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What if Victor was lying about Pax being my mate, like both Maxim and Hermione have hinted at since I’ve been here? What if he paid off the star chart readers to say his son was the one meant for me?
I have no idea why he would do that—I’m a nobody—but Maxim was right last night.
It is weird that both Kelley and I were matched with Darius men. I didn’t have much time to think about that in all the stress of being mated with Pax and nearly being raped and then running away from everything I’ve ever known, but I’m thinking about it now.
I can’t stop, in fact.
I pace the length of my suite, from the window in the bedroom, through the door into the sitting room, and across the wide space to the other window on the opposite side, again and again, my head spinning with unanswered questions, until finally my growling stomach brings me back to the here and now.
I haven’t eaten much today and nothing since my light lunch of a grilled cheese and arugula salad. Remembering Maxim’s directions, I cross to the phone on the desk in the sitting room and lift the receiver.
I have a dial tone—I didn’t last night—proving he’s a man of his word.
At least about that.
I press zero and am connected to room service where I order tonight’s special—lamb chops with polenta and roasted root vegetables—and then resume my pacing, trying to ignore the constant grumbling of my belly.
Thankfully the food arrives in just twenty minutes, rolled in on a linen-covered cart by a tall man with scarred knuckles accompanied by the guard stationed outside my room. I thank them both profusely and manage not to start drooling at the delicious smells emanating from the recently uncovered plates until after they’ve both stepped outside into the hall again.
But the second I’m alone, I snag a roasted baby carrot from the main plate and pop it into my mouth, moaning as the sweet and tart balsamic glaze floods across my tongue.
“Damn,” I mutter, following the carrot with a slice of turnip and another carrot. “You are some delicious little veggies, roasted root vegetables. And how about you, meaty bits? Are you yummy, too?”
I snag a lambchop by the bone and lean over the cart as I take a huge bite.
Juice drips off my chin to ping onto the plate, proving I’m a savage, but I don’t care.
Because that lamb?
It’s damned perfection.
A revelation in meat form.
“So good.” I moan. “You’re a star, lambchop. A shining shooting star.”
“Do you always talk to your food?” comes a soft whisper from under the cart, making me jump and cry out, dropping the meat back onto the plate as I stumble backwards.
“Shh!” the voice comes again. “Don’t freak out or they’ll come back in and catch me. It’s Diana. I’m under here, but you have to let me out.”
Pressing a hand to my chest, where my heart is slamming, I ask, “How?”
“Just lift the tray off and unlatch the lid. I can take it from there.”
I do as she says, setting my meal on the desk before unhooking the latches on one side of the top of the cart and tossing it open. I lean over, glancing down to see Maxim’s sister balled up in a wad at the bottom of the hollow space.
Wincing, she extends a hand, “Help, please? My legs are asleep.”
I grasp her hand and then her elbow as she emerges with stiff and jerky movements and a good deal of cursing beneath her breath.
“Wow,” she says, collapsing onto the thickly padded footstool nearby. “I’m not twelve anymore. That was a lot easier when there was less of me to hide.”
I nod sympathetically. “I can imagine. I’m not sure I’d ever be able to walk again if I were in stuffed in there.” I nod over my shoulder, toward the tray of food. “Do you want something to eat? A roll to ease your pain? A really stand out roasted carrot? I would offer one of my lamb chops, but there are only three and they really want to live in my belly. They told me so.”
She shakes her head with a stiff smile. “No, thanks. I can’t eat. My stomach is in knots. But you go ahead. And chat up the baby carrots and chops as much as you want. I can wait until you’re done to talk.”
“No, go ahead.” I pull out the desk chair, angling it so I can divide my attention between Diana and my meal. “I can eat and listen at the same time. The food knows how I feel about it already.”
Her lips twitch, but her smile fades before it can fully form.
