"Espe, I love you. I promise that no harm will ever come to you."
Voren's voice was a desperate whisper against his daughter's hair, his arms wrapped around her trembling form. But she was inconsolable. His words were stones dropped into an ocean of grief, swallowed whole without a ripple.
"No, daddy! You failed me!"
Her cry was a knife to his heart, sharp and unforgiving.
"The woman uncle Corvine gave me to said not to get close to old daddy. I told you all this, but you still brought me!"
Ravyn's eyes burned red, tears streaming down his face without shame. He dropped to his knees, his legs unable to hold him any longer. At least he knew his daughter's new name now. A small gift in the wreckage of everything he had destroyed.
"Espe." His voice cracked, raw and broken. "Please forgive me. I was wrong. I just want to make amends."
