Page 78 of Starlight

Akai froze. “What?”

“That was a joke.”

“It was not funny. And it is worse than that.”

Was now the time to confess his suspected complication? “I also have bad news.”

Akai sighed, lips turning down as he looked at the wooden platform. “You hate it, and want to leave?”

“No, worse.”

“Oh. The one with the worst news should go first, but I do not know who has the worst news.”

That made a weird kind of sense despite the obvious difficulty in establishing the right order. “If it helps, mine came from Bob.”

“You should definitely go first.” Akai sat, legs crossed.

Cole sat up and moved closer, mirroring his pose. He beckoned Akai to lean closer as this was not the kind of news he wanted to be saying too loudly and whispered in his ear. “Bob said we have a long and complicated past. I think he knows.”

Akai put his hand over Cole’s mouth. “Do not whisper such things.”

“That’s what he told me.” His words were muffled by Akai’s fingers.

“That is very bad…yet I am sitting here.”

Cole lifted his eyebrows and ran his tongue along one of Akai’s fingers. Akai released him. “We do not have bedding, so do not try to tempt me.”

“It was that or bite you.”

“Same, same.”

Cole shook his head. “I think you need to talk to Bob.”

“I will hold that suggestion and present my own news which may change your opinion. My parents are here. They wanted to surprise me. I had to tell them I have a mate, and my father was rather dramatic about it in front of the healer.”

“Now I know where you get it.”

Akai gasped. “I am not dramatic.”

Cole tilted his head, not sure he was ready to meet the parents. He could barely handle one harpy.

“Fine. Maybe a little. You should meet my uncle. He will death spiral all the way to the ground when wronged…then pull up and land safely, of course. He just wants everyone’s attention.”

“Is he here, too?”

“No! Only my parents, and they are upset that I brought you to solstice before telling them I had a mate.”

“Were we supposed to invite them to the ceremony or something?”

Akai shook his head. “I think they feel left out, but they’re the ones who moved away. They were hoping to convince me to leave this time.” He picked up Cole’s hand. “I am not leaving.”

“And we are not mates…” he murmured.

“Yes, I am aware.” Akai kept hold of his hand. His thumb sweeping over the back of Cole’s hand. “I have not shown you around, and I have not set up a nest for you, so it is presumptuous of me to ask, but have you thought about maybe being my mate for real?”

Cole licked his lower lip, sure that every monster in a ten-yard radius must be able to hear the pounding of his heart. “I have, though I don’t know what that looks like. How do I live in both worlds? Especially if I don’t age because my lifespan is linked to yours?”

“I don’t know. But plenty of humans manage, and we have all of solstice to figure it out.”