Souls Entwined

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Two
Elle's POV?

After two days of wordlessly following Iris around and tense training sessions, I found myself needing to step over Rhunni's legs while trying to get to Kaden's office. She mumbled a nonsensical apology as I hesitated and studied her with a long look.

She wore the same clothes she had been in the day before, and her hair, usually a pretty coffee colour, had lost its normal polished shine. A paper bag with a grease stain was scrunched and tossed to her side, and a near-empty water bottle sat beside her.

She lifted her chin as I passed, as though she dared not drag her eyes away from her screen. I faltered at the closed door, ready to knock. Instead, I turned back and slumped on the floor beside Rhunni. I locked eyes with Conner before motioning to the empty water. He nodded before disappearing down the hallway.

'Hey,' Rhunni startled at my voice, her eyes darting wildly to where I sat beside her. She blinked twice, looking towards where I had been standing a few moments ago, then her eyes flittered back to me and a soft pink flushed down her neck.

Her lungs filled with air with an audible gulp, and she clicked a few keys on her laptop before looking up. Her eyes seemed to droop at the corners, and they had a reddish tinge. I wondered if she could tell me what day it was or if she had found herself in a time vortex. 'Have you taken a break recently?'

Rhunni shook her head a little dazedly. 'Uh,' she looked down to her laptop, then back up, 'I don't know.'

'Did you sleep last night?' I asked, concerned that this was the second person I'd had this conversation with in as many days.

'A little. There is so much to do. The media is going berserk over it still. It's making this difficult.'

'Is there anything we can do?' I twisted my hands together, guilt and stress mixing in my chest to form a heavy weight in my stomach.

Her shoulders heaved as she shrugged, her lips down-turned. 'I don't know.' She admitted quietly. 'Usually, I'm better at reading the public. I promise I'm usually more chill than this.'

She looked so disappointed with herself. Her whole body slumped against the wall. Without thinking, I reached for her hand, enveloping one of hers with mine. 'You have been a godsend.' I told her, holding my voice as steady as I could. 'You set up that conference with hardly any warning, and you've been fielding the media and news crews non-stop for the past three weeks. Not many people would be able to get through all of that unscathed.'

'I don't know if I have.' She whispered, staring down at where our hands were connected. 'Gotten through unscathed, that is. I haven't showered in over forty-eight hours. I feel disgusting. I've been living off pastries and various types of bread from the bakery in town because they deliver the bread to the house in the morning, which seemed easiest. I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall with how many times I've had to repeat myself.'

We sat there for a while, and it wasn't until Conner returned with a new bottle of water and an apple from the kitchen that I sat up straighter. 'Here's what you're going to do.' I started, hoping to emanate the non-nonsense tone I'd used on McKenzie for over a decade before she'd gotten too old to care. 'First, take a shower and get yourself a decent meal. After that, take a nap or get a good night's sleep. The welcome event is tomorrow, and we really need you at your best, but if that's not possible in time, please let us know. Your well-being is more of a priority than what-ifs.'

After nearly twenty minutes debating the merits of sleep versus continuing to work and Conner's two cents worth, we finally convinced Rhunni to hand over her laptop. I tucked it under my arm, my fingers still wrapped around it in case Rhunni leapt for it and watched as she dazedly wandered down the hallway towards the stairs.