Eoos allowed the child to speak. It didn’t make sense to him. Why take the children?
“I don’t tell Mom, but I’m afraid sometimes.”
Eoos dropped to one knee to be eye-level with Kit. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Why?”
“I’m almost five summers.”
Trepidation snaked through Eoos. He was not certain he was understanding the boy. “The bishop will take you?”
Kit nodded without looking at him.
“Away from your mother?”
Another nod. “I don’t want to go. I want to stay with Mum.” His voice became thick and his lower lip puffed out.
“I’m sure your mother will not let you go.”
He looked up at Eoos with tears in his large eyes. “She won’t be able to stop him. No one can.”
His misery and fear tugged at Eoos’s heart. “I’ll do everything I can to help. Don’t worry, Kit. If you don’t want to go, you won’t go.”
Kit threw his arms around Eoos.
Startled, Eoos resisted for a moment and then allowed himself to sink into the hug.
