Page 80 of Enchanted Kingdom
“Come on,” Renna said, pulling me away.
I was doing my best to not cry. Every single time I thought I had myself put back together and ready for the day, something like this came in and took out my knees.
What was he thinking? I know he said he would have to ignore me and get to know the others, but I didn’t realize that meant the insides of their mouths in addition to their personalities. And I suppose I should be grateful. He could be sleeping his way through all of us, but still.
This was going to be a part of this, but I couldn’t help but feel the sting of it anyway.
Unfortunately, I’d be the last one to be dismissed that night too, per the dismissing schedule.
I wanted to rip out all of my hair and toss this stupid dress across the room. I had been struggling the last two days, trying to come to terms with what I saw and also dealing with feeling left out of the loop of whatever was going on. So while I struggled to come to terms with everything, Keir was off kissing Delaney?
It wasn’t fair.
“Jorah,” he said my name quietly again when it was finally my turn to be dismissed.
“Your Grace,” I said but without any reverence at all.
“Did you enjoy the truffles?”
Did he enjoy Delaney?I wanted to snap at him, but this was not the place. “Yes, they were fine.”
His eyebrows came together. “Fine?”
I kept my attention focused on the door and getting to Owen so I could leave as quickly as possible. “Yes. Fine.”
He whispered, “Whatever is bothering you, we can talk about it in a bit, okay?”
“Don’t bother, Your Grace.” I bowed because we were now at the door. “Good night.”
Without waiting for him to say it back, I fled back to my room, Owen on my heels.
“What happened back there?” Owen asked quietly when we hit the stairs, stride for stride walking with me. “I watched you the whole night. The king never went near you.”
“It wasn’t the king.”
“You seemed off after speaking with Renna. Did she say something to upset you?” he tried again.
“It wasn’t Renna.”
He placed a hand on my elbow, to slow me. “Breathe, dammit. Breathe and tell me how to help.”
I looked at him for a moment, his green eyes looking concerned. “You can’t.” I took some deep breaths and kept walking.
“Well would you like to rage bake?” he asked me nicely, back at my side.
“No.”
“Jorah, I know you are still mad at me for keeping things from you. I understand that and I hear you, but I am trying to help you, and I cannot help you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong.”
I tipped my head back. “It was Keir, okay? I’m mad at Keir.”
Owen’s head snapped toward me. “Why? I thought he was supposed to be ignoring you all night?”
We were now at the door. “He is,” I said as I threw open the door. As soon as he shut the door behind us, I spun around. “I was just not aware until tonight that he was kissing all of us.”
“Oh shit.”
“Yeah,” I said with a nod. “I’m already exhausted, I’ve barely slept these last two days, and I surely didn’t need to seethattonight.”
