AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Castor,” Alana greets, chipper, and my breath catches.
Castor? This is Castor?
Willow echos my thoughts in her own way. “Oh. So you’re Castor. Love the knife.”
“Gratitude,” he murmurs, flips it, and catches it by the blade as though he’s not blindfolded at all. “You’re welcome to look at it.”
Willow laughs. “Um. Yes. Don’t mind if I do.”
My head spins as Willow trots up to the evil prince I’ve been warned about and plucks his knife from his hands. Holding the metal up to the light, she whistles at what appears to be a collection of screaming faces decorating the handle. “Super cute.”
Alana goes to him next, peachy and humming as she has been this entire time. “I was hoping to see you again soon. It’s been months since we last spoke.”
Castor makes a low sound. “Indeed. Forgive me for not sparing a moment to congratulate you on your nuptials…”
“Sorry I didn’t tell you about Cael sooner. I kind of couldn’t.”
Castor flinches at Cael’s name and dips his chin. “I hold nothing against you, child. I know better than to think he did not have you under some manner of oath. You have been nothing but kind and open with me in all our interactions. When I burn this world, I intend to spare you.”
“Aw.” Alana giggles. “That makes me so happy.” Pulling one of the copies of the fantasy book out of Willow’s basket, she offers it to him. “Speaking of world burning, I got this for you, courtesy of my brother’s credit card.”
Castor straightens. “Another book recommendation?”
“I’ve been informed you can see, so read responsibly out of other’s sight.”
A shining smile falls over Castor’s mouth as his head dips. “More kidnapping?”
“Duh.”
What. Is. Going. On?
I thought this was an enemy?
I’m so confused.
Hedging cautiously forward, I take a place out of Castor’s reach behind Alana.
No sooner have I settled in does he turn his face toward me. “Hello.”
I press my lips together and practice keeping my attention off his blindfold. “Hi.”
“You smell of dreams.”
“I…appreciate it, if that’s a compliment?”
“Trained already, are you? And yet unclaimed.” In another moment, he’s in front of me, tilting my chin upward, and touching his forehead to mine.
My brain tells my body to jerk out of reach, but I am utterly frozen in place.
“Interesting,” he murmurs. “How suffocating it must be for you like this… How painful.”
“Hey, Castor, you’re behaving yourself, right?” Alana notes as wings and antennae unfurl from her back and forehead. She splays the dark wings laced in hints of pink and purple wide. “That’s our new friend. She’s already taken, too, so kidnapper, no kidnapping.”
“Indeed.” He lets me slip from his grasp, and I step back as soon as I find myself able. Castor flexes his fingers. “Is she Pollux’s?”
“Maybe,” Alana says.
Willow, still playing with the dagger, notes, “I prefer to think of it as Pollux is hers.”
