Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113319 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 567(@200wpm)___ 453(@250wpm)___ 378(@300wpm)
“He cut her off.”
Mr. Tom wasn’t in the kitchen, so I pulled open the fridge door and stared at the contents for a moment. Then shut it. The interior looked like a grocery store had thrown up in there. I wasn’t hungry enough to bother figuring out lunch.
“Cut her off from communication?” I frowned at Niamh as I headed for the hallway again. “That seems a little harsh. What if she wants to go back?”
“He’s desperate fer her to go back. No, he cut her off from the money teat.”
“Gross. So she’s broke?”
“Are ye jokin’?” Niamh gave me a side-eye. “She’s got plenty to be gettin’ on with around here. No rent to speak of, and she’s gettin’ a nice little income from the pack. She’s moving up in the ranks faster than anyone can believe. She’s got a lot of drive and a good head on her shoulders. No, she’ll be just fine.”
“Kingsley’s going to appeal to Austin next,” I said, knowing how these things went.
I approached the bottom of the stairs as Ulric was coming down. He hopped off the last step and then put out his arms for a hug. I complied, as I always did, closing my eyes when he held me tightly and rocked me a little. He’d been doing that often since we’d come back from Kingsley’s, silently offering his support or needing some of mine.
When he stepped back, he pointed at me. “We’re not inviting my mom to Christmas, right?”
“Oh…” I let out a breath. “Um…sorry, Ulric, I thought you knew. Austin and I will be going to my parents’ house for Christmas. We’ll be meeting my ex and his new woman and doing holiday parties and all that. You guys will all be staying here. But you can have her here, if you want? Mr. Tom was intending to make a big dinner and all that stuff.”
He gave me a strange look. “No, then. Okay.” He headed past me.
“I can’t imagine she’ll be overly pleased about that,” I murmured, pausing to watch his wings swing as he walked away.
“She’ll be grand.”
“Did you need something?” I asked as I headed for the front sitting room. Niamh didn’t give or need subtle support like Ulric and a few of the others. She usually just forced me onto a barstool and helped me make bad decisions.
“Not a thing. Just passin’ the time, is all,” she said, following me in.
Tristan sat on one of the couches with a book in hand and his ankle resting on his knee. An empty coffee mug sat on a coaster. A little froth and whipped cream clung to the sides of the mug. He liked to challenge Mr. Tom’s coffee-making prowess.
“Hey,” I said, taking a seat facing him.
He held up a finger, continuing to read, before picking up a bookmark from beside him and fitting it into the pages. He set the book on the coffee table before standing.
“Oh.” I stood with him. He’d wanted to see me about something. I now wondered if this would be a walk-about situation like with Edgar. I had high hopes that this meeting wouldn’t be nearly as annoying.
He stopped in front of me and bent to wrap his arms around my shoulders, holding me tightly before letting me go again, only to hold on to my upper arms and look down into my eyes.
“How are you?” he asked, his gaze searching.
“She’d probably do better if people would stop pandering to her,” Niamh grumbled, heading to one of the couches in the back.
Her surliness didn’t stop a wave of emotion from filling me. My lower lip started to tremble.
Tristan nodded, pulling me in tightly again, hugging me for a long moment as I got myself back under control. They’d stopped telling me that it hadn’t been my fault, or asking if there was anything they could do. It wasn’t logic I needed, or some magical recipe to forget, especially since I didn’t want to forget. I just wanted it to get a little easier.
When he finally released me, he regained his seat, watching me silently.
“I’m fine,” I said, wiping my eyes and then grabbing a tissue to take care of my nose. “What do you need?”
“Two things. The first is that I’d like to work the basajaunak into the gargoyle flight training, but I need you connecting us all so we can be spatially cognizant of each other.”
“My, my. Spatially cognizant, huh?” Niamh drawled. “They must’ve had schools in yer previous life.”
Tristan’s roots were still a mystery. Or maybe Niamh knew everything, and she was just poking fun—I didn’t know. I’d asked to be left out of any discoveries about his past. Plausible deniability was just fine for my current mental situation. I didn’t want to accidentally out the guy, and right now, I couldn’t even remember if I had clothes on half the time.