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In some ways, both he and Kassandra were facing unknowns filled with unspoken promises of better. Unspoken promises, he knew, were difficult to trust. He’d spent enough time around the fae nobility to know they were often a tool used to manipulate others.
Still.
Soon, he hoped to introduce Kassandra to this world as her presence allowed him to become a part of it himself. Soon, he hoped the unspoken promises would become spoken ones. Soon, he hoped more than the strange human kitten ritual would bind them.
Hope, he’d learned, was also a weapon.
However, it was one he minded far less than fear.
Chapter 30
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Christmas is coming.
“I didn’t intend for you to do the background check so you could invite yourself into class each day,” I whisper as Pollux tacks Christmas lights in place around the dining room. Presently, Zahra is monitoring the tree decorating in the main classroom while I handle the more boring things. With my—since school started again on Monday—new assistant.
It has been a laborious four days of Pollux coming to school, bringing elaborate lunch boxes to share with my littles…and winning them over to his side.
They love him.
They love him as though he keeps candy in his pockets and passes it out when I’m not looking.
Except I’m always looking, because he’s always next to me.
I’d call him clingy, but he kind of has to stay in my bubble to keep the fear in his veins from terrifying the children.
To be certain, his presence has made attempting to talk to Zahra about anything impossible. Somehow, I need to figure out if I can bring a friend to movie night tonight for the express purpose of letting her talk to the faerie prince—assuming he can also make it tonight. With any luck, he can tell her directly which rules barred his people from answering her desperate cries for help several weeks ago. It should be as simple as texting Willow a quick question, but nothing has felt simple for months.
Practicing no longer faking so many smiles and saying what I mean has only led me to grouch at Pollux whenever we’re alone.
AKA right now.
“The tree was large,” Pollux says.
“What?” I mumble as I pull myself from my thoughts and realize I have no idea where this conversation has ended up.
“You did not send me the background check so I could invite myself into class every day; however, I helped move the large tree into the appropriate location. Therefore, I am useful. This gives me worth by human standards.”
My nose scrunches as I pass him more lights and glare. “Do not say it like that. That’s horrible.”
“Yet, true.”
Yet true, indeed. But I hate everything about it.
I catch him watching me, and heat rises to my cheeks.
His lips curl in one corner as he pins another string in place and moves to the next location.
The Christmas music blaring in the other room shifts to “Santa Baby,” and I gag. Of the few Christmas songs I can’t stand, none activate my must vomit reflex like “Santa Baby.”
Pollux listens for a moment, then logical distaste swarms into his expression. “This song…is about a young woman having an affair with Santa? The holiday symbol depicted as an overweight, elderly man?”
I groan. “Technically, it’s tradition for fathers to dress up as Santa and deliver presents for the kids who are waiting up, so she’s talking to her husband or boyfriend or whatever…but…yes…this one makes me uncomfortable, too. It’s just…so aggressively flirty.”
“The deceit woven throughout every facet of this holiday is significantly alarming. Why do you celebrate it again?”
I frown. Like an angry bee. Or the Grinch. Or Scrooge. Before their character development. “Because. It’s fun. Christmas lights. And decorations. And cookies. And gingerbread houses.”
