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Blythe hadn't been ready to talk to anyone except Tor. "How did you find out?"
"Holger told me. He knows better than to hide that kind of stuff from me. Why don't you?"
Blythe had no answer, mostly because she felt like the question covered so much more than just her current situation.
"You are the sister of my heart," Janice said. "You can always tell me anything."
There was definitely a message there that Blythe could not ignore. "I'm dating your brother-in-law." Though the fact he'd been in her bedroom with her in the middle of the night and they'd come out together holding hands had no doubt told Janice everything already.
The Queen of Tapt Oyer rolled her eyes like a sarcastic teenager. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Unable to respond to the humor, Blythe felt tears well and blinked them back.
Tor seemed to sense she was on the edge of an emotional melt down, because he gently disentangled her from Janice and pulled her into his body. "You two can talk in the morning. Right now, we all need our sleep."
Blythe could not miss the look of gratitude King Holger threw his brother. "Yes," he said to Janice. "Come, min kjæreste. You have seen for yourself that Blythe is all in one piece. Later this morning is time enough for hashing out the details."
"She hides her emotions," Janice said with a glare for her husband. "Don't assume anything of the kind. Her heart is in tatters."
"It's not," Blythe assured Janice. And was shocked to realize it was true.
Linda's betrayal had hurt her badly, but it had not shattered her heart.
"I don't believe you," Janice said baldly. "Linda was your friend. You trusted her and you trust so few people."
"Yes, and it hurts. A lot. Okay? But I'm going to be fine." Blythe knew that to be true.
Even if Tor had not come back into her life, she would have been okay. She was a survivor.
But he had come back and his presence was a soothing balm on her soul.
Janice's espresso gaze probed Blythe's, looking for truth and maybe more, then she turned her head slightly to give Tor a considering look. Finally, she nodded. "All right. We can all get some sleep, but I warn you I want answers tomorrow about everything."
Blythe didn't miss the warning. Janice wasn't going to get fobbed off and she'd want not only the how long, how serious and how intimate questions answered but a whole lot of whys.
"He gets answers first, then we'll talk, okay?" Blythe was not entirely convinced that after she told Tor the why of her insistence that they had no future that he would not end things.
She would need Janice's understanding and sympathy then. But she was done with hiding stuff from the people most important to her.
And not before time. Blythe could practically hear those words spoken in her heart sister's voice inside her head.
"Tor needs answers?" Janice asked and then shook her head. "Never mind. Tomorrow. You can tell it all to me tomorrow."
The queen suddenly seemed to deflate and went from looking fierce to exhausted. "I tried to sleep on the plane, but I couldn't." She covered her mouth as she yawned. "I really do think bed is a good idea."
It should have been easy after that. They'd all agreed on bed, but Janice didn't want to leave the apartment and tried to insist on sleeping in the spare room with Holger.
The king hadn't liked that idea at all, both for the sake of privacy and the security issue.
Proving she was too tired for rationality, Janice had dug her heels in and refused to leave.
Blythe had ended up agreeing to spend the rest of the night at Tor's penthouse, complete with multiple guest rooms well away from Tor's own suite, and state of the art security system as well as a bevy of guards on duty at all times.
Blythe threw a bag together, and once again left her apartment in yoga pants in less than two days. At least this time, she'd thought to grab a coat.
Tor took the time she was packing to dress, his own bags still packed from when they'd been dropped off the evening before. Blythe spent the drive assuring Janice that she really was going to be okay.
There had been a time that Linda, Janice and her mother, Lady Ingrid, were the only people in Blythe's inner circle. But that wasn't true any longer. She was part of the Royal Family of Tapt Oyer, even if she never married Tor.
