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“She is fully capable. I’m only monitoring her hunts so I can teach her boundaries and to recognize which dreams carry the scent of uncomfortable material. I want her aware of what is and isn’t too far when she deals in the fear of fragile humans. I also want her to avoid seeing certain, unnerving things by mistake.” He cuts his fingers through his hair and fixes the spikes. “Age is interesting for the fae.”
“How old are you?”
His eyes find the screen, then flick away. “I told you a story from around 800 BC yesterday.”
I bite my tongue before I swear. “The wishbone story?”
“Mm.”
“Who…was the faerie you didn’t want to name?”
He curses. “—Castor.” Heaving another sigh, he mutters, “He is many things, but benevolent certainly isn’t a trait I’d associate with him. He has raised cults out of boredom, then abandoned them to a desperation that led to horrors when they, too, failed to amuse him for long. His sense of humor has always been somewhat morbid, his manners fairly violent. He’s a tornado that can tear apart the foundation of one thing and leave another entirely unscathed. We never knew what side of him we might find ourselves on.”
I shudder. “Who is we?”
“Cael and I.”
“Since you two don’t seem to associate with him on friendly terms anymore, what was the last straw?”
Pollux’s brows furrow as he mouths my words, then realization touches his eyes. “Oh. An idiom. I prefer not to talk about it. In a lot of ways, I still care deeply for the—” He swears. “When we severed the depths of our relationship, the conditions were more favorable than they have very recently become. It was an amicable split, where all parties understood clearly that our interests and characters simply couldn’t align. Until a mere month ago, Cael had presented the veneer of a seelie fae. When we were still a trio, he used the façade as a means to curb Castor’s cruelty. Those efforts of restraint often backfired.”
“So…there is a faerie war going on just out of human sight?”
“I wouldn’t call it a war at this point. Castor’s hurt. He always has been. Like me, he exists with less-than-favorable conditions. Unlike me, mistakes for him don’t just cause moments of discomfort. They kill.”
It feels disrespectful to be lying down for this, so I ease upright and let Chai flop onto my lap. “Is there anything we can do to help him?”
“Right now, I am more concerned with keeping the people I care about safe. If for some reason you come across him, just make sure you don’t look him in the eye.”
“Why?”
“In my presence, humans and most seelie fae can’t control their feelings of fear. Castor’s gaze turns people to stone.”
I swallow. “He’s a Medusa?”
“A basilisk.”
A chill goes down my spine. “If he’s so bad, why isn’t he just wandering around and looking at people? Humans wouldn’t know not to look him in the eye.”
“That’s the thing, dearest. He either is not so bad or he knows he can’t be. Were he to act in such a way without any remorse, Cael and I would put him to rest. His retaliation must be more calculated. If he is planning a suicide mission, his intentions will be to leave the largest scar he can behind.”
“Pollux.”
“Mm?”
“This is probably a selfish question, but as your…soulmate…would that make me high on his list of targets?”
“He hates Cael more than he hates me. If you do wind up caught in the crossfire, I highly doubt he would harm you. Perhaps it’s naive of me, but I still have faith in him. And, perhaps, because of that it is a good thing Cael is in charge…for he does not.” Sitting up as well, Pollux swings his legs off the couch and peers down into the phone camera. “I don’t wish to discuss this further. Know only that I can find the sensation of your unconsciousness wherever you are and be with you in your mind instantly.”
I let those words compute, then grimace. “That’s kind of creepy, dreamboy.”
A touch of heat crosses his cheeks. “I’m still…dreamboy?”
“Aren’t you?”
He cups a hand to his mouth. “May I ask… I know we’re putting romance aside for the moment in order to situate other more pressing things, but given that you are my only soulmate, we both know there is attraction between us, and the fact that—in some ways—we are husband and wife…” He manages a breath. “Are you anticipating that we proceed in a more traditional way once you’ve processed the existence of Faerie? I mean to say, presently, do you foresee wanting that kind of relationship. With…me?”
Shivering, I clear my throat and ignore the warmth soaring up my neck. “Define traditional.”
