Chapter 27

• For over a minute, I watched my father with my heart in my throat as he looked at me with blank eyes. My body trembled when the silence in the room stretched. Like a fish out of water, my mouth flapped open several times to ask a specific question but I could not get myself to ask the question on the tip of my tongue as I feared his response.
• “Weren’t you banished?” That question, muttered in a dry tone from bruised lips had relief flooding into me.
• “D – Dad, you recognize me!” I exclaimed, my heart in my throat. His gaze remained blank so I swallowed. “I’m glad you are alive,” I said and I meant it with my entire being. I’d never been happier to see his indifferent gaze than I was then.