"Please let me try."
"No." His hand moved, an inch, and his son took it. "Cassian. Listen. There's no scroll now. Vorne's in the river with the warrant in his coat and there is no living witness on this side of the water but the three of you, and the court will hear that a bridge fell down in December, which is a thing that happens." He breathed. It was getting harder. "So you'll go somewhere. And you will not come back to Blackthorn, because Blackthorn's the first place they'll look, and because — " a spasm went over his face " — because you're the alpha now, and the first thing an alpha does is not go home."