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They both turned to look at me in surprise.
“The tea,” I clarified, just in case of any confusion.
“Nonsense. You are a guest in my house.Princesa,sit with your friend. I shall be but a moment.”
She took advantage of Nora’s distraction to slip out of her arms and make her way to the kitchen. I looked around the room, admiring the comfort it exuded. A person could sit in this room for hours, with a warm blanket on a rainy day and a mug of hot tea, and never want to move.
“Well, welcome to my humble abode. Won’t you sit?” she indicated the sofa. I sank into it, and it was just about as soft as I’d imagined.
I looked towards the mantelpiece where pictures of two girls at various ages dominated the space. Sometimes joined by their grandmother, sometimes not. There were no pictures of Nora’s parents.
“It’s a nice place,” I said as Nora came to sit next to me, folding her legs under her and leaning back with a sigh.
She ran a hand through her dark hair. “Yes, I suppose it is. Grandma made sure to make it nice for us. She wanted us to feel safe and at home when we came to live with her.”
“Well, she did a good job.”
“She did.” She turned to face me and smiled. “Thank you for being here.”
“You’re welcome.” I reached out and squeezed her hand.
Her grandmother came back, carrying a tray, and I leapt up to take it from her. I put it down on the table and she served us black tea and chocolate chip cookies.
She sat down in the armchair facing us and put her hands on the arm as if she was a monarch, judging us. “Now, tell me what happened.”
I gave her a severely edited version of everything, just letting her know we found out that Celia had been kidnapped by traffickers, traced them using my contacts and found her in a bad way together with other victims.
“Did she… say anything?” she asked.
Nora sniffed, a tear falling down her face. “She said… ‘always the protector’, and then she smiled.” Nora shook her head, her shoulders shaking with the force of her tears. “I-I didn’t pro-protect her when it mattered the m-most,” she sobbed.
Her grandmother leaned forward, grabbing her arm, and squeezing tight as she looked intently into Nora’s eyes. “Youdid,” she said fiercely. “You never gave up, even when I did. And you brought her home.”
That only made Nora cry harder. Her grandmother released her arm and made a gesture towards me. I took that as my cue to gather Nora in my arms and hold her as she cried. Lita and I exchanged loaded glances. We understood each other perfectly. There was only one person who needed to be protected in this room now, and she was sitting between us.
Eventually Nora’s sobs petered off, though she hiccupped now and then. She sat up straight, apologizing for her outburst. Both of us hastened to assure her that there was nothing to apologize for.
“You did what you had to do,” Lita said, and I had a feeling she wasn’t just talking about Nora’s tears. “Now you should go and rest.”
Nora nodded, and then to my surprise, she turned to me. “Will you come with me?”
I flicked a glance at Lita, but her face was impassive. I nodded. “Of course.”
We both stood up, and Nora went to kiss her grandmother’s cheek. “Good night, Lita.”
“Night,Princesa. Sleep well. It’ll all be better in the morning.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
NORA
Ididn’t know if I would be able to sleep but I was bone-tired, nevertheless. So I didn’t think too much about it when Alexei tucked me into bed like I was a child. I grabbed onto him as he straightened up, loath to have him far away from me.
“Stay,” I whispered.
He looked towards the door and then back at me. “But what about your grandmother?”
I shrugged, wordless.
