“Well, with that lead-in, leaving you to wait and have the rest stare at you is cruel,” Dr. Haskins muttered. “Your choice.”
“Thank you,” I sighed. “I’d prefer to get it over with and be done. Sorry, that’s dismissive, but…” There was really no way to salvage that and I was glad he wasn’t offended.
I nodded to the person who was going to go next, glad when the guy took it in stride. Moving into place, I got set up with Quinn patiently—but nervously—waiting off to the side.
I let out a slow breath and went through the steps with slow precision as both Wyatt and Mrs. Reid walked me through. Also, Sergey, Kelton, and Winter.
And then I practiced with Nigel.
Dr. Haskins chuckled when I was done. He smiled when I glanced at him. “You really put in the effort, Ms. Millen. You were behind—drastically even—at the start of the semester and now that was one of the most flawless midterms I’ve seen in all of my years teaching this class.” He nodded when I blinked at him. “Flawless. Perfect control and execution. Well done.”
I felt my cheeks flush lava hot. “I practiced a lot. I didn’t want to mess up my first real tests at real school.” I cleared my throat. “Thank you, Dr. Haskins.”
“You’re welcome, Ms. Millen,” he replied, amusement in his tone. “Enjoy your break.”
I mumbled a thank-you and got out of there with Quinn, feeling too many eyes on me. I dropped Quinn off and assured the people I needed to that I did well on my midterm before heading to where I needed to meet Link.
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he worried, jogging over to me.
“She was praised publicly,” Taylor’s guy answered as if that explained it all… And it sort of did. “She rocked her midterm. I didn’t know Dr. Haskinscouldgive public praise.”
“I’ve heard the same,” Link muttered as he slowed down. He reached out and moved the back of his hand to my cheek. “So you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I chuckled, gently pushing his hand away. “It was—whatever, it’s over.”
He studied me a moment. “Okay, but I’m here to talk if you want.”
“I’m fine.” I cleared my throat and glanced at Taylor’s guy. “I’m good with Link. We’re just going to run, and I need to speak to him privately.”
The guy glanced between us. “I’d rather join you where you’re going and hang back. I can get—I would just feel more comfortable if you guys are going to be deep talking no matter how well Link has his shit together.”
“Fair enough,” Link accepted.
He put the circle under us and we arrived where people were working. I was shocked to see some I recognized as council guards and shot Link a worried look. He gave his head a slight shake and I just sighed.
I was glad when Taylor’s guy saw there were others around the property and left him with those people… Probably to get info to report back to Taylor.
I gave Loki love while we started walking for a bit. “Do I want to know why people are on my property?”
“They’re here to help in their free time and people who are on the right side of everything so not sure about the attitude,” he said, his voice tight.
That was fair and they were probably friends of his. “It’s a lot, Link.”
He let out a slow breath and reached out to rub my shoulder before leaning in and petting Loki. “Yeah, it is. Sorry, most are tight with me and giving their free time to—I took it personally. We get shit on so much so often being council guards like we’re fucking attack dogs, and now we’re getting shit on for getting brushes first that…”
“It’s a lot.”
“It’s a lot,” he sighed. “But Tracey and Jasmine know. They’re helping with the stuff for Winter and the people he reached out to find—that orphan’s network basically. We need more here to get them on the land. Enough to get trailershere. But also—I think they’re building more chicken coops and hatchers today.”
“I saw that, yeah,” I accepted, adding for him to thank them for me. I did appreciate all of the help. It was just overwhelming.
Always overwhelming and sometimes a bit pushy since people always wanted more.
We moved onto slow jogging and it was a few minutes in that Link broke the silence which made me actually jump. “So what’s up, Bev?”
I sighed, feeling bad when he’d said he had a lot on him too. “I’m not sure how to frame all of this or… It’s like three parts and I just can’t carry it or I need to figure out one answer especially. One is kind of a worry and—I just didn’t know who to dump this all on. But now I feel bad because you’re overloaded too.”
He grabbed my wrist and stopped me to face him, searching my face. “I don’t take on more than I can handle, and honestly I needed the break and jog today. Loki and I did, so just like you listen to us when you need the jog, I can today, okay? Please don’t worry about me being overburdened ever. I know my limits and I tell people when it’s too much.”
