Page 63 of Iron Unicorn

Maybe I wore blinders, but I had learned from my experiences with other empaths. I’d have to learn new tricks, but Olivia would make the battles worth the while. She would struggle, but in time, she would recover.

Once her crying subsided, I hugged her, kissed her temple as she often kissed mine, and said, “A little better?”

“A little.”

A little would eventually go a long way, although she would need time to make the full journey. Nobody healed overnight. “A little is all you need right now. Things will get better. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I just thought he’d be mad at me for having it done. He’s mad at me because I didn’t have it done sooner.”

For fuck’s sake. Some days, I wanted to bonk the entire Montana royal family upside the head to knock sense back into them. “He’s not really mad at you. He’s mad at himself he made an assumption that hurt your health. There is a difference. And if he said he’s mad at you for not getting it done sooner, I’ll roll him around in some mud a few extra times.”

Olivia sighed and snuggled close, and I rubbed her arm, aware of how much she appreciated someone being willing to do something as little as touch her.

I could understand how such a drastic change in her appearance could cause so many problems for her—and how it could morph into fear and anxiety.

“People can be truly terrible,” I informed her. “That’s why the RPS exists. If people were always nice, there’d be no need for people like me to protect people like you. Everyone would get along. But that’s not the case. You’re going to have to deal with a lot of jealous people, people who respected you because of your personality, drive, and desire to help others. For you to be genuinely beautiful after a birth defect was corrected? How utterly horrible for them, who mostly only have beauty as their claim to fame. Yes, your nose has changed. But you don’t have to let your changed nose change who you are. Continue to be the same cheerful person you’ve always been. You do not have to please the jealous masses. Do what you always have done. Then you’ll be as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside. You’ve always been beautiful on the inside. It’s not your fault people decide to see with their eyes instead of with their heart. But if people did that more often, I’d be out of a job.”

“People suck.”

“They really do.” I gave her another kiss on her temple. “You were scared your family wouldn’t love you anymore.”

She nodded.

“They still love you. Your brother is just upset because he worries, his anxiety runs away from him, and he thinks about what might have been versus what is. I’ll make sure to tip off the Montana RPS to keep an eye on him and Daphne. They’ll take this a lot harder than anyone else in your family, but I suspect your other brothers and sisters will do their fair share of wallowing. They should have known better. Your brother needed an operation to fix his sinuses, and he didn’t have nearly as bad of a time of it as you.”

I would spend some time later, and in private, beating myself up for not realizing that if the king had needed an operation to fix his sinuses, the same problem likely existed within the rest of the family as well.

Olivia suffered the worst of the genetic problems. The issue would end with her, however.

I’d make certain of that, and I’d enjoy taking the entirety of the Montana RPS to school about it if needed—and then I’d go over New York to make certain no medical issues were lurking around waiting to cause me problems.

“It’s my fault.”

Rather than dig out the clicker and give her another count, I considered her perspective, accepting she was at fault for some of the situation. “Part of it is your fault, yes. You hid the severity from your family, which means they couldn’t take care of you as you needed. But they also pressured you about your nose and being accepted as you are. Sometimes, that just doesn’t work. Everyone made mistakes, including myself. I didn’t think your nose’s shape interfered with your breathing. Had I known that, I would have arranged for your treatment myself. I am an overbearing RPS agent, after all. It’s in my job description.”

Olivia sat up, grabbed the box of tissues, and blew her nose. “You don’t think I’m overreacting?”

“You’re not overreacting. It’s okay to be upset. It’s even okay to cry about it. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. You’re not lessened as a person because you needed an operation tobreathe. Breathing is important, Olivia. I’m happy to remind you of that daily.”

“Even blowing my nose is weird now.”

“I mean, I can see how that would be. You went from a disaster to full functionality. Is it easier now?”

“It’s significantly easier.”

“Good. Once you finish blowing your nose, we’re going to go have a look in the mirror and start working you towards accepting you’re now as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside. The inside didn’t change at all. All you did was give yourself the ability to breathe. But think about it this way. People love you so much that they celebrated the resolution of your health problem through torturing me with crabs, lobsters, and shrimp.”

That won me a laugh, albeit a strangled one. “Do you think so?”

“I know so. And they’re getting the last laugh. I’m going to have to arrange for the security of two monster lobsters. It’s a gift that keeps on giving. I don’t know what I did to stir Maine’s wrath, but I’m quite sorry about it!”

She giggled. “I’m sorry they tortured you, Terry.”

“I’m not,” I replied, grateful I spoke the truth. “You needed to see how much people care about you. Now, come along. Let’s go have a look at you in the mirror. It’s time for you to see how everyone else has seen you all along.”

* * *

It tookseveral visits from Montana’s king and three days in front of the mirror for Olivia to work her way through most of her problems with her new nose. The entire process exhausted me, and I feared I would be the owner of a talent exertion diagnosis if I didn’t find some way to unwind, relax, and restore my general blinders to those around me.

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