Page 27

Dis inclines his head, magnanimous even in defeat. “I concede the point. Congratulations on your winnings.”

“I fully intend to spend them on something frivolous.”

“I would expect nothing less,” Dis says, dry as anything.

The evening winds down slowly after that, chips reduced to greasy paper, the conversation drifting easy and warm between films and gossip and Hex’s ongoing victory smugness. Eventually Adam yawns wide enough that Hex declares it bedtime on his behalf, scooping him up with a fond, exaggerated groan about how exhausting it is loving someone so delicate.

“I’m not delicate,” Adam protests, muffled, already leaning into him anyway.

“All humans are delicate,” Hex says, like it’s a diagnosis rather than an opinion.

Adam sighs. “You still can’t carry me home. If anyone saw me floating mid air, they’d get the fright of their life!”

Hex’s red eyes gleam. He grins, flashing slightly too many teeth. “Is this supposed to be a bad thing?”

“Yes! Now put me down!” Adam says, swatting weakly at his chest.

Hex obliges. “Anything for you, My Love.”

Felix rolls his eyes.

Adam and Hex make their goodbyes and head down the street.

Felix gathers the empty chip papers and herds Dis off towards home with the brisk efficiency of someone who doesn’t mess around. He throws one last grin back over his shoulder at me and Dark, delighted and smug in equal measure. Their voices fade slowly down the waterfront, and then it’s just us. The harbour quiet again, lapping gently against the wall.

“Today was good,” I say, quietly.

“Yes,” he says, simply, as if the word’s doing more work than its size suggests.

“I liked them seeing us. Properly, I mean. Not hiding any of it.”

“I liked it also.” He’s quiet for a moment, turning something over. “I liked the cinema too, and here, watching the boats.”

Warmth furls through my belly. Dark really is adorable. Even ordinary things are special to him. Everything is so new for him, and it’s helping me see things in a new, brighter light.

“How long have you actually been here?” I ask. “In the human realm, I mean.”

“Not long,” he says. “Hex asked me to come, to help guard what he could not always watch himself. I intended to stay only as long as the guarding required.”

“And now?”

“Now I find reasons to stay that have little to do with guarding.”

I feel my whole chest go warm and slightly overwhelmed, and for a moment neither of us says anything else, just look at each other properly in the dim harbour light, something unspoken passing between us.

I squeeze his hand, which somehow I forgot to let go and have been holding for a while. He doesn’t seem to mind.

We walk home, hand in hand, instead of him trailing behind me in the shadows. The few people we pass don’t seem to notice anything.

We pause on my front doorstep, and I look up into his amber eyes. My throat goes tight. My stomach flutters. The night holds its breath.

“Slow,” I say eventually, half question, half promise. “Let’s take this slowly. Properly. I don’t want to rush any part of it.”

“Slowly,” he agrees, and there’s something steady and certain in the way he says it, like a vow rather than a compromise.

He leans towards me, and soft lips brush over mine. He kisses me, soft and unhurried, the darkness hushed around us. Nothing but the feel of his mouth on mine.

Suddenly, air swooshes into my lungs. My head spins. I blink. He has stepped back. The kiss is over. Already.