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“You have been through just as much and you’re always smiling. You don’t let it weigh you down,” she argued.

Her sister’s radiant smile faltered then as if a crack in her shell opened up. “Well,” she started, her voice higher pitched than before, “I am naturally bright, as you know. But it does not mean that what happened does not bother me.”

“And you let yourself feel it?”

“Sometimes,” she said softly. “If you suppress how you feel, it will only build until you break.”

Valeen shook her head. “If I let myself feel this, Iwillbreak, and I can’t do that right now. You saw me at my castle ruins,” she whispered, afraid if she spoke louder her voice would falter and tears would flow. Pulling in a deep breath, she said, “So I focus on what I gained, not what I lost. I wish none of it ever happened but what does wishing do?”

“Not much I am afraid.” Katana gently squeezed her hand. “And maybe you are right. We focus on now, not what we cannot change.” She rose up and walked toward the stained-glass window, running her fingertips along the decorative swirls. Then she turned and sat on the cushioned window seat.

Presco took his glasses off and with the bottom of his white tunic, rubbed the smudges. “I’ve been meaning to ask, now that you are back here, do you feel you made the correct choice?”

Valeen met his gaze. “Between Hel and Thane?” He nodded and Katana leaned forward as if eager to hear the answer to that. “There was no other choice for me. I loved Thane, and it hurt to let him go. But Hel… I could never move on from him. I wouldnever stop loving him. I don’t think I ever did stop.” She looked down at her black ring. “Remembering our past made me miss him but it’s who he is now that has recaptured my heart and soul. He became what he is. He created that army formebecause he loves me, because he’s my soulmate.”

Holding up his glasses at a distance he seemed satisfied and pushed them back on. “As an outsider watching you two at the manor in Ryvengaard pretend you did not care about each other was… interesting. Your chemistry even then was unmistakable. You’ve never been like that with anyone but him, even if you loved Thane. You can love someone who isn’t meant for you.”

Romance novels often told the story of falling in love and getting married with a happily ever after, but they rarely told of falling in love with the person who had become your everything and how much it hurt to realize they weren’t the happily ever after… “I realize that now.”

“I have something to cheer you both right up.” The creaking of his large side drawer as he pulled it open interrupted the silence. His brows tugged together. “But it looks like someone else got to them first.” In one hand he pulled out a small, round, gold-foil-wrapped chocolate and in the other he lifted a gnome with wild brown curls and a red hat. The reason for the rustling in the desk she’d heard earlier.

Tif’s ruddy cheeks grew a shade darker than usual, and she wiped at the chocolate smeared across her lips with the back of her floral print sleeve. “Hi, Val, Katana, and um,” she looked up at Presco, “dragon man. There’s big rats around here eating the chocolate—and… and other snacks too. Their beady little eyes are too keen. One followed me and tried to steal the bread I found in the cupboard downstairs.”

Valeen crossed her arms and eyed the chocolate smear on the corner of her mouth. “Big rats you say.”

“Huge.” She cupped her mouth and whispered, “I’ll find them to get rid of the problem.”

“Are we sure a gnome with a red hat isn’t eating all the snacks?” Presco mused, and set her on the desk.

Katana giggled and placed her hand over her mouth, slowly shaking her head.

Tif plopped down and crossed her legs on top of a stack of Presco’s papers. “I’m sure it’s not a gnome.” She began wiping her chocolate-covered hands on the parchment, leaving smears, oblivious that Presco was referring to her. “Gnomes do like snacks, but we also contribute to the snack pile. I make a rather delicious cinnamon bun with icing. Rats only eat and leave trails of turds. Gnomes certainly do not do that.”

“Have you ever heard of a handkerchief?” Presco pulled one out of his pocket and handed it to her. It was nearly the size of her.

“Why yes, I have. Thank you. My hands are dreadfully dirty.” She glanced down at the parchment she’d ruined and flushed. “From, um, trying to stop the rats from eating the chocolate, I mean. But I did have maybe one. And I must say they are spectacular. Very creamy with hints of salt and caramel.”

Presco tossed the two remaining chocolates to Valeen and Katana. Valeen peeled off the wrapper and popped it into her mouth. The candy melted on her tongue and was exactly as Tif described. It brought back memories of eating a pile of chocolates with Hel and Presco one evening to see who could eat the most. Presco won of course. Dragons had a voracious appetite.

Tif twisted her hair around her hand and fluttered her eyes. “Do you happen to have more of them?” Gnomes had a voracious appetite too it would seem.

“I think you ate them all,” Presco answered.

“Oh dear.” She rubbed her belly. “Sometimes my tummy makes me eat more than I should. It’s a gnome thing.” Tif shot to her feet and pointed to the corner of the room. “There’s one of the bastards now!”

Valeen turned to a brown rat squeaking in the corner. It skittered along the wall and into the crack. She tried not to laugh as Tif slid down Presco’s leg and ran toward where the rat disappeared. “You’ll not get away next time!” she shouted with a raised fist. “I’ll find where you sleep.” She turned back around and crossed her arms with a harumph. “Gnomes and rats do not mix. I do not like to share my snacks with rodents.”

“Do we need to get a cat?” Valeen wondered.

“Oh, I’ll find where they’re hiding. Gnomes are good hunters like cats, when it comes to our snacks, that is,” Tif said with a raised pointer finger. “Mama used to chase an orange tabby with a broom….”

The hairs on the back of Valeen’s neck stood on end and Tif’s voice faded to a mumble as her focus shifted. Quiet footsteps pattered close by. Someone’s soft breath… no, more than one. She glanced over her shoulder at the railing of the balcony and the entrance of the stairwell; she knew both Thane and Hel’s steps like her own. It wasn’t them. Then came the familiar sound of a dagger sliding against its sheath as it was pulled free.

She gave Presco a hand signal, one they’d settled on many years before to sign for intruders. His spine went rigid, his pupils narrowed, while Tif kept prattling on about her mother and the gnome colony. Katana was enraptured with their little friend, seemingly unaware of the danger nearby.

Footsteps rumbled up the metal staircase, rattling hard with each step. Whoever it was didn’t care for stealth any longer. Valeen shot to her feet, her magic rippled through her veins with a cool fire, and she angled herself in front of the others with her goddess blade in hand.

With soaked blonde hair, black horns curling from the crown of her head, Varlett appeared at the crest, out of breath. The black eyeliner she often wore streaked down her cheeks. Her dark clothes were soaked through. Either it was the low lighting or the smeared makeup, but she appeared almost ill. Her cheeks were more sunken in than the last time she’d seen her, and her clothes were loose, as if she’d lost weight.