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“Um…”
“It is unlikely,” Pollux says.
Zahra scowls, focusing her ire on him once more. “Will the faerie prince at least issue a formal apology for the way his people behaved when I went to the elf party?”
“That is…also unlikely.” Pollux’s heavy brows lower. “There is nothing to apologize for. You should not have been intruding on an event you were not invited to because someone who also was not invited brought it up.” He pokes Andromeda in the cheek. “For that reason alone you should not have mentioned it.”
Andromeda doesn’t even look up as she chomps his finger.
“Ow.”
Zahra throws her shoulders back, lifts her chin, slams her hands to her hips, and blesses me with her attention. “Okay. I’m ready. You may proceed.”
I blink. “Huh?”
“I’ve been very patient. You may explain what’s going on between you and Pollux now. Along with why you’re no longer protesting faerie talk. Did you come to terms with the playground being an impossible feat for humans? I keep telling myself it’s your business and you’ll tell me when you’re ready, but now Pollux is coming to school every day, and you’re inviting me to a faerie movie night, and it’s all very sus. What sort of faerie are you, and are you and Pollux in faerie love or something?” She angles a brow. “I ship it.”
“Wha…” I clear my throat. “No. We’re not in… I’m not in…” My heart skips a beat.
Zahra whips her attention to Pollux as he wrestles against Andromeda to get his finger out of her mouth. “She’s not in faerie love? You are?”
“I am,” he grunts.
“Soulmate stuff?”
He grunts again, confirming.
Zahra sniffs. “Standard.” Turning back to me, she says, “Are you a dream eater as well?”
“I—” I clear my throat again. “I don’t think so.”
Andromeda frees Pollux’s finger. “I hope she’s a jorogumo!”
“A what?” I blurt.
Pollux sighs. “An unseelie faerie with the upper half of a beautiful woman and the lower half of a spider. It tricks men into its nest by transforming fully into a humanoid form, then it mates with them before feasting upon them. Occasionally, if it grows weary of its appearance, it will enchant women in order to steal theirs, but for the most part, it follows the instinct of many female animals, which is: men are useless beyond mating.”
I shudder and ignore the joke he’s making in reference to what I said when I gave him his stuffed bee. “I’m…not that, right?”
“Correct.”
“Aw.” Andromeda pouts. “I like spooders. I would love to add a spooder mother to my collection.” Her eyes spark and crackle. “Assisting in the propagation of siblings at the expense of human men is very well-rounding behavior.”
I swallow, hard. “No, it is not. Pollux say…something about…that.”
He sets his chin atop Andromeda’s curls. “I don’t want to share, even if the other men would mostly be food.”
My eyes close. I mourn the fact I am unable to go home and work on my Christmas gifts for the kids all night. Nope. Instead, I texted Willow, against my will. I got a favorable response, unfortunately. And so now I’ve got movie night to attend. The inexplicable urge to scream consumes me, but I mash it down with my other angry bee emotions.
Zahra pulls the devolving conversation back together. “How do we find out which type of faerie we are and what fancy magic we can do?”
“Most part-bloods can’t access any of the powers in their fae heritage,” Pollux grumbles.
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s not unfair. People are born with different needs. Magic may not fall among yours.”
“I don’t like you.”
