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She nods, as though she understands. “So magic is real. You’re living with a shifter, who is your soulmate. He writes songs about you. His canine form is a chihuahua. And you’re only telling me this now?”
“I found out yesterday.”
Her crazy eyes slip through subtle calculations before turning skeptical. “So he’s a pervert who has been living with you without you knowing for, what, over a year now?”
“The situation is complicated, but he is very much a gentleman, and I don’t feel uncomfortable at all with this revelation because he has never done anything questionable with his puppy powers.”
She lifts a hand. “I will believe every word if he lets me pet his head without growling at me. Do I have Ollie the faerie’s consent?”
Ollie whimpers before lying across my lap and releasing a pent-up sigh of resignation. He does absolutely nothing when Alana touches his head with a single fingertip.
Then it’s like a million watt bulb exploding in her face. Light ignites in her eyes, and she jerks her hand back. “He’s never let me touch him before. He has to have understood me.”
“He says you have crazy eyes, and he thinks you’re going to crush him to death if he lets you touch him.”
Alana’s mouth drops open. “Listen here, Ollie. I have never… There was one lizard. Okay? One. I still feel awful about it. But I was four. I didn’t even know it was dead until Mom told me and made me scrub my skin off to wash up. I just thought he liked playing with me and that’s why he wasn’t resisting.”
“Good call, Ollie,” I murmur. “I wouldn’t let her pet me either.”
He snuffs, just managing to escape off my lap before Alana tackles me in a hug.
“Magic is real!” she blurts.
I laugh. “I guess so, yeah? I’m still learning all sorts of things. I have completely bombarded him with questions ever since I found out.”
“This is incredible! Can I ask questions, too? Translate, B.” Jumping off me, she kneels perfectly in front of where Ollie is now standing in his human form and reaching for one of the pillows on my bed. She looks at his ankles. “How many faeries are in the house right now, and—follow up—would any of them like to chat with me? I can provide pen and paper, so Brittny doesn’t have to translate.” She gasps. “Better yet, how do I get to be able to see you like Brittny can? Is there some kind of faerie ointment that I need to smear on my eyelids.” She flicks a look back at me. “I’m told it burns really bad. Did it burn really bad for you?” Looking back at Ollie’s ankles, she says, “Or maybe it’s a faerie wine? Are you secretly evil? If you try to hurt or trick my sister, I will strangle you no matter how cute you look to me. I have older sister plot armor. Everyone knows it’s the older brothers who die. The older sisters tend to turn evil…” She mutters something in Japanese as she lifts a hand to her chin. “I’m sure that won’t happen… Unless I find myself in love with an unseelie faerie prince, who has very nice hair and very sharp cheekbones and the kind of charisma that convinces me he’s doing what’s right, thus leading me down a wicked path of heart-wrenching betrayal until the wholesome redemption and forgiveness conclusion.” Sitting straight again, she grins. “Are there any unseelie faerie princes I should be concerned about?”
Ollie blinks slowly down at my sister as he pulls the pillow free. Then he looks at me. “This is unprecedented.”
I shrug. “I kind of knew it would happen. My sister’s threshold for belief is very high.”
“She’s giving me please say a murderous faerie prince exists eyes, and I don’t like it.”
“Are there murderous faerie princes?” I ask.
He drops the pillow on the floor, and Alana’s attention lags, as though she’s stuck in a dream, and I sincerely wonder what she’s seeing. “Prince Cael isn’t evil. He resides over Mountain Vale.”
Prince Cael. Cael. I think I’ve heard that name once before. Probably at Willow’s. I don’t remember anything else about it, though. “That’s obvious deflection.”
“I am tired.”
My heart thuds.
“Hello?” Turning back toward me with a pout, Alana says, “Is he going to sleep?”
I smile weakly. “I think so. It’s been a long couple of days.” Full of my rambling, and now Alana’s, and he sincerely didn’t think he’d have to deal with Alana believing me.
He’s been exhausted by this entire situation, and I haven’t slowed down for even a moment.
Yesterday he said loving a soulmate was a choice. Does that mean he can choose to hate me if I don’t stop being selfish?
Ollie steps around Alana, who might still be talking to me, I’m not sure. Cupping my face in his hand, he lifts my gaze to his. “Hey.” He swipes his thumb beneath my eye. “You’re not doing anything wrong. This is a lot to take in, and all your questions are normal. I may not have expected your sister to accept this so easily, but I’m glad you have people who believe the most insane concepts without batting an eye just because they trust you. That’s beautiful. I’m a little jealous.”
“Jealous?”
He nods. “Were roles reversed, my siblings would never have embraced me so simply.”
“Because they’re guys?”
