“I never said there was,” Rose shot back with a shrug.
“Good.” I took a drink. “Because there’s not.”
Rose continued to stare at me while I held my glass, drinking it far too quickly in an effort to escape the awkward silence that had fallen over us.
Mother rose to her feet. “Well, on that note, I think it’s time for me to go to bed. Leo, will you help me find my room?”
“Of course, Mother,” he said, his tail flicking against Rose’s ankle as he stood. Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to her temple. With a nod in my direction, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Rissa.”
“Good night, little brother,” I called after them.
The second the door shut, Rose rounded on me. “Sit.”
I chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”
“You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can’t lie tome. I saw the way you two looked at each other. The way he was ready to tear the room apart at the idea of you being targeted. You’re not being very discreet, you know.”
I rolled my head back and let out a sigh that turned into a groan. “I don’t know, Rose. He’s very…”
“Hot?” she suggested.
Against my will, the memory of us at the hedge on the Silenus property popped into my head. His forearm caging me in, that rough beard hiding the edge of his smirk as he gazed down at me.
My cheeks heated. “Nothing’s happened between us. He’s just…not what I expected. He’s been there for me in moments when nobody else was. A friend, that’s all.”
A friend I wanted to climb like a tree.
I pushed away the unfiltered thought and quickly put my drink down. That was enough for one night. So much for “never drinking again.”
“There for you, how?” she asked.
I bit down on my bottom lip, thinking through all the little moments with him this past week and a half. “I’m sure Leo has told you about my—my panic attacks, yes?”
She nodded but said nothing as she rested a hand on top of my knee.
“Thorne was there for one. And he helped me through it with no judgment. Just sat with me, steady and calming. He’s been one of the only honest ones and wasn’t afraid to call me out when I was being…difficult.” Rose nudged my shoulder at that. “He saw right through me. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to trust someone as quickly as I trusted him.”
She gave me a small smile. “That sounds like he could mean a little more to you than a simple friend, Rissa.”
I swallowed hard. “There was a moment before we left the Mid Territory that I thought…” Exhaling, I squared my shoulders. “It doesn’t matter. This isn’t like you and Leo. I’m marrying someone else, and we both know that. If I don’t, then this curse won’t break, and I can’t leave Galen and his kingdom to that future. That’s not even an option. Nothing can happen between Thorne and me.”
“What about Galen?” she asked. “Do you think you could ever love him?”
“No, but I think I can grow to respect him. And that’s good enough.”
Rose pursed her lips, then grabbed my half-empty drink from the table and downed the rest of it. “Oh, Rissa,” she said with a sigh. “I can’t say I envy you. But I doadmireyou. I always have. I want you to get everything you want, but I get that this is bigger than you. It feels so…final.”
I took her hand and squeezed. “Thank you, Rose.”
“For what?”
“For not giving me some fake sense of encouragement and telling me to ‘follow my heart.’”
“You know I don’t do well with all that mushy stuff.” She waved a hand in the air. “Besides, I think it’sbecauseyou have such a good heart that you choose to do right by others. Not everyonewould do the same. I want you to be happy, but there’s no magic spell I can say to make it all turn out the way we want. We have to make our own happiness with what we’re given.”
Her words wrapped around me, soothing my turmoiled heart. I put my head on her shoulder. “Never thought I’d see the day when Rose Wolff spoke in platitudes.”
She rested her head against mine. “What can I say? I’m a changed woman.”
