“Huh?”
“You keep watching me as ifI’mgoing to summon your father in the middle of the road.”
“I do not,”Calamitysaid with a roll of her eyes. “Don’tbe so self-centred.”
“Don’t be some-centred,”Nashalaretorted.
“Listen,”Calamitysaid, tugging on the reins so that her horse stopped.Nashaladid the same.
Calamity was sick of holding back her concerns.Yorickwas wrong;Nashala’ssecrets and hers weren’t the same.Nashalahadn’t earned their confidence, no matter how well she’d fought in that arena. “Idon’t trust you.Justweeks ago, you were servingTrulnurothloyally enough that he sent you to protect me.Sowhy wouldIbelieve that you’ve stopped just because you’re still here?”
“You shouldn’t,”Nashalasaid, andCalamityreeled back in surprise, causing her horse’s ears to twitch.
“I …Ishouldn’t?”
Nashala shook her head. “Ididn’t exactly put in my notice when he put me in that totem.Butthat doesn’t meanI’mnot trying in earnest to help you.”
Calamity’s mouth set into a hard line. “So, if he came back now and asked you to leave with him, would you?”
She expected a firm yes– a level of certainty she’d come to expect fromNashala.Butinstead she saw, maybe for the first time, a true wavering of nerves.Nashala’sstoic expression dropped, her lower lip retreating slightly into her mouth as she worried at it, her hands tightening on the reins.
“I don’t know,” she finally answered, so quietly thatCalamityhad to read her lips to know what she’d said.
“Why not?”
Nashala shook her head, thinking. “Ilike fighting with you all.Foryou all.You’refighting to root out evil, and that’s … noble.”
Calamity swallowed a hard lump in her throat. “Howcan you say that when you’ve spent your life intent on perpetrating that evil?”
The corner ofNashala’smouth tugged up in a small smile. “Idon’t know,” she said again. “AllIdo know is that, where working forTrulnurothfelt productive, doing this feels …good.”Shesaid this last word with reverence, as if the concept of goodness were new to her entirely.ForallCalamityknew, maybe it was.
“Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” she said. “Thisis just a fetch quest for the guild.Thoseguys we were fighting when you showed up?They’rethe real baddies.”
Nashala nodded. “Good.I’mglad to help.”
Then she turned her horse back around and trotted after the others, leavingCalamitywondering if she’d been wrong aboutNashalaall along, or if she was being played like a fiddle.Eitherway, only time would tell.Butshe chose to believe this supposed display of evolution, at least for now.Maybeit wasn’t a bad thing to choose to trust in the good in people, even if they’d come from the unlikeliest of places.
Chapter29
Chloe
The momentI’dstepped into the bathroom after nearly four hours of the best sex of my life,Icould tell something was wrong.I’dknown the other shoe would drop eventually, butI’dexpected it to beTeddyretreating like she had so many times before.Surelythe whiplash would be worse for the real deal, right?
Except now,Iwas the one freaking out.
This was way too messy for my liking.I’dsworn off toxic relationships afterLauren, but hereIwas sleeping with my boss– or my co-worker, or nemesis, or friend, or whatever she was to me.
I had real feelings forTeddy.Nomatter who she was to me, she wassomebodyto me.Andthat made this messy, which was the opposite of whatIwanted.
I strode back out to the bedroom, holding my tired, naked body straight and tall, ready to try to pretend everything was fine.Instead,IfoundTeddyalready snoozing away on my side of the bed.SoIexhaled the false confidenceI’dmustered, andIcrawled into bed next to her.
* * *
I didn’t getmuch sleep, andIgot out of bed first in the morning, which was rare for me, especially sleeping next to an early-rising farmer.Istarted getting dressed, my brain on autopilot, accidentally picking upTeddy’strousers in the process.
AsIlifted them and shook them out, her wallet fell out of the back pocket.Ipicked it up, intending to just set it on the nightstand, but it had fallen open.Icouldn’t help but see the contents– her debit and credit cards, herCaliforniadriving license that very unpoetically listedTheodoraNicoleCooper’seyes as just “brown”.Therewas some cash, both in dollars and pounds, aCostcomembership card, and, tucked behind everything else, a folded piece of paper.
I took it out, curiosity getting the better of me, and ran my finger over the familiar corner torn off something larger.Itwas my phone number, whichI’dscribbled on that festival map at theRenaissanceFairemonths ago.Itwas clear she’d looked at it many times over the months since we’d first met inCalifornia, the paper worn soft from handling.Iknew we were long past that first meet not-so-cute, andI’dseen so many different sides of her since then, but it was still a revelation to see that she’d held onto this.PastChloehad fully expected her to chuck it out as soon as she’d found a bin, butPresentChloewasn’t surprised.Teddywould have felt bad for what she’d said as soon as it had left her mouth, even if she’d had every right to be angry with me.Underneaththe composed, unimpressedexteriorwas a soft, sweet, attentive person.
