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Extending his hand toward Willow, Castor states, “My knife.”
“Are you sure I can’t keep it? Just imagine what my husband will think if I come home with a knife that smells like you. Ten out of ten good prank,” Willow protests.
“A tempting thought. However, my plans don’t include losing my favorite dagger.” Past Alana’s wings, I see Castor slip his knife free from Willow’s fingers, bend, and touch a kiss to her cheek. “This will suffice in your efforts of mischief.”
“Ha ha,” she says. “You’re in danger.”
A hiss that shifts into a roar pours from Willow’s shadow before a monster feline half the size of a car wraps her close in his claws and tucks her away from Castor. Voice garbled due to the teeth pouring from his partially human, partially cat face, the creature says, “Leave.”
“No one has a sense of humor anymore,” Castor mutters.
My entire world spins before a chill goes up my spine. My stomach turns over when I realize Castor has me in his grasp.
The tiniest flick of Castor’s damp tongue tastes the tip of my ear.
“Oh, for the love of marshmallows, Castor!” Alana snaps. “What did I just say about inappropriate jokes around new friends?”
His eerie laughter drifts into my skull before—all at once—he’s gone.
My skin crawls as I clamp a hand to my ear, scrubbing the sensation of him off.
Alana lets her wings settle as she huffs and rolls her eyes, muttering, “I respect the villainy, really I do, but poor Pollux. He’ll smell Castor on you and have a panic response if you don’t wash up before you see him again.”
The monstrous feline creature melts into Zylus, the man I at least mostly remember from movie night. Silken dark hair. Two-color eyes. Simple black clothes.
The pointed ears are new.
As was the cat beast thing.
And my coming face-to-face with a person responsible for at least two large-scale historical events. That I know of. So far.
Willow cringes as Zylus immediately begins nuzzling her cheek, planting kisses, licks, and nips. “Zy. I’m fine. Calm down.”
He persists, clutching her. “Has it occurred to you that, perhaps, I am not fine, starlight?”
To that, Willow sags back against him and mutters, “No. Because empathy is stupid.”
I…
Am out of my depth.
My forced smile falls as the weight of everything still standing in front of me becomes apparent.
Wings. Fangs. Eerie laughter echoing in the trees or in the cavern of my skull… Perhaps both.
This… All of this is my life now.
And I haven’t had decades to study the correct way to navigate any of it.
Chapter 26
~~~~~~~~~~~~
How exactly does one be fae responsibly?
Sandwiches.
I am on the verge of having a breakdown over sandwiches, while I listen to a lover’s quarrel, and stare at giant moth wings, which happen to be attached to a person. I don’t think I’ve contacted my parents to let them know that I’m running later than expected, but maybe I have. My brain is busy grappling with this idea that I’m surrounded by powerful creatures, and I’m supposed to be one of them.
