“You would win every round,” he said loyally.
Emotion tightened her throat as she studied the bounty.“Do you insist?”she asked.
“I do.”
With reverence, Bella lifted each coin into her palm, marveling at their colors and sizes and languages stamped on them, then tucked the stack of them in her pocket.More tears filled her eyes as she nodded at him.“I thank you for your generosity, your kindness, your protectiveness, your companionship.All of it.I’ve never had a friend like you.”
Riven blinked at her, then ducked under the surface.A second later, he leapt clear out of the pond, rolled in the crunchy sand on the shoreline to remove the slime, then sprung for her chest.
Bella almost yelped until she realized Rivenhuggedher.He tucked his little head in her shoulder, spread his little arms around her neck, andwummedin her ear as she cuddled him close.
“I shall miss you too, my friend.”After a moment, she snatched him off her neck to set him down, hurried over to Nocturne, then leapt into the saddle and headed for the castle without ever looking back.
She hoped she was out of earshot when her sob came.
Chapter 11
Riven swam the lengthof his pond, back and forth, over and over again.“Now that there are no more distractions, I can focus on fixing this.”
He told himself that for the next two hours, but his mind remained firmly on Bella.Why had she ridden toward the castle and not the road home?Had she given Nocturne the sugar cube yet?Did it work?How long would it take her to get back to Luxembourg?
And the most troubling question of all: would he ever see her again?
“No distractions,” he said as he pumped his hind legs to propel himself forward.“No more distractions.Just thinking.”
What was her village like?Would she recognize him if he ever returned to his human form and visited her?Would she let him kiss her then?Woo her?Court her?
“No more distractions.”
Oh, fish guts and dragonflies, Riven was distracted.The woman wasn’t evenhereand he couldn’t focus.
He’d never met anyone like her, certainly none so thoughtful and smart, or kind and giving.
She would make a fine princess....
If he ever managed to shed this curse.
