Barren? Honey, I'm Just Getting Started
I sat with my knees pulled up against the soft leather seat, watching the trees blur past the tinted glass.
"My mother," I spoke up, breaking the long silence inside the cab. "The woman who raised me... she was just a caregiver, wasn't she?"
Noah turned his head away from the window, looking at me. "She was an old guard captain's sister. When the border raids hit twenty years ago, everything went to hell in a single night. Our mother was badly injured, and the estate was burning. The captain took you, handed you off to her, and told her to vanish into the lowlands until things settled. But the perimeter closed, the captain died in the woods, and we lost your trail."