Patience (The Patience Trilogy Book 1)

room and avoiding too much contact with parents, not being talkative and emotionless…. These are common teenage tropes. When you start making up excuses and spending even less time with them than you already do, they will start to notice how distant their daughter has become.”

  “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

  “You have to go.”

  “But…”

  “No excuses, it’s easy. You go to this work party, sip on your non-alcoholic fruit drink for a bit of the night, put on a fake smile. Pretend like it’s nice to meet these people, and then go home. The day after we’ll go to Bernard’s and read the journal. We have the key, so there’s no rush, Murum won’t be ready for at least another little while.”

  “Grim, you don’t understand. I can handle torture, excruciating pain. Hell, I could be killed by this Mr Big. But please just don’t force me to spend an evening with my family. That is going too far.”

  “I knew you’d take it well.” She groaned, narrowed her eyes, but stopped arguing. She knew she wasn’t going to win.

  She took a deep breath and repeated the same statement to herself over and over. It’s only one night, you can do this. And then she went back to moaning and complaining, Grim seemed satisfied that he had effectively ruined her life. Okay, maybe she had tipped over the dramatic scale, but only just.

  17

  DULL FAMILY