146

Nerthus

Loosening the the colorful ribbons around the small box, I gasp as I unpack a brand-new phone. “I couldn’t recover yours.”

Activating the screen, I find a selfie of Danny with Arawn on the lock screen and happy tears well up in my eyes.

“As he woke up, the first thing he did was ask for you,” Arawn mumbles as I’m still staring at the screen. “He wanted to take a picture right away, so you could have one of us while you were on your trip with your friend.”

“Is that what you have told him?” I ask, my heart hurting too much to reciprocate his gaze. “That I’m on a fun trip?”

“Sure, everything else would have broken his heart.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, looking up at him. “Please forgive me.”

He studies my face, his eyes not holding as much anger as he would be entitled to feel. “It’s not me you should ask for forgiveness because of this.”

“Still,” I say, lowering my gaze. “I shouldn’t have made you so much trouble.”

“We will talk about this afterwards,” he snarls