Forbidden Under the Blood Moon
I admitted, unwilling to lie to him even to soften the truth.
"Then how do we ever know who to trust," he asked, and the fear in his young voice broke something open in my chest.
"We don't always know right away," I said. "But we watch how people act when it costs them something. Trust isn't a feeling, Cody. It's a pattern, built slowly, over time."
He considered that for a long moment, then nodded like he'd tucked the thought away somewhere safe. "Then how many patterns do you have to watch," he asked, "before you finally decide someone's earned it."