Page 96 of Victoria's Discovery

Vi’kail and Thorn stayed behind to get their tasks while Victoria and Thegan left. Pausing in the hallway, she greeted an agitated Snitch, offering apologies as he crawled over her head to check for injuries, chittering crossly.

When he’d settled down, she peeked up at a chuckling Thegan. They were going to be running around like crazy people for the rest of the day so if she was going to ask if he liked her, it had to be now.

“So, I tried to find you last night?”

Ugh. Not exactly what she’d planned to ask. Apparently, she was more hung up on not being able to find him the night before and what that might mean and if he’d been off kissing—or doing more—with someone else than she was admitting to herself.

His smile melted away, and a nervous expression flitted over his face. Pushing a hand through his long, blonde hair, he avoided her eyes. “Did you? I was, uh, in my lodgings.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah. Ha. Makes sense. Remind me, where, exactly, did you say you and Thorn were living?”

“In the arena.”

Was he being intentionally evasive? Because it damn sure felt that way. The outdoor arena was seven square miles, at least. Swallowing past her heart currently lodged in her throat, she nodded. “Were you… alone? In your lodgings?”

“Er, for a time, yes.”

For a time? Oh god, that means at some point he wasn’t alone.

Victoria felt sick to her stomach. So that was that? She’d waited too long? Someone else was going to be the recipient of his dreamy smiles, his playful teasing, the casual little touches that never failed to make her heart skip a beat, his flirty looks, and the protectiveness that made her feel warm and safe? Someone else was going to know what it felt like when he centered his focus on them, that intoxicating moment of feeling like you were the only person in the universe because he was truly looking at you and only you.

She told herself she shouldn’t feel so gutted. Really, they’d known each other for a month, at most. But, gazing up at his face, her heart hurt. Oh god, it hurt. She felt like she’d lost more than just the chance to date him.

She felt like she’d lost her best friend.

They worked together every day. Was it going to be awkward now? He wouldn’t avoid her. He was too good a person to do something like that. But the idea of working alongside him, of seeing him every damn day and knowing he wasn’t, and never would be, hers? That sounded like torture.

“Is she nice?” she whispered, absently rubbed her palm over her chest, as if that would ease the ache there.

He glanced around the hall as if looking for whomever she was talking about. Seeing no one, he frowned down at her, his head cocked. “Is who nice?”

“Your girlfriend. Or your—” She had to force the word out. “—mate?”

His face screwed up in confusion, and for a moment, her heart leapt. Had she misunderstood?

Please, please tell me I misunderstood.

But then he blinked, and his confusion was replaced with a soft smile, sending her brief moment of hope crumbling to dust.

Gazing down at her like a man in love, he chuckled softly. “She is… magnificent. Compassionate, wise, patient.” His smile became impossibly tender. “She can be anxious and doubts herself too often. Drives me mad, but I believe that is only because no one has loved her properly.” His expression turned serious, almost angry, his gaze intense as he stared down at her with a frown marring his brow. “Where she came from, they did not understand her. They did notseeher. They were blind. How any could fail to grasp how exceptional she is is beyond me. Worse, she began to believe them, to see herself as those fools did. I find that infuriating, that anyone else’s opinion could make her feel lesser, and, yet, I understand it well. It can be a hard thing, to see yourself clearly when no one around you does.”

Victoria felt like she was bleeding out on the floor as she stood there listening to him talk about this woman with such reverence. She wanted to hate her. God, she wanted to hate her sobadly. But she couldn’t. She understood all too well how that felt. For people’s opinions to slowly seep in and take root, making you doubt yourself, making you wonder and worry they’re right about you and you’d just been fooling yourself. Victoria didn’t want anyone to experience that.

“Those halfwits have no idea who she is. She is brave, protective, so godsdamned caring it makes you wonder how such a small being can hold a heart so big.” A smile quirked one side of his mouth, and his eyes went soft. “She has this way of listening to people that makes them feel seen, cared for. She does not know how the people here look at her. But I do. She is trusted. Valued. Respected.” He stepped closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. “Loved.”

“She sounds… awesome,” she muttered, trying to not be affected by his nearness. She needed to find a way to bottle up her feelings for him. She wasn’t the type of person to crush on someone else’s guy. Not openly, anyway.

“She is. And, yet, I fear she does not know how I feel about her.”

“Oh.” For a second, she was spitefully happy about that, but it didn’t last. He obviously cared deeply for this woman. He deserved to be happy. Shoulders slumping, she forced an encouraging smile, and even though it physically hurt to say the words, she said them anyway, “You should tell her how you feel.”

He sighed, his smile self-deprecating. “I am trying to. I fear I am doing it wrong because she looks close to tears.”

Her head jerked up, eyes wide and heart stalling in her chest. “What?”

He looked nervous as hell, but his bright blue eyes were steady on hers. “She is you.”

Victoria stared up at him slack jawed, wondering if she was hallucinating or maybe just hearing things? Was there some kind of mental disorder where people replaced what was actually happening with a scene from a movie? Because she might have that.

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