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“I could scent her on Brittny the first time we met. And I was extremely confused. Because I didn’t know why I couldn’t connect to her blood and why I’d never scented the hints before.” Cael winces. “Naturally, I wasn’t going to make a fuss about it.”
“You thought I had your mate, and you were…” I rake in a breath, calm down, lower my voice. “You were just going to let me keep her?”
Cael slips his hand out of my grip and lowers his eyes to the papers strewn over the floor. “It didn’t make enough sense for me to ruin your love story, Ollie. Besides, my loyalty is to my people, not an affair. And you are one of my dearest friends.”
“What happened to trusting the situation?”
“Oh, I am now. If the universe had made a mistake, though, I would have dealt with it, which you should know is also a kind of trusting the situation.” He steeples his fingers. The prick. “My concern now is that Alana is so desperate for a ticket into this world I will be little more than a tool to secure that end.”
I cross my arms. “She may also be surprisingly disappointed by the fact you aren’t evil.”
“Really? How cute.” A smile flutters across his lips. “At any rate. I would like to keep this secret for the time being, allow her a choice of what she wants without an obligation of me.”
“You do realize your love tests are in direct contradiction of just trust, right?”
“For the record, your ‘love test’ was because for the life of me I had spent over a century trying to get you to trust and value yourself to no avail.” He smooths his antennae again. “In my case, I am a responsibility that not everyone is prepared to deal with. Being mine makes being an agent of my kingdom unavoidable. From what I have heard, Alana wishes for adventure and magic and things that don’t leave her tucked away in cramped offices, organizing paperwork and erecting new systems to maintain a balance between the order and chaos present in every faerie. I do not want to pressure or blackmail her accidentally while I get to know her true wishes.” Smiling, Cael says, “Do trust I won’t pretend I’m her moth pet for a year.”
I drawl, “Because you can’t? Because mortal moths don’t have that long of a lifespan?”
He stares at me. “Anyway…”
My lips quirk. “Did you consider it?”
“Briefly.”
I chuckle. “Advice is easy to give to someone else, isn’t it?”
“I do believe I said I wasn’t all powerful.” Cael slips his thumb across his bottom lip. “Only time will tell if the role I come with fits her interests. I may be wrong entirely… The scent on Brittny may not have come from her sister at all.” His eyes close. “This is…all quite strange to me. I do not know what to do.”
“If Alana is your mate but she doesn’t want to be a princess, what then?”
Cael releases a humorless laugh, and his amber eyes darken as they find me. “What a question. I’ll offer you one in answer: what wouldn’t you do for your mate?” He wets his lips. “On that topic, are you most certain you’ve no interest in being a prince, Ollie?”
I bark a laugh, stuff my hands in my pockets, and try to ignore the uncertainty beating in my chest. “Please. Brittny is my princess, but she’s absolutely not a princess. We like naps too much to come anywhere close to royalty.”
“Indeed.” He taps his thumb against his mouth. “Perhaps I should learn how to flirt between tonight and tomorrow.”
“Please don’t try.”
“Don’t…try?”
“To flirt. Please don’t try. I have never seen you try. I never want to see you try.”
He rocks his head back against his chair. “Is this a professional assessment, Ollie?”
“I don’t flirt. You become naturally magnetic when you make yourself available.” I watch him consider my words, then I wince. “Cael. Don’t do that either. Just be yourself, or something.”
“Myself…” he murmurs, frighteningly, as though the term is a foreign concept long forgotten. It’s the most hollow I have ever heard his voice, and it sets me the smallest bit on edge, like instinct is trying to warn me. He continues before it gets the chance, “Right. Well. Best find your mate before she wanders into trouble. I am grateful for your support.”
“Don’t mention it,” I say as I step out of his office and wander after Brittny’s scent. She’s tucked away in a rose bud, fluffy and small and…perfect.
“Hi, beautiful,” I whisper as I climb into the petals with my tiny Pomeranian mate. “Ready to go home?”
She yips before flopping onto her side and shifting into her human form. A banana yellow skirt flows across her thighs, lifting seductively as she stretches and murmurs, “Home isn’t built yet.”
I melt. “Home is anywhere you are.”
Her cheeks tinge, matching the shade of the rose around us. Opening her arms, she welcomes me into her embrace, and I sink into the sound of her heartbeat bouncing off the petals.
