Chapter 222

• I didn’t mention my son again, not to anyone, not even to Luciana. Maya and I had spoken again, two days later and she told me that she had wanted to name him August Grey de Haviland since we hadn’t been married when he’d died in her womb.
• At the back of the castle, deep into the wooded trees that surrounded us, I placed a small tombstone and buried the rattle that Nova had given me as a gift when Maya’s pregnancy was announced. It was a beautiful rattle with the head of a dragon carved from Dragonstone.
• I walked past his substitute grave every single day and I left my grief and regrets there. To the outside world I had dealt with my grief and then continued to be the Duke and Sire of Mintia. I would always wonder what type of child he could have been, what type of man he’d grown into but thoughts like that just kept the wound fresh. I needed that pain to stay with me.