Chapter 438
Chapter 438:
“You have to finish her off!” She began typing the message, driving her fingers into the keys hard enough that they rattled beneath her hands. But the person on the other end had already gone offline, leaving her message undelivered and her fury with nowhere to go.
Now that Asher had told her she could move freely, Kristine stopped treating the hotel like a prison.
She went out when she felt like it, stayed in when she didn’t, and for the first time in weeks, something resembling a normal life began to take shape around her. The relief of it was physical — like a weight that had been pressing on her chest had finally been lifted.
The one complication was Davin.
He was tall, composed, and said almost nothing, which somehow made him appear even more formidable than if he had been visibly threatening. Someone who didn’t know better might easily mistake him for a wealthy executive rather than a bodyguard. Wherever Kristine went, he materialized a half-step behind her, his presence making it immediately obvious to anyone nearby that she was being protected.
Because he was also, objectively, quite striking to look at, people on the street tended to stare. And when they stared at Davin, they noticed Kristine too. Fortunately, she never left the hotel without her mask.
“Davin, why don’t you pull up a chair and eat with us?” Alma asked, glancing back at him where he stood stationed behind Kristine like a piece of carved furniture.
His presence was beginning to make the private dining room feel strangely formal.
𝗣𝗈р𝘂𝘭𝖺𝘳 𝘴𝗍𝘰rieѕ 𝗈𝗇
Kristine looked over at him. “Really, just sit down. Have something to eat p>
“No,” Davin said.
“Why not?” Alma pressed.
He didn’t answer.
Kristine tilted her head at him. “It’s just lunch. What’s the problem p>
“I said no,” Davin repeated, in exactly the same tone as before.
Alma accepted defeat with a sigh. “Fine. But could you at least stop standing directly in my line of sight p>
Davin looked to Kristine for guidance.
She suppressed a laugh. “Go stand behind Alma. That way she won’t have to look at you while she eats p>
Davin considered this for a moment, then moved obediently to take up his post behind Alma’s chair.
Alma immediately relaxed and returned to her meal with visible relief.
She had only taken a few bites, however, before she went completely still.
Her eyes had fixed on the television mounted in the corner of the room.
Kristine looked at the screen. It appeared to be coverage of the upcoming elections in Evira — nothing that should have any relevance to Alma, who was from Raskor. Yet the expression on her face was one of genuine, undisguised shock.
After a long moment, Alma picked up her phone, typed something, and slid it across the table.
Kristine looked down at the screen. It was a news article from a Rymonst outlet. At the top of the page was a photograph of a deer sculpture — the broken antler clearly visible — and beneath it, a report announcing that the damaged piece had been successfully restored and was now on its way back to Rymonst, where the Peudon Museum intended to put it on public display.