Page 124 of Dancing for the Minotaur

“Mom, please.”

Lucy’s expression softened.

“Honey, that man looked like somebody shot his dog, and you look like you’ve been crying for twelve hours. Something happened.”

Terra picked up her overnight bag.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Did he hurt you?”

“No.” The answer came instantly—too instantly.

Lucy noticed.

“Did he scare you?”

Terra hesitated.

“Kind of.”

Her mother’s face tightened.

“But not…not the way you’re thinking,” Terra added quickly. “He didn’t force me to do anything. He didn’t threaten me. He didn’t even get angry.”

“Then what happened?”

Terra shook her head.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it.”

Lucy studied her for another moment, then sighed.

“All right. I won’t push. But when you do want to talk, I’m here.”

Terra gave her a brief hug.

“I know. Thanks, Mom.”

She carried her bags inside and went straight to the bedroom that had once been hers as a teenager and had become hers again after her divorce. She shut the door behind her, sat down on the edge of the bed and tried to hold herself together.

She lasted about thirty seconds…then she put her face in her hands and cried.

The thing was, Terra wasn’t even sure what she was crying about.

She was home. She was safe. Her children were right down the hall and her mother was in the kitchen fussing over her new plant. This was exactly what she had wanted all morning.

So why did she feel as though she had left something important behind? Why did she keep seeing Taurex’s exhausted face when he offered to have another Monstrum fly her home because he thought she was afraid of him? Why did she keep hearing his voice saying, “Have a beautiful life, Terra,” with that terrible finality?

She cried until she had no tears left, then washed her face, hugged her children again and told herself she had done the right thing.

For the next several days, she continued telling herself the same thing. Then several days became a week. A week became two and the certainty she’d had became harder and harder to maintain.

Taurex didn’t call. He didn’t text. He didn’t show up outside the bungalow or send gifts or try to convince her to reconsider.

At first, Terra was relieved…then she was irritated. Then she began checking her phone far more often than she wanted to admit.

By the end of the second week, she had begun to wonder if she was still employed.