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Tyrnir are trying. At least I know this place means something to them. If they are stupid
and cruel, they are at least not nothing at all.
There were, undoubtedly, a thousand witty replies to this, but none of them came to
Kjartan s mind when he needed them. Part of him agreed it was a bitter caustic part that
hurt him like swallowed vitriol that he was indeed as worthless as his father said. As
much in reaction to that part of himself as to Volmar s words, Kjartan snapped his mouth
shut, bowed stiffly, and storming out of his father s presence scarcely waited until he
was in the corridor before he tore the universe and fled. Why should he stay and listen to
this when he could go back to the one person in all universes who looked at him with
awe?
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Chapter Eleven
Joel woke up alone and tried not to worry about it. The unexpected bracelet he could
not pry off his wrist indicated that Kai had a plan of some sort, and he hoped had left
him the same kind of protection he had given to the Queen.
When he looked at it like that, it made him smile. The memory of touching Kai in his
sleep seemed to have seeped under his skin and relaxed all his bones. He felt rested as he
had rarely been before, and having cornflakes for breakfast instead of toast because
now he could afford both made him inclined to count his blessings and sing along with
the radio.
It was a cold and rainy morning, but he cycled to work with an inner glow, and
stripped off his streaming waterproofs in the gallery s little lobby with a better will than
at any time previously this week. Hanging his wet coat up as he switched on the lights, he
paused with a familiar feeling of dissatisfaction at the sight of the showroom. Something
was still wrong. He had to face the fact that he just didn t know how to arrange the place
in a way that made everything in it look good. Now it gave the impression that he was
desperate to sell the paintings and ashamed of the glasswork, and that wasn t right either.
Sighing, he went to put the kettle on, trying to hold on to his good mood. It would
have been nice if Kai had told him where he was going, or even just that he was going to
come back.
That thought stopped his hand as it suspended a spoonful of coffee granules above
his mug. He supposed he d started out on this adventure with elves thinking it was just a
temporary fit of madness that Kai would recover and leave, and his life would go back
to what passed as normal. Now Kai had left, and he was assuming, hoping his absence
was the temporary thing. Joel had fallen, without thinking about it, into the assumption
that Kai would now be a part of his life for good.
Too Many Fairy Princes
He put the coffee in the cup, added water and stirred it, looking down into the dark
liquid as though it were a looming ill-omened future. But who said Kai assumed that too?
Nobody. It was stupid to imagine that a guy who was a prince of a country in turmoil
would want to do more than recover in a safe place before he went back to do some
righteous smiting of his own.
Joel s shoulders sagged as though a great weight had come down on them. He sipped
the coffee and didn t taste it. As he was just settling in for a good day s sulk, the bell
above the door jangled, forcing him to put on his politely helpful shop assistant s face
and go out to dismay Kai some more by prostituting his art and the art of others to
whoever was at the door.
Mrs. Ringle turned towards him as he emerged from the back rooms. The floral
pattern of her cardigan crazily mismatched the zebra pattern of her skirt. Her unmade
face was pallid and blotchy, and her eyes red-rimmed. It didn t take the hanky that she
twisted in her hands to tell him all was not well, or make him feel like a heel. He should
have called should have made sure she was all right too and had forgotten.
 Mrs. R! Grabbing the chair which stood by the till, he plunked it down behind her,
prompting her to give him a watery smile and to fold with aching caution down to its
seat.  I just made a coffee. Here you go.
He offered it to her and watched her struggle with the impulse of politeness that
would have insisted she should push it away and tell him it was his. He knew the news
was bad when she took it instead, held it in both hands, hunching up over it as if she was
terribly cold.
 How is&  No, he couldn t ask that, could he? Something terrible must have
happened to her husband the one with whom, despite his dishonesty, she had lived her
entire life. The one whom she no longer knew how not to love. All at once he was guilty
about Mr. Ringle too. Obviously Mr. Ringle had been hurt worse than they d thought if
he was& Was he dead? If he was, then Drake was wrong and he hadn t arranged a
convenient accident at all he d hardly have arranged to have himself that badly hurt. If
that was the case, then Joel had been thinking badly of him all this time when maybe he
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Alex Beecroft
was an innocent man and he d actually meant it when he said he had a way out for them
all.
Mrs. Ringle s lips tightened. The fine skin of her eyelids crumpled in a frown that
told of anger and grief together, and Joel abandoned his own self-castigation in favour of
trying to help her.  I mean what is it? What s the matter?
She drank a little of the coffee and wiped her eyes with her lace-edged handkerchief,
sniffing. Then she tried the smile again.  I went to see my husband at the hospital
yesterday. They kept me waiting for hours, and then a doctor came to see me, and a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]