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“Are you nervous?”

“Very much . . . I wanna run away.”

“Stay calm. Let's do this together. I will stand by your side.”

I squeeze her hand, noticing how cold mine is compared to hers. “I'll never be able to thank you enough, Zoe.”

“We are friends. You have nothing to thank me for.”

After a few minutes of waiting, the secretary tells us that it's my turn. The woman looks a little startled when I tell her that Zoe will come in with me, but even though I feel embarrassed that I need her support, I can't face this alone.

“Miss Argyros, it's a pleasure to meet you.”The doctor is younger than I expected, but his smile is so frank that it disarms me instantly. He also speaks slowly, and I find myself reading his lips, but I see I've been caught the moment I look up.

I usually read people’s lips because it gives me a little more time to process what they’re saying.

Once we're seated, he asks, “So how can I help you?”

Half an hour into our appointment, I'm so embarrassed I can't look at either of them.

I felt Zoe watching me while I answered the doctor’s questions, and now I don't have the courage to face her. I'm overwhelmed and I want to cry, since all I've done so far is talk about my struggles and it's brought back memories I preferred to keep hidden.

“The first thing you should know is that dyslexia is not related to your intellectual level,” the doctor begins to explain, and the quiet way in which he speaks slowly causes my heart rate to normalize. “Some of your answers bothered me, so I would like to suggest the formation of a team to work with me in your case—a special needs teacher and a neurologist, but mainly, a psychologist.”

“We can arrange that,” Zoe hurries to reply, and only then do I realize how anxious she is too.

“It's not my place to judge your father, but I can't help but say that it's unparalleled ignorance to treat dyslexia as lack of intelligence. You have said several times that your family never sought help and that instead they forced you to learn, which causes even more stress and can have the opposite effect.”

I take a sip of the water the secretary brought me earlier. “I would like to try. The treatment, I mean. I don't know if it’ll work, but I'm willing to take the risk. I'm tired of living in hiding. Please help me.”

He smiles and leans forward, resting both elbows on the table. “That's the first step: you wanting to heal. When would be a good time for me to run some tests?”

“How was the appointment?”

This time, when I enter the house, it’s Odin who is waiting for me .

Zoe went with me to get the dress she helped me choose for the benefit ball: a long strapless dress with a high slit in the left thigh. I'm going to wear a black silk mask with crystals attached to my face, because I don't want to have to hold it on all night.

The dress shows too much skin for my taste, but Zoe said all eyes will be on me and Odin and that I must make a grand entrance or they'll eat me alive, which only added to my nervousness.

With sorting out all these final details, I ended up getting home later than I planned.

Before I can respond, Odin comes to meet me, lifts me into his arms so I'm eye-level with him, and gives me a kiss so deep it instantly warms me all over.

I'm exhausted, emotionally drained from the doctor’s appointment, but after he hugs me, I'm pretty sure I'm also in my favorite place in the world.

“I missed you,” I confess. I don't usually reveal too much about my feelings for him, but today I need his warmth more than ever.

It's so rare for me to say something like that, that Odin pulls back a little so he can look at me. “Hey, what happened? Did the doctor say something that upset you? We can look for another one.”He says it all at once as he walks me to our room.

Odin isn't the anxious type, and his reaction shows me what Zoe has already said: that it’s getting through to him how much our relationship means to him.

“It was okay, I think. I just need to cuddle for a moment.”

As much as we love each other madly, this time there's nothing sexual about the way we're touching.

“I love your scent.”I think that telling the doctor so many things that I kept tucked away ended up breaking down the walls of protection I've hidden behind throughout my life.

After he lays me down on the bed but before coming closer, he stares at me. He's smiling a full-faced smile, and once again I think about how handsome he is.

“You hardly ever smile.”

“I didn't have much reason to smile before I met you.”

“Does that mean I do you good?”

“That's a very simple way of looking at things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not today. No confessions. Let's just be together. When you're ready to tell me about the doctor, I want to know everything he said.”

“We can talk now. He wants to form a team with other professionals, like a psychologist, for example.”

“Does he already have specific people in mind, or do we need to look some up? If you think that's okay, I'd like to join you at some of your appointments. See how I can help.”

