Page 38 of Torin and His Oath (Torin and the Princess #2)

LEXI

T hree weeks.

That’s how long it had been.

No Torin.

A sort of languor had settled over my life.

I had gotten better in a few days, I had grown stronger in a week, I had been hopeful for a few days, but then he didn’t show, so I mourned deeply day three through…

the sixteenth day, crying and carrying on, but keeping it quiet.

I didn’t want Jen or Cooper to realize I was devastated, crying in the shower in the morning, having to sit and stare into space. Where was he?

Cooper knew Torin wasn’t returning. Jen figured I had only known him for a short time, she knew it mattered to me, but assumed the mattering couldn’t go on for too long. So I hid my grief. Was he okay?

Why didn’t he return?

I figured: he had found Max, he had learned how to control the machine, he was living in the past, he was likely working to solve the issues with Max’s kingdom.

I looked down on the small gold locket I was wearing around my neck, with the letter ‘R’ on it. I had bought a thicker, longer chain so I could wear it every day. And now I was twisting it, fidgeting with it.

Did this locket mean I was a royal?

That Max’s kingdom… was mine too?

I shook my head. This was not… helpful. I couldn’t think beyond the fact that I had met a man I rather liked and now he was gone.

The rest of it all seemed so untrue. Hazy.

I would remember the days on Torin’s horse, and it would all seem dreamlike, my brain arguing with my mind, it couldn’t possibly be true.

But then my dreams were vivid, the nightmares — chased, left alone, ill, scared, frantic were so real I woke with a scream, a hammering heartbeat.

One night on the intercom, the security guard said, “Marcus here, you cool?”

“Yes, sorry?—”

My phone rang, I picked up and Cooper, breathless, sounded like he had been running. “Lexi, you okay?”

“Another nightmare, you heard me all the way in the back-shack?”

“I heard you scream. I ran up to the porch.” He said to the security guard, “She’s fine, nightmare.” He returned to the phone and asked, “You need me to come in?”

“No it’s okay, I can’t believe you heard me with the house and windows all locked down.”

“I did, it was faint, but I did.”

“Can you not hang up, stay on the line for a bit, until I fall asleep?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m letting Dude into the house, he wants to see you, don’t freak out?—”

“You got the alarm code?”

“Yeah, hold on.”

I could hear him punching numbers into my new keypad, then the new door opening.

I said, “I hate that door.”

“I know, but it keeps you safe.” He added, “I’ll be out here on the porch.”

I had tucked the phone against the pillow and with Dude settled into the spot where Cooper used to sleep, I fell asleep. Sometime in the night Cooper had hung up his phone.

I never asked him when, it was easier to not talk about a lot of things.

My life was all screwed up.

My heart was kind of broken. Majorly broken.

I was very sad.

I had long meetings about my security. I didn’t get to drive my Beamer anymore.

I had to have a driver and a new SUV that was outfitted with security features.

I didn’t get any privacy: Security guards stood on my porch, taking shifts.

Cameras had been installed on the property.

And a body guard followed me around whenever I went to the store.

I had a contractor planning to build a panic room in my basement — the thought of ‘why’ made me feel pretty panicky.

My only contact was with people who were worried about my safety.

Most of them thought I needed to be very careful. Timid. They talked about it all the time.

And come to find out my security wasn’t temporary. I had it for always, now.

These were things I never thought of before. I had grown up barely locking my front door.

I thought about my ancestors and how they had built this house with windows that fully opened and screened doors with eye hook locks, and now I was turning it into a fortress.

And I thought about my mom a lot. About the secrets she never told me.

I wondered about my dad, had he known about my lineage? Had he protected me without telling me, or did he not know? And how could he not have told me?

I didn’t call my uncle, I kept putting it off. I didn’t know what to say, what to ask. I was thinking about flying to visit him, but with heightened security at the house and the body guard I now needed, and a horse… It was a lot to figure out.

But I had come to some conclusions. Did he know I was adopted? Probably.

Why hadn’t he ever told me? Maybe he thought it was unimportant?

I guessed he didn’t, definitely didn’t, have any idea that I was a ‘princess’. Definitely.

All of this meant that I did not want the conversation, not yet.

This evening I leaned against the split rail fence, with Dude sitting on the top rail, trilling his head off, making me pet him.

I had a body guard looming nearby.

