Royal Games(18)

“Of course you did.” If Whitney had said that, she would have sounded sarcastic. Rafe just sounded like he approved. As if he liked my decision and had expected it. I had anticipated that he would be upset.

I offered Aunt Sylvia my arm, and he did the same. She held on to both of us as she got up. “Thank you,” she said.

Rafe gave her one of his rare smiles. I tried not to feel wistful about all the times when he used to smile at me. I imagined my heart, and then I mentally constructed a wall of ice around it. I had to keep it guarded and safe, and I had to stop it from feeling so many things when he was around.

There was a commotion in the back, and I turned to see Christopher burst through the crowd, looking for Whitney. Something was really wrong.

“What is it?” Whitney sounded panicked.

His face had gone completely white. “They closed the factory.”

The nearby factory made computer printer parts, and half the people in Frog Hollow were employed there.

Whitney was frozen in place, unable to respond. There would be no way for them to survive with Christopher unemployed. Nausea rose up in my throat while my stomach churned. I hoped I wouldn’t actually throw up. I was worried about Whitney’s family, and I didn’t want her to move.

The second part was entirely selfish, but I needed her. Especially now.

“The doors were locked. There’s just a sign on the door saying it’s been shut down. There’s no final paycheck. No more insurance.” He sat down hard in one of the folding chairs, staring ahead at nothing.

“But the baby,” Whitney whispered. I knew the cost of a normal delivery could run into the tens of thousands, and I couldn’t even begin to fathom what kind of bill they’d run up if there were any complications.

I felt Rafe shift next to me. I turned to see an expression on his face that I had seen many times before. It was one that said he was figuring something out. “I’ll see you later,” he said. “I wanted to talk with the town council. Excuse me.”

What was that about? I didn’t have long to think about it, though. I found Amanda, who agreed to drive us home. I hugged Whitney and told her I’d call her after she and Christopher had had a chance to talk.

I couldn’t bear for Whitney to go through this kind of stress. I hoped it wouldn’t affect her health, or the baby’s. This was seriously all I needed. Just one more horrible thing to add to the heaping pile of crap that my life had become.

I wanted to see the silver lining. But right now I was surrounded by rain clouds.



My alarm clock went off much too early. Technically it was the same time as every other morning, but I had stayed up way too late. I’d talked to Whitney for a really long time, trying to figure out ways we could make money. Neither one of us wanted to say what this probably meant—that she and Christopher would have to move closer to the city for him to find work. And that it would kill me to lose her.

After we hung up, I had logged on to World of Warcraft. My guild was supposed to run a raid, and as main tank I was scheduled to lead it. But they’d gone without me and had already finished up. I’d looked forward to our raid all week. Whenever I played, I was able to become someone else. I was somewhere else. Nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew about Rafe or the show. I was just Eclipse, the death knight. I could turn my brain off and forget about everything around me.

But I had responsibilities, and so I forced myself out of bed. I had to feed the few animals we kept because of their ability to provide food for us. I put my hair in a bun and threw on some sweats. I grabbed my coat on my way through the kitchen. Aunt Sylvia would be up soon and would make us some breakfast. I’d told her repeatedly she didn’t need to, but she seemed to enjoy feeling useful.

I yawned and saw my breath in the cold, dark morning. I rubbed my hands together as I headed for the barn. I pulled the door open and closed it behind me. I turned on the lights and reached for the pail.

It wasn’t there.

Had it landed on the floor or rolled somewhere? I didn’t see it. I went over to check on Clover, our milking cow, and discovered there was no milk left in her teats. And she had a trough full of hay. I turned to see that the pigs had also been fed, and the chickens were all happily squawking and pecking at the ground. A search of their nests showed that all the eggs were gone.

Danny, the teenage son of our nearest neighbors, had helped with the chores in the past when I was gone on trips. But he knew I was back. We had talked at the diner the night before. And he’d been at the town meeting.

But if it wasn’t Danny, then who was it?

I tromped back to the kitchen, where the light had been turned on and the delicious scent of breakfast made my stomach rumble. I went in and hung up my coat. The milk bucket was in the kitchen.