Series: Willow Winters
Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60207 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 301(@200wpm)___ 241(@250wpm)___ 201(@300wpm)
The older woman smirks at her. “You’ll need a bowl Zinni. Don’t blame this on our Lady of the castle.”
“Her name is Kara. And she doesn’t want to be called Lady.” Zinnea sits on the counter swinging her legs and looks back to me as she keeps talking to Mrs. Sarah. She says in a hushed tone, “I thought you may want to talk to her some. She also says she has no money to go shopping.” I don’t miss her raised brow and knowing look she gives the older woman before glancing back at me.
“Oh, dear.” The older woman looks at me from head to toe, her lips pursed. Suddenly my throat goes dry. With a quizzical look she comments, “But you love him.”
My heart sputters in my chest. I shake my head no, but really I’m not sure it’s the truth. And I’m not a liar. I spear my fingers through my hair. “I don’t know.”
Mrs. Sarah walks to the fridge with a sigh, ignoring my response, and pulls out a bowl of peeled shrimp and places it on the counter. All the while I watch and wait, as if this woman’s opinion would mean anything at all. She digs back in the fridge and sighs, pulling out a bowl of shrimp shells. I suppose she’s making a broth. I try to convince myself that what anyone else thinks is irrelevant, but for some reason, I can’t. I’m desperate for someone else to explain what I feel to me. I’m at a complete loss—torn, confused, and on the verge of admitting that I am in love, although none of it feels as if it’s in my control.
“I bet you do know,” she says matter of factly, interrupting my thoughts, as she grabs a pot hanging over the stainless-steel counter. Ignoring my racing heart, I purse my lips and consider her words as she fills the pot with water and sets it on the stove.
“I don’t trust how I feel.” Again, I settle on the truth.
“Ah!” She holds her finger up. “You’re afraid.”
“No.” I respond instantly. I am never afraid.
Turning to look over her shoulder, Mrs. Sarah smirks at me, wiping her hands on her apron. “Of course you’re afraid. Everyone is afraid when they’re in love.”
As she turns her attention back to the pot, I murmur, half wishing I could keep my thoughts to myself, “I don’t want to feel this way.”
“Which way is that? In love or afraid?” she questions, her back still to me as if this is a casual conversation. Swallowing thickly, I glance to my right at Zinnea and expect to find her leaning over and ready to pounce on my insecurities, but she’s simply unwrapping a sweet and popping it into her mouth.
“I don’t know which is worse.” The truth in my statement is unsettling.
“The worst thing that could happen is that you give him your heart and he breaks it.” She grabs a few peppers and onions and chops them with ease as she adds, “And I have a feeling Drago wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Kara.”
I almost tell her he lied to me. I almost tell her I don’t know that I trust myself around him. Instead I just say straight to the point, “I may be pregnant with his dragonlings.” I don’t need to explain that matters would get far more complicated if I am pregnant. I grip the edge of the counter a little tighter as Zinnea unwraps another sweet, pretending not to be listening but I’m all too aware she is.
There’s no judgment at all in Mrs. Sarah’s response. She doesn’t stop her knife or the chopping. “He should be able to scent by now. It’s nearly instant for dragons.”
“How instant?” I ask, my neck and cheeks heating.
“Within hours of your heat leaving you, you would smell of pregnancy.” The vegetables drop into the pot, and she busies herself cleaning the cutting board.
As my insecurities and a million questions race in my mind, I ask her, “Do you smell it?”
“Sweetheart, I’m just a human. You’d have to ask a dragon that. And seeing as how your Drago is the only dragon around right now, maybe you should ask him.”
“Where are his brothers?” I question. “Cyrus and Galen?”
“They should be back by night fall.” She takes in a nervous breath. “They’ve gone to see about acquiring someone.” A shudder runs through her body.
“You’re worried?” I ask.
Her eyes find mine. “A bit. I’m sure they’ll be careful, but what they’re doing could”—she hesitates before saying—“add complications.”
A chill runs down my shoulders. I look at the exit to the kitchen and wonder where Drago is.
“Let’s go Kara,” Zinnea says with an upbeat voice as she hops off the counter. “It’s time to go shopping.” I watch as she pockets more sweets and winks at me. Well, if nothing else, it’ll give me a distraction and get me out of here.