AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Venetia nodded.
I reached out and played with the new length of her hair alongside her face. “But yes, I guess I will always worry. I have faith in you that you will be alright, but I am still worried about you all the time. So maybe that will just never go away.” I shuddered. “It’s probably why your father is so high-strung when it comes to his children—there are so many of them and that’s a shit-load of worry he’s carrying around with him.”
She laughed, then glanced up at the castle. “How is he?”
“He is good. Cantankerous and overbearing as always, but I, apparently, find that endearing.”
“Is he mad at me for going into the Academy?”
“No.” I chuckled. “No, he blames me fair and square for that one.”
Her look dropped, staring at the tip of her right thumbnail digging into the knuckle of her left thumb. “It’s eerie—the castle looks…the same. Just this labyrinth is different.”
“Yeah. It’s almost creepy how nearly identical it is now to how it was then. As for the maze…change is inevitable.” I shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want to keep everything the same. Things in stone, yes, growing things, no.”
She nodded, stealing a glance up at me. “Does he hate me for tearing it all to pieces?”
“Do I even need to answer that question?”
I stared at her and realized that—yes, I did need to answer that question.
“Venny, he searched for you for years after I took you away—he never gave up the search. He always wanted you back. Was he furious? Yes, of course he was. But being angry at someone does not equal hate.”
“So then, he doesn’t hate me, but he doesn’t trust me?”
I waved my finger in a circle in the air. “He trusted you enough to let you come out here by yourself and take the news of the baby without his interference. He knows I would tell you right away. So I would say that is a lot of trust.”
Her eyes brightened, a soft smile coming to her lips. Still so heartbreakingly vulnerable. “He did do that, didn’t he?”
I chuckled, leaning toward her. “He honestly just surprised me on that one as well.”
Cookie nudged my leg.
I reached down to pet him. “Let’s go in and find your father. I’m sure he would much rather see your face than be forced into looking at Uncle Tri’s mug.”
“No need.” A deep voice cut into the air and both of us looked to the entrance at the center of the maze.
Cookie started to bark and ran across the open expanse to him.
Next to me, Venetia scrambled to her feet as Damen bent over and scratched the puppy behind the ears. “A little late on the alarm, Brutus.”
The puppy just looked up at him adoringly, his hind right leg starting to thump on the ground, Damen’s scratch hitting just the right spot.
Venetia’s weight shifted back and forth between her feet, waiting. Which only made me hold my own breath.
Damen finally stood straight and looked at his daughter.
For the longest seconds, ages ticked by, two sets of amber eyes staring at each other in silence.
Longer. Longer.
If I didn’t know better, I’d swear both of them had developed telepath abilities and they were having a nice long chat in their minds.
Then Damen did the most extraordinary thing.
He opened his arms wide.
A choking gasp came out of Venetia, and she started to move forward, her feet shuffling through the snow until she reached him, falling into his embrace.
