Lottie’s chest swelled with anger. “I don’t work just because I have to,” she snapped. “I enjoy my job. I help people. It’s important.”
“I know that,” he replied quickly. “But think of the twins.”
Her gaze clouded over. “Iamthinking about them. This island is so isolated, they wouldn’t be in touch with the real world at all. And I wouldn’t be comfortable leaving them here while going away for work, not when some people don’t want them here.”
“Magnus would never hurt them,” Eiric insisted.
This conversation was going downhill, fast, and the more he tried to convince her, the more she pulled away.
She shook her head. “Idon’t know that for sure. He hates humans—and they’re half human, Eiric. I don’t want them to grow up hating a part of themselves.”
He ground his teeth together but had no answer to that. His brother had fucked up this entire visit, and the blissful joy he’d experienced in the past twenty-four hours now disappeared completely.
“I’d like to go home,” Lottie said, her voice quiet.
Eiric looked at her. She was so beautiful, so fierce, but right then, her lips were pressed in a thin line, and she swallowed as though trying to hold back tears.
So he nodded and inclined his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”
Thirteen
Lottie
She hadn’t heardfrom Eiric in more than a week. He’d called her—for the first time ever—to inform her that he’d finally gotten a phone and that she could contact him anytime she wanted. But so far, she’d been too angry and confused to know what to say to him.
So she hadn’t called him. Instead, she focused on her kids, who were growing even faster now, as though helped by the summer warmth. She didn’t dare take them to the sea, so she borrowed Mrs. Enstad’s car and took them on short, beautiful hikes in the nearby hills, though carrying both, one at the front and one at the back, was becoming increasingly difficult. She wished Eiric was there to share the load, then cursed herself for coming to depend on a man who wanted her to change her entire life to suit his family’s rules.
At night, she missed him for herself, too, remembering how he’d held her. How he’d gazed at her as if she was the most perfect woman ever created. She relived the memories, then chastised herself for indulging in them because they only brought her more pain.
Her vacation came to an end, and she threw herself into work, missing her babies who were now in daycare, but glad of the distraction. She wished there was an instruction manual for baby dragons, aHow to Raise Your Dragonkind of book, because she constantly felt like she was failing them by not acquiescing to Eiric’s ideas. But how could she take her kids somewhere they weren’t wanted? Somewhere they weren’t safe?
Now she was supposed to be cheerfully playing bingo at the Sverdfisk with the elderly members of the community. It was a beautiful summer night, with an orange-tinted sunset and all the bugs one could wish for. She’d organized the gathering to give the old Brundal residents a good taste of the season, and planned a delicious seafood dinner with Nils. She knew now who the restaurant belonged to, but she’d done the cowardly thing and negotiated with the manager as usual, avoiding any contact with Eiric.
She’d arranged for Mrs. Enstad to come by with the babies—the old ladies of the group had been pestering her to bring them along, and she thought the twins might enjoy all the fish being served. Lottie brushed past a man sitting at the bar on her way to the bathroom. The corridor leading there was narrow, and she stepped to the side to avoid colliding with Viola, one of the servers. The man reached out to steady her, touching her bare arm, and she murmured a swift apology. He nodded at her and focused back on his beer.
Lottie entered the bathroom, stumbling over the threshold.
“Oops,” she murmured.
The room swayed in front of her, and she put a hand out to steady herself against the sink.What the…?Her head grew fuzzy, and she shook it to clear her thoughts. She hadn’t had more than a glass of wine, so she wasn’t drunk. Lottie fumbled with the tap and tried to splash cold water on her face, but her fingers wouldn’t tighten on the knob to turn it. She frowned down at them. They were stillthere, attached to her hands, but she couldn’t feel them.
This was really, really weird. Even through the fog in her brain, she registered that something wasn’t right, and tried to open the flap on her small purse to pull out her phone. Eiric. She should call Eiric and tell him—
A noise from behind had her turning. The man she walked by earlier entered the bathroom and closed the door.
“This is the ladies’ room,” Lottie mumbled.
She swayed, and he stepped up, catching her before she fell over. His cool hands gripped her upper arms, and he led her over to the closed toilet to sit.
“I have to get back out there,” she tried to whisper, but her lips wouldn’t form the words.
“Don’t worry,” he said, his accent clipped and cold. “You’ll just sleep a little.”
Okay. Lottie let him lean her head to the side, and she slumped against the tiled bathroom wall. The last thing she saw before her eyes closed was the image of the stranger crouching in front of her.
* * *
Lottie’s neck hurt. She scrunched up her face and let out a little groan. She must have fallen asleep at Dr. Teigland’s desk at the office. That’s what happens when your babies are teething and waking up all through the night.
