Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 120029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 600(@200wpm)___ 480(@250wpm)___ 400(@300wpm)
I expect him to scream something back, but he stays quiet, lips partially open as he squeezes one of Lady’s slouching ears. “R-really?”
As if there could be any other reason for a man in love to break an oath to his promised!
“Well… yes. I’m sorry I made you think you had rats. I needed to be sure you’re safe.” I’m so deflated I want to lean back against the wall, but by the time I remember there is no wall, it’s too late, and I fall right back into that prison of my own making.
“Are you… okay?” Nate asks as I scratch my cheek on one of the broken planks before I slowly rise to my feet. This time, he doesn’t seem to recoil, which is a sign of progress, I suppose.
“Sure, yes!” I crawl right back out again. “I’m embarrassed you found this mess. Or that I had you worried. You… mean a lot to me, Nate, and if this is what it took to watch over you, I decided to just do it. I just wish I could have comforted you when you needed it.”
He swallows, and I long to hold him when a shadow passes over his features. I don’t know if Nate is the most handsome human in existence, but I could watch him all day every day and never get bored of it.
“How long… has this been going on?” he asks, and I itch to lie, but I can’t. Not about this, not to his face.
“From the start.”
He exhales, pushing his fingers into his hair as he stares at his own feet. “Were you even really walking Lady?”
“Yes! Every day. How could I miss out on my time with her? Though now I feel that might have been reckless. If there was an assassin after you, they’d have waited for me to leave.” I scoot down to Lady and tug on the two tusks growing out of her lower jaw. She yelps and pulls back, play-wrestling me like we so often do. She’s so sweet I can now barely see her resemblance to a wolf.
Nate licks his lips, watching us as he drifts to the other side of the desk, then toward the seating area where he often reads. “Do you… would you like a drink?”
Now he’s got all my attention and I get up in an instant. “So you’re not kicking me out?” I can’t hold back the hope in my voice. Why would I? I don’t care to be coy about it. I want him to know how much he means to me, how much I want to stay and be there for him when he cries out at night. It was torture to listen to his sobs yet remain hidden. But now I’m here, and he’s offering me a drink!
On second thought, maybe my enthusiasm was premature, because he stalls, eyes like the midnight sky focusing on me as if he’s been caught with his hand on a bottle of cherin, but whatever happens in his head next doesn’t make him change his mind and send me away.
“I— I suppose your intentions were noble, so… did your sister know?”
“No, she would have dissuaded me. She’s the reasonable one. And yes, I’d like a drink.” My heart beats faster, and I brush dust off my shoulders and hair to look more presentable as I approach. I’ve been longing for him for so long I almost have stage fright. Almost. Because I won’t be missing the opportunity to woo him again.
“Sit here,” he tells me, tapping a large blood red-upholstered chair separated from his usual seat on the sofa with the coffee table. I’m about to reach him when he walks off toward the little cupboard with snacks. “Any preference? I assume you know what I have here.”
I don’t want to sit. I want to be where he is and smell him from up close, and while he now uses our soaps, the scent I fell in love with is still there.
“How about I make it?” I ask, following him. I’m good at mixing alcohols, so it could give me an opportunity to impress him. “You look good. Your hair’s grown back so fast.”
He pulls on one of the strands, blushing. “Well… it’s… a tonic the maid gave me. Blessgreen tea, please,” he instructs me before retreating to the sofa. He sits in the very corner, facing me, and covers his feet with another blanket.
I wish I could be the one keeping him warm.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like some fern wine with the tea?” It feels so good to talk to him. My heart is soaring in excitement like a star rising into the sky. “I’m also glad to know you have a healthy appetite. But you’ve not ventured out much. Or at all, really. You know you’re allowed to, right? You could wear a hat or just comb your hair over the ears and keep a low profile.”