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TWENTY-NINE
SCOTLIND
The nights had blurred togethersince Kole escaped, and I’d spent every one of them with Peter since I refused to be alone with Sie. We fell into a comfortable routine together. I slept in my bed. He took up the sofa. He didn’t mention my nightmares or the fact that I woke screaming my lungs out most nights. I didn’t mention his snoring. It took me a while to finally fall asleep in front of him. The memory of Kole pulling up that chair, dragging it across the floor, watching me. How he’d waited until I finally slept to attack me—I had Peter get rid of the chair, so only the sofa remained.
I’d seen the healer a few more times since then and I grew to like her. I hadn’t realized how beautiful she was the night she helped me. I was too consumed by pain to pay attention to any details of her. I wanted to ask her about Lux. What was it like? How long had she lived there until she came to Tennebris by a work visa? It was comforting and painful to be around someone from my home Kingdom. I found myself getting lost in her rare eye coloring, which was a coral pink, wondering what colors my parents had.
She told me that my slight limp shouldn’t be permanent. But regardless of her promising news, Peter and Sie had been acting as if I were fragile. Like I was a glass vase sitting on the edge of a table during a storm, waiting to be knocked over and shattered.
They both tried to act relaxed, bored even, around me. Sie did a better job of it than Peter. But I saw them. How Peter moved the sofa to face the door. How each of them scanned every room I walked into. I saw them whispering softly to each other when they thought I wasn’t paying attention. I’d tried to sneak up on them to overhear their conversations, to listen for news of Kole or who might be behind what happened, but with my stupid leg and my new limp, they heard me coming every time. It was annoying to be coddled. My nightmares aside, I was fine. I could handle whatever news they had for me. I wasn’t broken, at least not entirely.
But they were scared.
This morning was no different. “Mmm, that smells good,” I said to Peter, taking in the scents of my room as I sleepily yawned and stretched my arms out in front of me. “What are we having for breakfast today?”
We hadn’t been able to do our usual morning training session, so it’d been replaced with breakfast and the promise that once I was healed, he would train me twice as hard.
He flashed me that dazzling, warm smile of his. “Go wash, and you’ll find out when you are done.” I stuck my tongue out at him. Then, groaning softly, I climbed out of my warm bed, feeling sticky. The sun was shining through the windows, filling the room with light as I grabbed a candle and made my way toward the bathing room to wash. That was another part of our unspoken deal. He never asked why I was drenched in sweat every morning. He could assume as much from my screams.
When I sat back down for breakfast, my eyes went wide as I took in the whole spread and filled my plate with hot oatmeal, eggs, fruit, and an assortment of pastries. Peter laughed at my full plate and said, “This is our last morning together, so I thought we would go all out.”
“What do you mean?” I said in between a large bite of a juicy apple, not bothering to cover my mouth. “Did you guys catch Kole?”
He gave me the most puzzling look. “Are you serious, Scottie? You really don’t know?” I shook my head as I took another bite of my apple, a bit of the juice dribbling down my chin.
Peter leaned back in his chair, almost laughing as he put his hands behind his head. “You’re going to spend the rest of your nights andmorningswith Sie.”
“No, I’m not,” I snapped way too quickly. “I mean… I’m not until we are married since we aren’t allowed to. He said I was allowed to stay with you.”
The look Peter gave me made me choke on the piece of apple that had now lodged itself in my throat.
“Is it starting to make sense now? Did it finally click in that pretty head of yours?” He laughed as I forced myself to swallow the lump. “Happy wedding day, Scottie,” he added with the most triumphant smile as he reached to grab a pastry off my plate.
I suddenly lost my appetite. How had I lost track of the date? I had been purposely trying to avoid thinking about my upcoming wedding, and worse—my wedding night, but I thought it wasn’t for another week.
“Fuck,” the word slipped out of me before I could think better of it.
Peter’s laughter filled my bedroom as he smirked. “Yeah, I guess you will be doing a lot of that tonight.” I chucked the remainder of my apple at him as I felt my neck and cheeks burn. That only made him laugh harder.
“I’m glad you got a good night’s rest last night. You probably won’t sleep at all tonight or the next few nights. Rumor has it that Sie can last forhours.” He winked at me.
I leaned over the breakfast spread and threw my hand up, readying to slap him as he laughed.
“Okay, okay. I’ll stop teasing you.” I slumped back into my chair as he added, “Come on, finish your breakfast. You really will need your strength today. It’s going to be alongandhardday.”
So much for not teasing me. I shot him a glare. “I’m not hungry anymore.”
Peter jumped from his chair, wiping his hands on his thighs. “So eager to get to it, Scottie.” My eyes went wide as I attempted to hit him again, but he quickly stepped out of the way. I hated my limp so much at that moment. Then he said in a serious tone, “He’s a good guy, Scotlind. You’re going to be fine.”
“Then why don’t you marry him?” I quipped as I slumped back into the chair.
“Tempting as that is, he doesn’t have the right parts,” he winked at me again.
“You mean he doesn’t have red hair and boobs?”
“It’s not my fault your friend is hot.”
I laughed. “You are the male version of Vallie, so I guess it is fitting.”
