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Looking off the camera, I attempt, “Maybe it was…soulmate bond impulse?”
It was concern for a tiny baby. It was one hundred percent concern for a tiny baby. Gracious. What did I just think in regard to lying to my parents? Maybe I am a monster. Maybe that’s why this kind man isn’t so keen on telling me exactly what type of fae I am. He doesn’t want to horrify me with the reality of my own existence.
“I did wonder if you could feel our bond.”
Ah, nuts. Now he thinks I can feel some cosmic soul bond between us. Why did I find myself in a hole and decide the smart thing to do was start digging?
Moving right along, he asks, “What time might I expect you if you are able to sort things out with your parents in a favorable way?”
I glance at the time in the top corner of my screen. “They won’t be up for at least another hour. So maybe in two?”
He nods once and stands. “I will have things ready.”
“Okay.”
He hangs up.
I sag, slumping back against my pillow. My nightgown strap slips dramatically off my shoulder as I return my attention to the ceiling.
In my head, I push my shovel into soft earth and toss another load out of the pit.
Chapter 24
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tea party time in the haunted mansion.
To say I expected any part of this would be a lie. Not a single minute so far has been expected.
For starters, I am alone with Pollux in a left sitting room toward the back of his manor. The sitting room takes the word elegant to an entirely new level. Everything is crystal, real wood, varnished and stained. Regal drapes frame a large window that displays a lavish backyard, which starkly contrasts the horror story that is the front yard.
Alexios and Andromeda are somewhere, or so I’ve been told.
According to Pollux, Alexios tends to go to the palace and find work most days. Andromeda tends to wander when she doesn’t have school, which is why he didn’t know she had school until recently.
In front of me on a round table adorned in white lace rests a three-tier dessert stand with an array of small cakes, pastries, and fruits. Beside it, a pot of tea sits atop a candle warmer. Naturally, the cream and sugar containers match it and the teacups. They’re all porcelain, hand-painted with tiny leaves and curling vines.
Pollux is meticulous.
Merciless.
I…I just don’t even know what to do or say…
Pollux clears his throat. “Willow has told me before that she wished she had been provided with a comprehensive pamphlet when she was introduced to this world. Please forgive any typos. I’ve only had a few weeks to put it together, and I only proofread it once last night after you left while I was waiting for Meda to get up.”
It is more than a pamphlet. It is an entire folder of information, organized with a table of contents. There’s an entire section that outlines details about each of Pollux’s friends, what they are, their brief backstories…
I dip a biscuit in my tea and nibble while I read the alphabetized collection off the laminated pages.
Alana is Cael’s soulmate and Brittny’s sister. She comes to Pollux for antidepressants and what suspiciously feels like talk therapy. Until recently, she was part human and part siren, which is an unseelie fae that hones elements of both sky and sea. Now, she has shed all of her humanity in favor of taking the form of a black witch moth.
Alexios is a yamachichi, an unseelie fae full of mischief. He came into being out of Alana’s more morose emotions and is capable of stealing feelings, life force, and souls if provided a centimeter of leeway. I am warned against providing a millimeter.
Brittny and Ollie are husband and wife, werecanines, and soulmates. Brittny was human until several months ago when Ollie changed her during a full moon at the end of spring. Ollie is the runt of his family, and until recently when he discovered his own pack acted like one.
Cael is the prince presiding over the domain that covers Mountain Vale. Pollux has included several endearing curses to describe him. And quite little else.
Pila is a dryad and the only seelie fae who has ever been able to withstand Pollux’s fear-soaked presence without showing a single sign of distress. Pila baffles him. He seems vaguely annoyed it isn’t the best behavior to run scientific tests on friends.
