a step forward, about to reach out and comfort my sons, but before I could, Sarah had already knelt down in front of them. Her smile never faltered as she said gently, "You don't have to worry about that." She brushed Marcus's curls away from his face. "You have us now. Uncle Gideon, Sir Wilhelm, and I... we'll help you. And so will Hiyasmin."
Hiyasmin nodded enthusiastically as she neared the boys. "Yeah! I'll teach you guys everything!" she said. "I'm super fast, you saw that, right?"
Daemond, Ksaver, and Marcus glanced at each other. Their little hands clenched at their sides. Their lips trembled as if they were struggling to hold something back. Then, in a shaky voice, Marcus whispered, "But we want to be strong too..."
Ksaver looked up with glassy eyes. "We want to protect Mama..."
Daemond's face hardened, but his voice wavered. "Mama protected us for so long," he said. "We... we wanna protect her too."
