Chapter 266
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Colt glanced at me briefly before he followed.
I watched them go and then went inside. Vivian was nowhere to be found, although Mara was waiting for me outside my
bedroom.
“Luna,” she said, curtsying as I approached. “I’m glad you’ve returned safely.”
“I’m sure you are.” I cleared my throat, and she stepped out of the way. When I entered my room, she tried to follow, but I shut the door in her face and locked it.
Dominic found me in my room about an hour later. I had just finished showering and changing, and was sitting in front of my vanity doing my skincare, when I heard his keys clink outside the door. A moment later, the door opened, and he stuck his head
“Can I come in?” he asked.
I picked up the bottle of moisturizer. “Never stopped you before regardless of what I want,” I muttered, to which he rolled his eyes, although he entered and shut the door behind him.
For a moment, he just stood there with his arms crossed, staring at me. I felt him looking at me, but I didn’t meet his gaze in the vanity mirror.
“What do you think of Colt?” I asked.
“Three days, Ellie. You were gone. For three days. While I was in battle. I was scared sick.”
“I had some academy matters to deal with,” I said. “Personal research. I needed access to some materials that weren’t available locally. And besides, I left you a note.”
“You couldn’t have waited for me to get home before you left?”
I recapped my moisturizer and looked at him in the mirror. “Would you have let me go?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, which was answer enough.
“Colt’s fine,” he finally said. “I looked at his resume. It’s good enough. He can stay.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
Dominic was quiet for a moment. He unfolded his arms and exhaled, and some of the rigidity went out of his posture.
“I was worried about you,” he said.
“I know.”
He crossed the room and came to stand right behind me. His hand lifted, as if he wanted to touch my shoulder, but then he dropped it again before he could.
“I owe you an apology,” he said.
That surprised me enough that I didn’t immediately respond.
“The plague,” he said. “You were right. I should have listened to you, and I didn’t, and it almost cost us everything.” He looked at me steadily. “I’m sorry for that.”
I held his gaze. In my past life, Dominic had never apologized to me for anything. Not once. Not for the coldness, not for the neglect, not for the crown on Vivian’s head. Not for any of it.
Needless to say, this was unexpected. And despite my best efforts, it cracked something open in my chest that I’d been trying desperately to avoid. Just a sliver, but enough to let a very dangerous little emotion come out.
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“Thank you.” I swallowed hard and turned on my vanity stool, looking up at him. “For saying that ”
“I mean it.”
I looked down at my hands in my lap.
The room was quiet for another moment.
“Well,” he finally said, walking over to the door. “I guess you already ate with Colt, so I assume you don’t need dinner.”
“I’m good,” I said.
He nodded and paused at the door. Then, hesitating, he glanced at me and said quietly, “I’m glad you’re back.”
My cheeks warmed before I could stop them, and I didn’t know how to respond.
“But next time,” he went on, “when you decide to bring a man home, think twice about it.”
The warmth in the room suddenly evaporated.
I stared up at him. He looked back at me for just a second, something unreadable in his expression, and then turned and walked out without another word.
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