Never had I heard of someone having so vivid an interaction with the goddess or had their prayers answered so directly.
Why me? I wondered.
I jumped as someone knocked on my door.
When I opened it, a servant handed me a flat package tied with a huge red ribbon. I carried it over to my bed and opened the lid.
What… is this?
A set of sexy lingerie was nestled delicately in the box. It was uncomfortably similar to the set I had worn the night Ryan and I had broken up and I had fled into the forest.
Who could have sent me this?
Avery’s POV
I stared in astonishment at the neatly displayed lingerie nestled in the box. I genuinely couldn’t think of anyone in this world who would send me such a thing.
Certainly not Ryan. Not after how things ended.
Gingerly, I lifted the lace up and held it to the light. The sheer fabric was a shimmering ultraviolet that shifted in shades of purple and blue.
It was very much not my color.
A piece of paper dislodged from the scrap of fabric and fluttered to the floor. I picked it up and unfolded it.
It was a note.
“Dear Avery,” it read, in a familiar bubble-lettered script, “Everyone deserves a second chance. Maybe you’ll get the guy this time. If you don’t want to end up with a lonely life, maybe you should try harder? Xoxo – Zara”
What a bitch. I thought, but I’d said it so much in my head lately that my own inner-voice sounded tired instead of hateful.
I settled for tearing the note into tiny bits and flinging them in the garbage.
As much as it pained me to admit, Zara had struck a nerve. The last time I’d worn lingerie like this, I’d been full of tentative hope for my future with Ryan, my chosen mate.
Now I had no one who seemed to care about me.
“I’m pretty sure Gideon wants nothing to do with me.” I said bitterly.
I tossed the lingerie onto the bed and stormed towards the door.
I didn’t even care that I was still in my nightgown and house robe, I just needed out of this room.
I’d go to the kitchen, get a cup of coffee, then come back and regroup.
Maybe I’d go work in the garden or something and touch some grass.
I threw open the door and stomped out of my room and down the hall.
As I gripped the railing of the stairs and started down, I realized there was a couple standing directly below me on the second floor landing. They were standing very close.
It’s Gideon! I realized with shock.
The long hem of my nightgown threatened to tangle my feet and trip me the rest of the way. Finally I caught my balance and skidded to a stop halfway down.
Gideon was leaning back on his elbows on the landing railing. He barely registered my presence as I appeared above him on the stairs.
He glanced at me quickly, and then back to his companion. Dismissing me.
I looked at who he was with. The beautiful woman had both her hands on his shoulder, leaning on his arm. She was tall, with a stunning figure and was draped across him like a snake.
My heart flopped painfully at the sight of them together.
Why am I feeling jealous? I thought, I don’t even like him.
Still, it felt disrespectful. I am supposed to become liis Lama!
After Ryan’s betrayal and Zara’s goading, this was a dagger between the ribs to my bruised and broken heart.
I remembered what Gideon said on the ride to Nightwolf about not interfering with his needs for women. He had said it so coldly and expected me to follow his rules.
I spun on my heel, bunched up my nightgown in my lists, and stomped back towards my room, pretending like I didn’t see them.
I had just reached the upper landing when I heard the woman give a low chuckle and ask, “With a body like hers, do you think she’ll ever satisfy you?”
I stopped in my tracks. Every part of me froze as I listened for Gideon’s reply.
There was an uncomfortable silence, then Gideon answered in a voice chiseled from ice, “I won’t sleep with her.”
Before I could think twice about it, I turned and shouted down the stairs at them, “Since I won’t interfere with who you sleep with, let’s just leave each other to our own private lives!”
Gideon’s face snapped up and he glared at me.
You sleep with who you like, and I will do the same. I fumed. He must be fine with me sleeping with other men as well, right?.
“Leave, Jessica.” Gideon snapped.
The beautiful woman glared at me spitefully, but slowly unwound herself from his side and disappeared down the stairs.
My hands clenched at my sides as Gideon climbed the stairs two at a time up to me.
I backed up as he reached the top of the stairs.
I couldn’t help it. He was just so very large and intimidating.
He paced down the hallway after me.
I backed up faster.
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