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She sat on Tristan’s armrest and looked pleasantly at Lila, a blush rising on her cheeks. “Sorry, I didn’t know we had company. I’m Katia.”
She intertwined her fingers with Tristan’s.
Lila struggled to answer. What was she to think of the pretty, young woman at Tristan’s side? That for all his waxing on about his feelings, for all his declarations of love, for all his insistence that she was the only one for him, for all his badgering that she should leave her entire life behind and cast her lot in with him, he’d…
What?
Been full of crap the whole time?
She’d thought a lot of things about Tristan over the last few months, but she’d never dreamed he might be a liar. Her mother had claimed that she’d been blind, though. Perhaps that blindness really did extend to Tristan.
How had she been so wrong?
It wasn’t the only thought rising in her mind. Seeing Katia’s fingers intertwined with his, seeing Tristan’s hand stray to his lover’s back, she had to ask herself why it bothered her so much. Why did it feel like a slap? She was supposed to be better than this. She was a highborn, for oracle’s sake. She’d had loads of lovers who’d spent time with other women. It had never bothered her before when she spied them with someone else.
But this hurt. It hurt much worse than waking up after a tranq. It even hurt worse than breaking up with Tristan before the Closing Ball.
His words had tricked her, had caged her. He’d said things he obviously hadn’t meant and pushed her into feelings she shouldn’t have. He couldn’t have meant those words if he’d fallen into bed so quickly with someone new. She couldn’t imagine doing the same, not even a month later.
How did it make sense that she’d said less but felt more?
Oracle’s wrath, at least she hadn’t given up her family for him. At least she knew how it would have turned out.
It didn’t help her to breathe, though.
Tristan patted Katia’s back. “We call her Hood. She has worked with us in the past. Now she’s working with us again, at least for today.”
“I like the name Hood. It’s very…descriptive.”
Lila did not answer.
“We should get going if we’re going to make it to my mother’s on time,” Katia said. “I need to get home early so I can take a shower. I forgot my dress last night in the rush.”
“Okay. Go get your things.”
Katia gave Tristan a little peck on the forehead and a lingering caress on the cheek, then returned to his bedroom.
Or was it their bedroom?
“I apologize, but I have a prior engagement.” Tristan gathered his coat and palm, circling the room as though he’d forgotten something.
He spied it in the corner. A wrapped box, large enough to fit two oranges inside.
Katia returned with her boots and a large purse. “It was lovely to meet you, Hood.”
“Same to you,” Lila fumbled.
The door to the apartment closed behind them.
Lila did not remove her hood.
Dixon tugged it off, sighing at the mess he found there. The red eyes. The blood from where she’d bitten her lip.
His arms stirred, as though he might embrace her, but Lila pushed him away. “Don’t. Just don’t. I can’t.”
I didn’t know she would be here. I would have told you if I’d known.
“Why would it matter? It’s none of my business. It’s fine, Dixon. I’m fine.”
