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“Nothing to apologize for,” he murmured, taking my hand and brushing a kiss across my skin.
Goosebumps skittered up my arm…but they weren’t the good kind. It was all I could do not to flinch.
“Ready to eat?” he asked, obviously missing my unease.
“Rune!”the mysterious voice called again, and I barked out a surprised yelp.
“Darling?”
“A weird cramp in my leg,” I explained quickly.
He seemed to take that as the truth, and held out his arm for me to hold.
My wolf growled the moment I slid my arm through his. What the crap was going on?
I knew this man was my fated mate. I remembered the feeling I’d had as clearly as if it had happened today…so what had changed?
Alistair led me two doors down, where a lavish dining room lay. There was no one in the room, meaning I still didn’t know where the voices had come from that I’d heard in the hallway. A table that could hold at least twenty people took up the majority of the room, but there were just two place settings.
The feel of it was awkward…and stilted. Like everything with Alistair had been thus far. He pulled out my seat for me and I slid in, staring down at the myriad of forks and knives lying on the table in front of me.
I guess at least if I was going to embarrass myself by not knowing which fork was which…it was in front of my mate and not a room full of people.
There was an entryway across from the door we’d entered in, and a woman dressed in a stiff white apron and brown cotton dress bustled through it carrying a bottle of wine in a small silver cooler, and two wine glasses.
I was carrying a tray with wine and glasses. One of Alistair’s men put out his foot in front of me as I passed, and I tripped and dropped the tray. Glass and wine went everywhere.
“You stupid little bitch. Clean it up!” Alistair snarled, his hand whipping across my cheek and sending me flying to the ground.
"What is it?" Alistair asked, his face a picture of concern.
I was clammy, my hands shaking as I grasped at the napkin on the table in front of me.
“I was walking, carrying a tray…and I dropped it." I searched his face for any sign of recollection, but he just looked confused. "One of your men tripped me, and afterwards…you hit me."
He gasped. "I would never," he breathed, reaching out to try and take my hand. I moved them both into my lap, out of his reach, still trying to read him.
You would have to be a psychopath to be that good of an actor, I thought to myself. There was nothing in his gaze… in his features at all, to show any sign he’d done what had just flashed through my head.
"Rune," he began, his voice hurt. "I talked to the doctors, and they said your memory might never be right after what the Queen did to you."
"What do you think she did to me?” I interrupted him. “Because I have no bruises on my body, and I don't look like I haven't been eating. So what happened?"
"You've been in a comatose state for three weeks, Rune."
I gasped and almost fell out of my chair. "What?"
He shook his head. "I didn’t want to scare you, but the way we found you…” He stared off at the wall. "I don't know that I'll ever recover from that," he said hollowly.
At that moment more of the staff came in with trays loaded down with food. They set down platters of roasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, and roasted carrots. I should have been over the moon about the food, but it felt like my brain was broken. I couldn't trust myself. I’d lost so much time. What if I lost more time? What if my memory continued to struggle? Is this how I would have to live from now on?
Alistair began to spoon food onto my plate, acting like the perfectly attentive mate. He prodded me to eat and once I mechanically began to pick at it, he proceeded to talk about various things, filling the silence I was giving him.
I finished off my whole plate, forcing myself to eat since it felt like I needed to keep up my strength the best I could.
When we were finished, the staff came and cleared off the table before setting down plates of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
“Take a bite, darling. It’s your favorite,” he murmured gently, as I heard my name called again in my head.
