Dragoncrest Cliffs Alfonsino

This time, his words caught her off guard. She felt like she’d swallowed an ice cold stone, which sank to the pit of her stomach. Swordfish didn’t love his da? Meerkat hated to admit that it made sense, all things considered, but it still hit her like a knife to the liver.

Not only didn’t she know what to say, for a moment Meerkat didn’t trust herself to speak. She felt tears pricking, hot, in her eyes. She glanced to the side and tried to swipe at them when Swordfish looked the other way. It felt like she’d swallowed a second stone, this one caught in her throat.

Her eyes fell disconsolately to the fish, which she couldn’t imagine eating now that her innards were such a mess. But Meerkat tried to breathe in and out steadily, fighting the urge to cry until she had at least wrestled it into submission. Then she leaned to touch her nose to her son’s cheek.

When she drew back, she managed, Hopefully, in time, he can mend things with you, her voice barely a whisper as she thought to herself that Fish might be the next Sobo.