Cooper had built this fence around a spot in the backyard big enough for the horse. He had also built a simple stable. I was watching a worker install a perimeter light on a pole, one of the last touches of security out here.

This was after I had taken the first of what would need to be many horse riding lessons. I was abysmal. As bad as I was in the sixteenth century, I was even worse without Torin here to smooth talk me up onto the horse.

It had seemed like Dude was giving me a ‘look’ the whole time, like he couldn’t believe I was so bad at this.

Most of my interactions with Ferrari were feeding him carrots and conversing with him about where Torin was and speculating about what he might be doing.

Cooper was living in the back-shack. It was getting weird. I didn’t know what to do about it. I was thinking about it when the door opened and he walked out to the porch, raising his hand in a distant greeting.

He walked toward me. “How’s it going?”

“I took the first lesson. She’s a good teacher, I’m not good at it.”

“I saw, you didn’t look comfortable.” He ran his hand through his hair. “Look, wanna go out and get dinner?”

I shook my head. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

He looked at me. Then looked away. “You know… you need to get used to the idea he’s not coming back.

I’m not saying it’s what he wants to do.

I’m just saying that he’s a time traveler and that can’t be easy, maybe it’s dependent on the seasons, or the sun spots, or moon positions.

Maybe time travel happens once every ten years, you know? ”

I nodded. The day had just gone to golden hour, a gleaming gold glow over my house and land. “But… I don’t know, maybe he’s coming, perhaps he’s on his way.” I looked at the side of his tense face. “You believe him, he’s a time traveler?”

“Yeah, but in my whole life this is the first I’ve ever heard of it. It’s gotta be rare, Lexi, just… I don’t want to see you sad.”

“I’m sorry I won’t go out to dinner with you?—”

“I was just hungry, thought you might want some tacos.”

“I would, kinda.”

He grinned. “You would? Did Cooper charm you? You’ll go out to dinner with me?”

“Sure, give me a moment to get dressed. I smell a little like a horse.” I looked over at my car. “Think they’ll let me drive?”

“Nope, Marcus will drive, that’s why you have him.”

I said, “I hate having a driver.”

“You don’t think it’s cool? I think we’re styling.”

“I miss my car. I want to drive my car. But fine, I get extra dessert. Will you arrange with them that we’re going while I shower?”

“Yep.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll meet you down here in forty?”

“Perfect.”

The alarm system for the house had been set. Marcus safely delivered us to the restaurant. Jen was already there waiting on us when we walked in. Cooper said, “Oh, you called Jen?”

“Yep, because this is not a date.”

He huffed.

Jen had already ordered margaritas for the table. She loved to arrive first and order drinks for us to be ready when we arrived. She was bossy that way, which I really didn’t mind. She asked, “So what have you two kids been doing?”

I said, “I had my first horse riding lesson, Ferrari earned an B+ I got a D- and that was because Bonnie was being nice.”

She looked over the menu. “Figured you’d at least get a passing grade because of time on the beast.”

“Nope, apparently holding the reins is integral. Ferrari misses Lambo. We had a long talk today about it.”

Jen said, “You and the horse?”

I nodded. “We’re very close, I just don’t like to ride him much. He’s not that happy with me either. I think he’s mad at me that Lambo left.”

She chuckled. “I love the idea of horses named Lambo and Ferrari a couple hundred years ago.”

I was looking over the menu, and simply said, “Almost five hundred.”

She dropped the menu. “How in the hell did you survive back there? Was it just plague and pestilence all the time?”

I said, “Kinda, yeah, but some parts were good.”

I thought about the slow shifting movement of the horse under me as I had my eyes on Torin’s back, watching him, as we?—

Cooper repeated himself, “What are you having, Lexi?”

“My usual, don’t know why I look over the menu.” I put it down, sighing, looking out the large window at the parking lot.

“A big storm is coming.”

It slowly built over the town, but it was an ordinary storm, not one of ours.

I glanced at my friends, they were both watching me look at the storm. Coop said, “Not him, you know?”

“Yeah I know, not expecting it to be.” I picked up the menu again to look busy.

Then I put it down and asked Jen. “How’s school this week?”

“Great, the monsters are putting on a play for the end of the year, so I just wrangle them constantly. Pretty sure I’m going to be standing in the wings feeding them all their lines. Not one of them has memorized anything.”

“What’s it about?”