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’m so darn done with everything. I can’t take any more trials.
But then Tristan walks into the room, now wearing just a simple shirt with one sleeve pulled up to reveal a fresh cast.
“I thought you’d want to see Lady before bed,” he says softly. “I know she doesn’t look like in the book you left me, but I think she’s growing quite nicely, right?”
Air gets stuck in my throat as I look from him to the huge dog that’s… smiling at me with two rows of teeth, then back at Tristan.
“Lady?” I ask in a small voice, and the creature from hell yelps, leaping onto the bed to start a circular dance.
It’s her.
It really is.
The puppy I saved has become… something else, because her looks sure as heck aren’t up to the breed standard. “She’s… huge.”
Tristan scratches his head, coming closer. “That’s… these things happen to animals from the human realm. Especially when they’re still growing. We often can’t predict what way they will develop, so it’s forbidden to bring them here. But, of course, Lady is exempt of those rules.” He leans down and I notice he has a snack for her. She looks so happy when she crushes it with her giant teeth. “She’s smart, and playful, and listens… most of the time.”
The sweet way he treats her, how he scratches her behind the ear, is melting my defences all too quickly. He’s why I ended up here. Why I was tortured. And he will not be why I stay.
“I want her here,” I say quickly, sliding my arms around her muscular trunk. I can’t bear to look at Tristan now, because he obviously loves the dog and has had her for longer than me. If our eyes meet, I might just let him remain too.
“Of course. I’m sure she missed you. You probably want to sleep, but I’ll be back in a few hours and take her for a walk. You’ll be taking her to the garden yourself in no time—”
“No,” I say sharply,and rub Lady’s back when she whines, still very much a sweetheart, despite the unreasonable number of teeth in her jaw. “I don’t… I don’t want to see anyone. Just her.”
Tristan shifts his weight and strokes the cast on his arm. “Are you sure? I could—”
“I don’t want to see you especially. When I’m rested enough to think, I’ll send you a message. Through the medics, or… something. We don’t have to spend time together to research the unicorn.”
Tristan hesitates but then clears his throat. “As you wish. Lady, stay.”
She looks up in shock when he leaves, and at another time in my life it would have been adorable and hilarious. I don’t have the energy to enjoy her reaction.
I listen to his footsteps, my heart beating faster as the distance between us grows, and hug Lady tightly, disbelieving that she’s here with me. She’s grown so big and strange, but when she licks my face as if I’m covered in peanut butter, I know she recognizes me.
Chapter 22
Tristan
My feet are like two lead anchors when I walk away from Nate’s door. But my heart is even heavier, and the contempt I saw in his black eyes is staining every bit of me.
I did that to him.
I left him.
We both know it.
He has to depend on me now, but that doesn’t mean he trusts me, and I fear he never will. I wasted two months sulking and fantasizing about ways in which I would woo him and impress him while he remained locked in a dungeon. Suffering. Hoping for my help. I’ve let him down, and the blooming affection I’ve clung to during his absence might never recover.
I walk down the winding stairs as if in a trance and the movement makes me dizzy with memories of the terrifying moment when I laid eyes on him in the dungeon. It cuts my chest into ribbons to think I was playing with Lady, complaining about not getting the flavor of pie I wanted, or daydreaming about bedding him again while Nate was going through incomprehensible horrors.
And all that time, he thought I’d abandoned him.
Maybe I did. Should I have not enquired about him more sternly? Forced my way in sooner?
I struggle to breathe by the time I get back to the empty library. The weight of guilt settles over my chest like a nightmare demon, and I have to sit down. I slide down the nearest wall in a secluded part of the library. The moon is rising, but it will be a while before courtiers start browsing the shelves, so I’m safe to wallow in self-pity I don’t deserve.
I fucked up. Again. I’m a fuck up. My title and the feats accomplished at tournaments mean nothing if I can’t protect the ones I care about.