Stone Circle Please do not push me away

He was easy to find, just as his mother was easy to spot over the bleak and barren stretch of land. The boy watched her approach through the corner of his eye, and a part of him wished she would simply canter past - but he was no fool. He understood how his departure would have looked to his mother and Greyback, and to assume he was upset didn't say enough.

He didn't slow until his mother spoke his name, and when she did, Merrit turned with a stiffness more and more becoming of him, levelled his voice with a stony chill. "Did you love him before Stark left?" he was sure she would understand. He knew why she was here - they both knew, and he watched her closely for her reaction, for any subtle shift that contradicted her reply.