God, how can he be like this? How can I not be crazy about this man when he seems to know all the right things to say?

“I know you don't like being controlled, but I just want to stay by your side and understand better how to do my part.”

I place my fingers over his lips. “I adore you, Odin Lykaios.”

“Is that a yes ?”

I kiss his mouth unhurriedly. “That's a yes .”

Masquerade Night

MANHATTAN - NEW YORK

I try not to run away the minute I enter the hall hand in hand with Odin, having no doubt that everyone present is looking at us.

He's kept our fingers entwined tightly since we got out of the car, and I'm grateful. As soon as we stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the venue, dozens of photographers were waiting for us. It seemed like the flashes were coming from all directions, which made my tension rise.

“Elina, the party is perfect,” Zoe says, as if she understands my nervousness. She is arm in arm with Christos, just steps away from us.

“Thanks,” I finally reply.

At my answer, Odin turns to look at me. “Have I told you that you look beautiful?” he asks, with a smile so sexy it makes my knees go weak.

As always happens, in seconds it feels like it's just the two of us. “A few times, but I don't mind hearing it again. You're not so hard on the eyes either.”

It’s true—he's wonderful. The perfectly cut tuxedo outlines his broad shoulders, highlighting the solidity of his muscular body. The mask, also black and very similar to mine, except for the crystals, gives him an air of mystery.

I'm still lost, admiring the delicious man I can call my own, when he totally surprises me by kissing my forehead in front of everyone. “Don't let them know you're anxious. The party will be a success. You're stronger than all of them put together,” he says softly into my ear.

“You have a lot of faith in me.”

“I do. And I am proud too, having you as my woman.”

After that statement, I am able to breathe normally again. Odin has that power. It's as if the self-assurance with which he faces everything in life creates a protective net that extends itself to me as well.

I look at the two members of his family who stand in front of us, and especially at the woman who has become one of my favorite people in the world.

Putting on a confident smile that I've been practicing for as long as I can remember, I take another step to face the crowd.

“ I love your dress. ”

“ Are you Greek? ”

“ How long have you and Odin been together? ”

Every time I walk through a circle of guests, the questions are repeated. After the tenth time, the answers come out automatically.

“ Thanks, it will be auctioned after the party to raise more funds for the fire victims. ”

“ I'm half Greek and half English. ”

“ We've known each other forever. ”

Regarding the last answer, he was the one who advised me to give it, precisely with the intention of silencing several other questions that would follow if I said that we have been together for a short time.

A lady calls me to talk about the organization to which the money raised tonight will be donated, and after talking to her for a few minutes, I grab the opportunity to take a break and go to the women's bathroom.

I need to be alone, even if it is only for a moment. The crowd is suffocating me. I think about warning Odin, but since I don't intend to take long, I slip away. As soon as I enter one of the stalls, I take a few breaths.

I'm just starting to relax when I hear a woman say, “Funny, but I've heard rumors that Odin and the Greek's father are mortal enemies. Doesn't that make her a traitor?”

My whole body tenses again, but I remain attentive to the conversation.

“With the money Lykaios has, she can't even remember her father's name.”

In a way, I was expecting that, since a good portion of the world's high society was present at the party on our island when Odin announced, in front of everyone, my father’s bankruptcy.

Even so, I was unprepared for that blow to come today.

In the last few months, I've been living with people who like me and treat me with such respect that I've forgotten there's a lot of evil in our midst.

But what did I expect? If even my sisters judged me, they who know who our father actually is, what can I expect from the strangers who only saw what Leandros wanted them to see?

I wait until the place is quiet again, and after washing my hands and checking that everything is in order with my makeup, I prepare to head back into the wolves’ den.

When I leave the bathroom, I'm confused: which side leads to the main hall?

I’ve never been good with direction, and the long hallway is empty at the moment. I decide to take a chance and go one way, but when doors after doors appear, I realize that I was wrong.

As I turn to head back the way I came, I find myself face to face with the man who's been chasing me for months—and also the last person I'd ever want to meet.

Naim.

His gaze is pure evil, even through the mask he wears to partially cover his face. Instinctively, I start to back away, but my body hits something solid. Before I can understand what's happening, a hand covers my mouth, preventing me from screaming.