AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’m far, far away. In a lovely dream. Where nothing is going wrong or weird. I’m a survivor, truly. On an island somewhere. The beach is very beachy this afternoon. I don’t think I’ll bother spelling S.O.S. in the sand. Being adrift in the middle of nowhere constitutes a wonderful vacation.
Which reminds me.
My extra long Thanksgiving weekend starts soon.
And I should invite Pollux and Andromeda to my parents’ house.
Because I have something clinically wrong with me.
“Do not push me to punish you,” Pollux hisses, breaking up my pretty fantasies of coconuts and tiny umbrellas. “I don’t readily know how to.”
A raspberry blows.
An inhuman rumble emanates from Pollux’s chest.
“You can’t intimidate me,” Andromeda sasses. “Mrs. Role won’t let you hurt me.”
“Care to bet on that, little girl?”
Andromeda squeaks, “No.”
“That’s what I thought. Sit in the corner and behave yourself until your emotions level out.” Rising, Pollux fixes his glare on me. “I do suppose you wouldn’t appreciate it if I told her to walk home.”
My mouth is dry. Because it has been hanging open for a little while. I give my head a slight shake and say, “…no. I don’t think that’s the best idea.” We’re five miles away from their home. Her legs are tiny. It would take her hours. She would get kidnapped.
He grunts. “Well, there goes my single disciplinary idea.”
“I think timeout is an excellent choice.”
His eyes narrow. “Timeout?”
“Telling her to sit until she calms down. Timeout. It’s a good punishment.”
He scrubs a hand down his mouth. “Dearest…that’s not discipline.”
“Of course it is.”
“Surely not.”
“Surely yes.”
He stabs a finger against the table and leans forward. “Do you know what Andromeda is doing right now?”
“Sitting and calming down. Letting her emotions and her thoughts find a place where they can meet rationally. As you asked her to.”
“Plotting revenge.”
I press my lips together.
I tilt myself back and find Andromeda in the corner under the table, rocking and muttering to herself. Her blue eyes spark when she finds me looking. She hisses.
I sit back up. “Noted.” We’ve not touched our bread and oil, so I dare to get a piece now and swirl it in the herbs. “Being a parent is hard.” Especially of gifted kids who somehow manage to get entire playgrounds to appear overnight. The gifted kids are the most difficult ones to manage because they’re so used to being right.
Very calmly, Pollux has a minor breakdown. “I don’t know when I’m doing parenting right. I’ve read so many books, but nothing seems to be an adequate guide for such a mixed level of maturity. When it comes to interpersonal relationships, I have a pitiful amount of practice. Cael was always the one who led and knew how to interact with people. And Castor…”
Castor.
That’s the person who is upset with Cael. The bad prince.
