"Mother, are you certain about this?" Modred asked, the reluctance in his voice as clear as the tension carved across his face.
"More than anything in my life, Modred." Urmaa's tone was steady, but her eyes flickered with something deeper. " Danika turned twenty-one today." She pressed a small bundle into his hands wrapped in worn but carefully kept cloth. "You must deliver this to her when you find her. It's from her mother. I've kept it safe since she was a baby, it's time she had it."
Modred's grip tightened around the bundle. Birthday or not, he could not silence the unease gnawing at him. Danika might need this gift, but she also needed his protection. And if he left who would be there for Urmaa? She always said Danika's safety came first, but the thought of leaving her alone weighed heavily on him.
