Total pages in book: 254
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 240032 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1200(@200wpm)___ 960(@250wpm)___ 800(@300wpm)
I remembered something else. “They also mentioned that their ‘brethren’ in the south lived with my DNA mom at some point, and that’s how I understand them. How does that work?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Gnomes have been said to have long memories. There’s a lot we don’t know about.” He paused. “I met a man once who could do things to plants that you wouldn’t believe. I’ve heard of other beings who could do things there aren’t explanations for.” He said that looking me right in the eye. “Do you remember the man who lived across the street from you? With the eye patch?”
“Oh yeah. I know who my parents thought he was.”
Henri nodded slowly. “He’s who they thought he was, Nina.”
That’s what I’d been afraid of. Not actually afraid, but…. “You really think so?”
“I know he was.”
So had I, but it had still been wishful thinking. If that man had done half of what stories said he had, no wonder he’d been feared and revered at the same time. A benevolent god, he was not known for being.
And how or why the man who had once been called Odin had ended up in a tiny town in New Mexico was something I would never understand either.
Henri had already moved on though. “The gnomes didn’t say any names?” He almost sounded hopeful.
“No, but they called him the son of night.” I shrugged.
Henri stayed quiet for a minute before saying, “The elders are going to ask about what you talked about. We’ll have to tell them you saw them, but the rest can wait.”
Was he telling me to lie?
He must have seen the question on my face because he added, “You know what? You told me about it. That’s good enough. If you want to say something, I don’t see how them wanting to be around you would change anything or give anything away.”
I focused on his thick throat, covered in short, dark hair that needed a shaving before he went to work again. “I don’t want to do something that ruins us being here,” I admitted.
“It won’t.” He shook his head. “You’re not lying about anything. I’m telling you it’s fine; if they have a problem, they can talk to me. All right?”
My gaze slid up to meet his again, and I took in every bit of that ruggedly boned face that got better looking the more I saw it. “I don’t want you to get in trouble either.”
“I won’t,” he seemed to promise, his expression so serious. “And you don’t need to put up with other people’s shit. Nobody has a right to pressure you into telling them anything, even them, not if it isn’t their business. You’ll let me know next time there’s a problem.”
He wasn’t asking me. He was telling me I would.
The urge to insist I could handle it was in my mouth, but his offer did something to the part of me that wanted him to like me, so I kept my mouth shut and asked, “You’ll back me up?” Like I couldn’t believe it.
Maybe because I couldn’t.
That muscle in his cheek flexed, and those beautiful irises burned straight through my flesh and into me. “I will,” he confirmed.
I took his offer to heart and nodded.
And then he said the words that were going to get stuck on a loop in my head for probably the rest of my life. “I don’t need to know what you are, because I’m seeing it, and I’m not worried about you, Cricket.” The chest that had stood as a barrier between me and that asshole minutes ago, rose and fell. “There’s nothing scary about you at all,” Henri Blackrock claimed. “Got it?”
Chapter
Fourteen
I had an idea something was going on when I dropped Duncan and Agnes off at the nursery and caught Pascal waving at me shyly.
From what I’d learned about him in the time we’d spent together, the shy bones in his body were the size of the tiny ones found in people’s ears… if he had any to begin with. I didn’t count how quiet he’d been around Matti the day of the Jenny Greenteeth incident because I had a feeling that had been more shock than shyness that had stolen his talkativeness.
I didn’t put too much thought into his wave though. There were other things on my mind. Things like my biological parents, the gnomes and their mysterious desires, Henri, Duncan, and that asshole Dominic. Agnes too. And I’d needed to start my shift right afterward.
That afternoon, after working in the room where all the action had gone down the night before, I’d realized without a doubt that something was definitely up when I made my rounds to the nursery. Because when I got to the little window of the door, every single puppy had been sitting properly, some on their hind legs and some on their human butts with their legs crossed in front of them.