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Castor’s hands close into fists, and his knuckles crack. “When is it my turn?”
“Hey,” Alana soothes, touching Castor’s back.
He throws her hand off. “I do not need your comfort now. Centuries have brought me nothing but mindless beasts to call friends. Your kindness is grown in a softer world than the one I have known. You have the luxury of gentleness. All I have is anger.”
“Hey.” Alana’s tone solidifies into something sharp. “I know you’ve had a hard time, Castor, but you’ve not burned this bridge yet. Don’t set that spark.”
“And why shouldn’t I?”
“I think you know what would happen if harm came to any of us.”
A broken laugh spills out of him as he snatches the book from her fingers. “Of course. How soon do I forget to remember that I am ever on the losing side? I have mere animals to fight for me where one scratch on your precious finger would send an army out in your name.”
“To be fair,” Willow notes, majestically chill, “once in Australia there was a war against emus, and the people lost. Multiple times.”
“I am aware,” Castor hisses. “Who do you believe commandeered the emus?”
Willow cackles. “Are you serious? You’re my new favorite person. Want to come to movie night? We’ll pick something that has accessibility audio.”
Moments of chilling silence string themselves between Castor and Willow.
Finally, she asks, “Do you like popcorn?”
“I don’t believe you’re aware that you’re behaving inappropriately given the situation.”
Willow cocks a hip and points the dagger at him. “I don’t believe you’re aware what plot armor is.”
Some tension eases from his shoulders before he chuckles. “You have a marvelous friend, moth princess.”
Alana’s wings flit as she smiles. “I know.”
He turns toward her. “How are you faring?”
She shrugs. “The drugs seem to be working well enough. Pollux makes them for me and has me check in with him each week for assessments.”
Castor exhales a sigh. “How incredibly…him.”
“I really appreciate your help, Castor,” she says. “I never would have gotten this far without it.”
Stillness consumes him for several beats, then he dips his head. “It was the least I could do for the first person to treat me like a person in centuries.”
Clearly, there’s history here.
Big history.
Big history that I wasn’t a part of.
After what I’ve heard, I’m not sure what to think. Castor could turn us all into stone with a single look. I felt the way just his touch hardened my limbs moments ago. It’s dangerous to humor staying in his presence. And, yet, the moth faerie princess who literally has wings spilling from her back right now, seems entirely calm. The thrall of a vampire knight is playing with the basilisk’s knife, touching it to the tip of her finger as though it wouldn’t at all bother her to be cut.
If they were like me, I’d assume they were manufacturing all this hubris, but they aren’t like me at all.
They know who they are, and they aren’t hesitant to show it.
Relaxing, Castor lifts his free hand to his chest in a bow toward me. “Sincerest apologies, child. Do I unsettle you? Perhaps you’d be more comfortable if I removed my blind?” He lifts a hand to the cloth wrapped around his head, but I don’t see him touch it before Alana’s standing between us, wings covering me.
“Well, and here I thought we were friends, moth princess,” Castor murmurs.
“It’s not nice to make those kinds of jokes around new friends.”
