Chapter 157: Broken Promises

LUMINA I sat beside Ollie's hospital bed, watching my son stare at the ceiling with empty eyes that broke my heart into a thousand pieces. He'd been like this since I'd been released from the dungeon and finally allowed to see him -- withdrawn, quiet, speaking only in fragments that made no sense to me.   The relief of seeing him alive and breathing had been overwhelming, but now I was faced with a different kind of terror. This wasn't my vibrant, talkative little boy who usually chattered nonstop about dinosaurs and adventures. This was a hollow shell of himself, and I had no idea how to reach him.   "Ollie," I said softly, reaching out to smooth his dark hair away from his forehead. "Talk to me, sweetheart. Tell me what's wrong."   He turned his head toward me, and for a moment his eyes brightened with something that looked like hope. But then it faded, replaced by that terrible emptiness that had been haunting his expression since I'd arrived.   "Where's Daddy?" he whispered, his vo