Nyx stared at him with even more tears streaming down her face.
"But here's what you don't understand." Arthur continued. "Your mother wasn't weak. She was strong. She gave up her clan to be with me. And when she realized staying there was killing her, she chose to die rather than abandon the family she'd created. That's not weakness."
"Then why did you abandon us?" Nyx asked. "If she was so strong, why did you leave her to die?"
"Because I was a coward."
"Explain."
"I thought if I left, if I fled to the Beastworld, they'd stop hunting her. I thought my absence would make you both safe.
But I was wrong. She died anyway, and you grew up hating me for leaving. I tried to protect you and failed at both."
"Why didn't you come back after she died?"
