Page 141 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“You need me more,” I say. “And I can sleep at night.”
“She is right,” my mother says, much to my surprise. “I will go with her, so that she doesn’t overdo it. But walking around will do Alana good. She is a werewolf, and she needs to move. Now that she has awakened, her body will heal fast.”
Eye to eye with my mother, my poor father stands no chance. So, mom and Simin help me take a bath and dress in fresh clothes, before carefully leading me through the castle. She is right, I need to take it slow, because my body feels so drained. We visit Azadeh shortly. Endellion and Flinn are there, watching over her.
My heart aches when I see the worry on my brothers’ faces and how exhausted Azadeh looks in her bed.
The next stop is Tynan’s room. When he opens the door, his eyes widen in shock. Without muttering a word, he pulls me into a hug. For a few minutes, all my sorrow returns, and the both of us sob silently. “We sent her away with all our love,” he says quietly. “I made sure to burn one of your scarves with her, so that she would have a part of you with her.”
“Thank you,” I say quietly, trying to battle the guilt for not having been there when they sent her off to the goddess.
“Okay, Tynan,” I wipe away my tears and look at him firmly. “Now we go, and try to track down your mate.”
“You are going to be there with me!?” he exclaims. “With your support, I feel more confident!”
“Of course. Don’t waver, the bond is strong, and you love him, don’t you?”
He looks a bit flustered. “I do. Is that stupid? I haven’t known him for long, but...”
“It’s not stupid,” I reassure him. “But, don’t you dare die on me!”
A hint of stubbornness and confidence flashes in Tynan’s otherwise tired eyes. “There is no way I’ll die before losing my virginity,” he says seriously.
“Wait…what?”’ I blink at him. “No way you are-”
He looks flustered. “I just made out with a few guys and girls in the past, but never went the whole way. Hopefully Shayan won’t mind.”
“I’m sure he won’t.”
Tynan squeezes my hand. “Thank you,” he mutters. “Thank you for supporting me although you lost…” he pauses. “Thank you.”
forty-five
Hope
*ROYAN*
Shayan and I have been here for a few days now, and I’m starting to feel nervous. We lack any plan to escape from here, we can barely talk to each other. Penelope has taken a liking to Shayan and has made him her special bodyguard. He is always around her now, and barely moves from her side. It makes talking to each other even more difficult.
Meanwhile, Penelope uses me as an errand boy and for some dirty work. During the day I’m mostly outside, working as a lumberjack or training some of her lower-class men. She doesn’t seem to trust me, but it doesn’t really matter to me because at least she trusts Shayan.
The worst thing though is how she treats Rona. I have seen how she hit her once, almost making me attack her on the spot. Rona stopped me that time, fear evident in her eyes. She later told me that it would be easy for Penelope to kill any of us.
What do you think, Donovan?I link my wolf after I finish dinner and head to my room.
I think we should try to get away from here,he offers.The general can fend for himself, and the witch doesn’t know we are close friends.
Yeah, she thinks we were just working together for a brief period, which would explain why she trusts him so much more.
Let’s keep it that way. He got her trust and is working on it to find out more about her,Donovan says.He is safe, but we need to think about our mate, too.
He is right. The fact that Rona is still here, always at the mercy of this crazy witch, is driving me nuts. I need to find a way to get her to safety. Sometimes she comes back to our room with bruises on her arms. She tries to cover them, but I see them nevertheless.
Today is no different.
“What happened?” I ask her, while taking her arm and twisting it slightly to check on the fresh bruises.
“I’m just not good enough as a witch,” she says while sounding utterly broken.
