MATTHEWS WORDS HIT ME like a stone wall, collapsing over me. A son...

For three years Sophie and I had tried to conceive, to no result. We had wanted a child more than anything. We even spoke of it that last night we were together.I had left her , and never even knew I had a son.

I turned toward Matthew, a flicker of hope alive in my heart.

He isdead , Hugh. He wasn't even a year old. The bastards killed him that same night. They tore him from Sophie's arms as she tried to flee.

A wall of tears rushed at my eyes. A son... A son I would never know or hold. I had been through the fiercest battles, the worst of all horrors. But nothing could have prepared me for this.

How? I muttered. How did my son die?

I can't even say it. Matthew's face was ashen. Just believe me when I say that he is dead.

I repeated my question, this time fixed upon his eyes.How ?

His voice was so quiet. As they threw Sophie's lifeless body over his mount, the leader said, We have no room for such a toy. Toss him in the flames.'

I felt a pressure building up, an anger clawing at me as if my insides were ripping through my skin. God had smiled on us after all that time. He had blessed us with a son. Now He spat at me with the sharpest mockery.

How could I have left them? How could I still be alive if they were dead?

I looked at Matthew and asked, What was his name?

Matthew swallowed. She named him Phillipe.

I felt a lump catch in my throat. Phillipe was the............