I was sure I’d heard him wrong.“Yeah, that’s what I said. I did it because of my gift.” Stark’s voice sounded cool, like what he’d said was no big deal, but his eyes said something else. The pain in them was so obvious that I had to look away. As if that pain was just as obvious to Duchess, the Lab trotted from me to her master and sat at his side, leaning heavily against him, staring up at him adoringly, and whining softly. Automatically, Stark reached down and stroked her soft head as he talked. “It happened during the Summer Games. It was right before the finals. Will and I were way in the lead, so it was for sure that the gold and silver medals were going to go to us.” He didn’t look as me while he talked. Instead he stared down at his bow, and his hand kept stroking Duchess’s head. Weirdly enough, Nala crept quietly up to him and began rubbing herself against his leg (the one Duchess wasn’t leaning on) while she purred like a lawn mower. Stark just kept talking.
