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Pollux beat her to it. “Dear, what does it mean when a woman accepts a marriage proposal but can’t actually stand you?”
“It means she’s being sarcastic. Please tell me you didn’t propose to Kass while she thinks that you’re horrifically abusing your child.”
“I didn’t know she thought that until last night, so I did propose, and she accepted.”
Four minutes later, Pollux and Willow were sitting in the back parlor while Pollux did his best to explain the situation as well as he understood it. And, as far as he could tell, while Willow did her best not to laugh.
Once he was finished relaying the details, Willow cleared her throat, crossed her legs, and said, “Let me make sure I understand. You gave Kassandra a kitten. Because that is how humans get married. The one proposes by offering a kitten to the other, and the one takes care of the kitten until the other accepts it if they don’t accept right away. Then—whenever the kitten is accepted—the two humans are wed.”
“Is that not still accurate? It’s been a part of the human culture since Viking times.”
Willow leaned back against the couch. “No, no. You’re absolutely correct. It is a tried and true custom that goes back hundreds of years. So much so, until modern times owning a cat was quite the scandal. Thankfully, we’re moving past all that judgment. I suppose I just didn’t expect you to go so fast.”
“I didn’t expect her to accept so quickly. I had prepared to take care of the kitten for months. I simply didn’t know how else to explain the severity of my intentions in a way a human might easily be able to grasp them.” His jaw rocked, and he massaged a muscle beneath his ear as he muttered, “I do not understand how to…flirt.”
Willow pressed a hand against her mouth and nodded enthusiastically. “Mhm, mhm. Yep. I totally understand. Flirting is very weird when done intentionally. But, just…humor me, was telling her you liked her and wanted to get to know her better not an option?”
“Like is not the word I would use to describe how she makes me feel.” The words left him harsh, raw. Like they broke him from the inside out. Pollux was tired. So tired. And the sun hadn’t even set yet. He still had to take Andromeda hunting in several hours, once she returned from wherever it was she had gone after school. Given that he’d supplied her a lunch at school, she had not so much as come home for their family meal. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Was it important to Kassandra that Andromeda have food at school every day? Family meals were important to him. “I do not know what I’m doing, dear. I am trying my best to be a parent, and I still don’t think I know how to do that effectively. I was not expecting to need to learn how to be a lover any time soon, but the way I want to love her…frightens me.”
Willow dropped her hand against the other in her lap and folded them together against the frills of her black dress. “Hey. It’s okay. This kind of stuff doesn’t have a rule book. If you’re looking for advice, get to know her a little better. See if you can have neutral conversations. Let her see that you’re not a monster.”
“But I am.”
Willow laughed. “No. You aren’t. You’re a goofball who has no idea how to open up to people. Kind of like our prince. It makes sense. Show me your friends; I’ll show you your character, and all that.”
He couldn’t stop the weak chuckle that escaped him. “Never in all my life has anyone called me a goofball.”
“Well, consider me honored to anoint you with the truth.”
His head shook as he sighed and clasped his hands together between his knees.
Willow continued, “Meda told me how Kass shuts off the fear factor when she asked me to help her enroll in that school.”
Pollux grunted. “Right. It is my understanding you were the one who helped her. I’m grateful you sidestepped my authority and asked no questions about why she wasn’t coming to me directly to enroll her in a human school, given that I would not have let her.”
“It sincerely sounds like you’re being sarcastic, even though it can’t be…” Willow smiled and extended her hand. “Yes, it’s totally my fault you’ve found your mate. May I have a favor as thanks?”
“Don’t push it, dear.”
She chuckled, darkly. “Pila says securing favors is always worth a shot, but anyway…being frightened. That’s new for you, isn’t it?”
His eyes closed. “It gives me a different kind of respect for your husband and…Ollie.”
“Hard not calling him the runt anymore, isn’t it?”
Pollux huffed. “I respect when people embrace who they are meant to be. The least I can do is recognize his efforts and how he has grown past that title.” He brushed his fingers over his hair and murmured, “I hope soon I will grow as well. I had thought myself desensitized to all sorts of terrors. Many feelings I am experiencing lately are foreign and uncomfortable.”
“What exactly are you scared of?”
He could see Kassandra in his mind. Her smile had been different last night. Her laugh… He’d wanted to trap the sound forever. Her power, in complete obliviousness, had been absolute. She’d wrapped around his soul and eased every pain within the dream she had crafted.
It was a power so effortless Pollux knew his years of experience could never hope to attain similar vastness.
When his eyes opened again, he was staring down at the carpet beneath the coffee table between them. “I’m afraid I’ll be no match for her.”
“Ooh.” Willow scooted forward in her seat. “What is she?”
“A dream…garbed in nightmares…and adorned with incomprehensible horrors.”
