Maya couldn't help but retch at the image of Nathaniel watching his cousin being not only murdered but desecrated as well by his own brother.
"H— h— h— how old were you?" she managed to ask.
"Nineteen," he responded with a sad smile.
Nineteen, that would mean—
"Right before you came here?" she asked Nathaniel as she looked up at him.
Nathaniel slowly nodded and frowned.
"Arlington wasn't my plan, as a matter of fact I was quite against it," he confessed as he gave her a guilty smile. "Of course, it's a decision I've come to be glad I took. I just wish—"
Nathaniel's breath hitched, clearly pained at the memory of what he had lost to get there, to meet her, to have their children.
"Michael was more like a twin from another womb," he laughed awkwardly at the thought, making Maya tilt her head as she observed the honest expression on his face.
