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“Modest, aren’t you?”
“Quite. The fae cannot lie. To be mine, you must match me in equally opposite pieces. Our shapes must pair and fill one another perfectly. We are what one another needs, desires, and wants. You are everything I lack and a better imagining of everything I am.”
I glance at his claw. “How messed up am I if what I need, desire, and want is a monster?”
“I’d dare to suggest that your ability to overlook my monstrous parts makes you far less messed up than many.”
I stare at him. “No. See. I’m not overlooking them.”
His head tilts.
“I’m attracted to all of…this.”
His brows rise.
In order to clarify, I say, “Smash.”
It takes him a moment to understand I’m referring to smash or pass, but the second he gets it, red plunges up his neck and out along his pointed ears. “Oh.” He presses the back of his hand to his mouth and averts his eyes. “Well.”
“Just so you know, if this is real and I’m actually saying these words to a real person, I will shoot myself.”
“Please, please don’t do that.” His throat bobs, and he can’t seem to bring himself to look at me anymore. “I just… I’m not certain you understand how tremendous it is for me to be…wanted, like this.” He shivers before dragging his attention back to me. “I am not usually someone so easily welcomed. I serve a purpose. I have a use. I play my role in the shadows and watch others shine.”
“It’s hard to constantly be playing a role, isn’t it? I would know.” I exhale a laugh. “After all, that’s my name.”
“Is it not human custom in this country to take on the male’s last name when wed?”
“I could hyphenate.” I pause. “Wait. Why are you so convinced we’re married?”
“Because we are?”
I let out a big breath. “You know what? I can only handle so many layers of insanity right at this exact moment. Can we bench the relationship, soulmate, married stuff until I come to terms with the other stuff being maybe real?”
“I am in no rush to savor you.”
Hot dang. Isn’t that just a statement?
Hooking a finger beneath my chin, he peers at me with so much tenderness in his expression it’s a miracle I don’t melt into a puddle. “How can I help make things easier for you as your beliefs transition?”
“I’m tempted to ask for proof. Something solid that I can’t hope to deny.”
“I’m hesitant to provide it.”
My eyes roll. “Because your magic is spooky? I don’t think I care.” I reference my pretty perfect island. “Turn this into a horror film. I fell asleep when Zahra tried to show me her favorite, most chilling, most gruesome movie ever. She took selfies of me snoring and captioned them Just an eepy bean unfazed by the pretty entrails.”
Pollux’s smile grows warmer before he kisses my forehead. “Every moment I stop myself from claiming you is a physical pain. My soul is desperate to bind yours to mine.”
“Can you explain what you mean?”
“When soulmates find one another, they must choose whether they want to accept the bond or not. The process of acceptance is to claim. Claiming can be either verbalized or marked with a kiss here.” He touches a nailtip to my bottom lip. “Soulmates are sacred. Precious. It is a bond like no other. Until very recently when Cael received his, I did not think it possible for an unseelie to have. You are a blessing I have only just begun in the past few months to expect.”
“Wow. That seems kind of racist or something, to not let the unseelie have soulmates.”
“Many unseelie are not worthy of the love that comes with a soulmate.”
I grimace. “What are you talking about? Everyone is worthy of love. Even the worst people in the world are worthy of it, regardless of whether or not they deserve it. I believe everyone has an innate worth. Living up to that potential sometimes is where we fall so short.”
“Perhaps in a certain sense. The love I refer to, however, is the sort that asks another being to sacrifice for someone who would hurt them. Many unseelie are crafted to erode precious things.”
