“Hey, buddy,” Adrian whispered, placing a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “It’s okay. Just a noisy toy.”

Noah looked up, his lower lip quivering as he stared at his father.

I watched Adrian’s face, looking for any sign of the coldness I had associated with the Vale name.

There was none. His gray eyes were soft, completely focused on the shivering three-year-old.

“Is it a monster?” Noah asked, his voice barely audible.

“No monsters here,” Adrian said, pulling a small silver flashlight from his pocket. “See this? It’s a magic light. It keeps the dark away.”

He handed the flashlight to Noah, who gripped it tightly and shone it at his own shoes.

Lena crawled closer to Adrian, tugging at the sleeve of his dark jacket.

“Can you make the red light go away?” she asked.

“I’m working on it, sweetheart,” Adrian said, smoothing her tangled curls behind her ear.

I stood there, my hand still holding my phone, feeling a strange ache in my chest.

For three years, I had raised them alone, always looking over my shoulder, always waiting for the Vale shadow to fall on us.