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“Edel, will you please watch Thaddeus?” June asked, though it didn’t appear as if she intended to wait for the answer.
“Yes. Of course, dear,” his mother called after them. She too sounded befuddled.
As if hoping to cut them off, Leanora nearly tripped over herself on her way around the couch, but she wasn’t quick enough.
“Leanora. You should leave.” June declared.
Tristan really shouldn’t have been amused by Leanora’s outraged expression as June closed the door in her face.
“June,” Tristan started, wanting to get right to the point. “I know you must be angry with me—”
She wheeled around on him. “That doesn’t matter now.”
“It doesn’t?”
“Well, no, yeah, it does matter, and yes, I’m pissed and I can’t believe you—” She cut herself off and took a breath. “But it doesn’t matter now. It’s done. And it’s not what I need to talk to you about. I think someone hurt Thaddeus.”
Tristan shook his head, struggling to reconcile himself with the drastic shift in topic. “What?”
“I saw a bruise on his arm in the shape of a handprint.”
Tristan’s gut wrenched. “Are you certain? He was likely out in the forests on his own for a long while. Might it have been a fall that has caused this bruise?” He recalled coming home with a new bruise every day when he was a lad.
She shook her head. “It’s very distinctive.” She grabbed the spot above his wrist and demonstrated. “It’s made when someone grabs you and holds tight right here. So tight you think your arm will break.” The conviction in her eyes made him wonder if she had first-hand experience. “When it’s fresh, the whole area might be bruised, but after time, you will see three or four distinct marks across here where the fingers have dug in.”
Tristan wanted to scoop her up in his arms and promise no one would ever harm her like that again, but he didn’t think that would go over well just yet.
“Do you know anything about his parents?”
“No. Just that the father suggested he might have run away from home.”
She nodded, her eyes going distant. “Me and my brother used to run away when we could tell our father was nearing a rampage.”
He hated that she grew up with such fear. If this so-called father of hers were still living, he’d fly to Earth and change that fact directly.
“We would stay gone for hours and hours,” she continued. “It’s possible Thaddeus did the same but got lost and couldn’t find his way back.”
“Even if this is true, it is a big accusation to make.”
June crumbled a little. “I know. And I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but there are some red flags here that I can’t ignore. Such as his reaction to you and Leanora arguing. It frightened him. I just had to bring this to your attention because if anyone can do something about it, you can.”
Her expression settled into a businesslike mask. She turned as if to leave, but he caught her by the elbow. “Are we no’ to talk about us?”
He couldn’t stand it when sorrow clouded her eyes. “There is no us. We both knew this was temporary. You had fun. I had fun. Clearly your fiancée still wants you. So no harm no foul, I guess.” Again she made for the exit, and again he stopped her.
“I must have said it ten times this evening, but I will say it again.” With his finger hooked under her chin, he tilted her head so that she would look at him. The unshed tears in her eyes gutted him. “She is no’ my fiancée.”
“Officially, maybe not. But unofficially? From what I understand about politics, she is. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“I should have. I know that. But when I’m with you, nothing else matters.”
She shook her head. “That’s such a line.”
“It’s true, though. You have bewitched me, June of Earth. I don’t want her. I want you.”
Her eyes went wide for a moment, but then she looked away as if pained by his words. “Please don’t,” she muttered.
“Don’t what?”
