Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“I’m worried about her,” he returned.
“Okay, but she’s an adult female who doesn’t make a move unless she considers the consequences to this family and the entire realm. Maybe you can share your feelings without yelling, throwing your napkin on the table and marching from the room.”
He was no less shocked when he shared, “I didn’t really…have any control over that.”
Interesting.
“So, she told you she was…” His eyes flared blue, and again I skipped that part, but I did it this time noting that it was clear this was an uncontrollable response to the mere suggestion a female in his family was in danger. “And it just happens?”
Timothee shrugged, but I could tell he was unsettled by this.
“It’s pretty mega, not the shouting part, the you caring about your mom so much part,” I told him.
He stared at me with even more shock.
“Also, you shouldn’t hide your dragon from the people. He’s gorgeous.”
Timothee’s mouth dropped open.
“Scary as farg, but gorgeous,” I amended.
“You think he’s scary?” he asked.
“Have you seen your dragon?”
“We don’t tend to look in mirrors,” he returned.
“A pic?”
Another shrug and I could swear it was uncomfortable when he said, “Sure.”
“I don’t know what this is about, but from an objective observer, he’s fierce and terrifying.”
He brushed my words aside. “Dragons tend to be that.”
“Mine isn’t.”
His smile that time was another smirk, but I was sensing, not a bad one. “No, she isn’t.”
“It isn’t about size. It isn’t about status. It isn’t about anything but what you make of what you’ve got,” I educated him. “The thing is, what you’ve got is a lot, and I don’t know, I haven’t been around for very long, but I suspect the reason beings are annoyed with you is because you’re smart enough to figure that out and do something with it.”
His face closed down. “You’re right, you don’t know.”
“I know. I said that. But be this guy.” I jabbed a finger at the wall. “The male who helped me out. Not the other one, who would have walked away in the hallway and made me try to sort it out myself. I’d trust my life to your dragon. It’d be nice to know I could trust a piece of my heart to you.”
There seemed to be a variety of emotions battling it out in his expression, before he settled on one.
Incidentally, it was the wrong one.
“Do you think you can come into our family and fix us?” he asked, a hint of the snide Timothee in his tone.
“No. But that doesn’t mean I won’t try. It’s using what I’ve got. I might fail, but it would suck more if I didn’t bother to try.”
As his stare turned into a scowl, and I sensed the other Timothee coming to the fore, I again studied the depiction of the Knightstars in the Troll Invasion.
Timothee didn’t engage me in further conversation.
He also didn’t say goodbye when he walked out.
But at least I had a sense of why Aleksei got so hot and bothered after our flight from the gallery.
I still didn’t know why he was so cold and cutting in the closet.
I just knew one thing.
I was in this by choice and destiny.
So eventually, I’d have no choice but to find out.
Chapter 36
Wrong
I was ensconced in the daybed in the Princess’s Retreat Chamber (I named it that myself), reading (not really, I couldn’t concentrate) and cuddling Nova (I was doing better at that) while Jupiter lay on the back of the daybed, his tail swinging lazily, and Comet was giving his pudge the opportunity to spread by laying on his back on the floor.
I was waiting for everyone to be done with work so I’d have people to hang out with, but more to the point, I could grab my gals and get their take on what was up with Aleksei.
I was also recovering from the two comms I’d just made.
I’d asked Nata to get me the sequences for Antheme’s family, as well as the wife of the man who’d died yesterday.
I hadn’t had the opportunity to ask the queen if this was the right thing to do, and I didn’t ask Germaine because I didn’t want her to say no.
I could imagine both families being angry with me, because if not for me, their loved ones would be alive.
But no matter how hard it was going to be (and I knew it was hard before I found out exactly how hard it was), I also couldn’t ignore the fact, because of me, their loved ones were no longer alive.
During the comms, I got the opposite of anger, which weirdly made it worse.
Both were openly moved I took the time to connect, express sympathy and chat with them.
And Antheme’s mom and dad were both reduced to laughing tears that heartened, at the same time broke me, when I shared how much I liked their daughter and the reasons why.