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“Who else?”
“My brothers Sorin—who you saw at the bar—and Tuvin, and my sisters Suni and Kiti. And then Greid, who was…” He winced. “Technically the runt, but we don’t like that word because our dad used to call him that as an insult. He was a surprise. All hidden among the rest of us, apparently, so he went undetected. And he was… tiny and kind of fragile at first.”
His eyes had softened, but he was looking down at the almond in his hand, fiddling with it.
My knees were drawn up to my chest, but I let them tilt toward him until my thigh rested on his. My belly tightened when he absently reached over and smoothed his hand over my leg.
“Greid’s the one dating a human, right?” I asked, remembering the name from earlier.
“Yeah.” Nuni sounded a little uncomfortable. “I’ve texted him, but… he’s kind of shitty at getting back to me. We’re not… all that close.”
That surprised me. Nuni seemed close with all of his family.
His mood had grown a little sombre, so I tried to think of a way to make him feel better. “And which sibling has the kids again?”
He perked up somewhat. “Daga. She and her lifemate Elern had a brood of four last year. Mom was elated to finally have some grandkids to dote on.”
I chuckled. “I bet. My parents were too, when Devi and Malcolm had Kiran and Mina.”
“My sister Kiti is a total self-obsessed d-bag, but she’s surprisingly great with them. So is Sorin. Me and Laki though…” He shook his head with a chuckle. “I have no idea what to do with babies, and I worry that I’m, like, holding them wrong or whatever. But Laki is so awkward around kids, it’s hilarious. They kind of try to treat them like tiny adults, even when they’re babies. They’ll be like, ‘Which parent do you want me to pass you to? Point at Mom or Dad’. To a two-week-old.”
I laughed. “I’m a little like that around kids too. So you’re closest with Laki, right? Out of all your siblings.”
“Yeah, they—” His phone vibrated on the nightstand, so he peered over and huffed. “I swear, dude, they have some kind of weird power. They just texted me. It’s like they know I’m telling someone they’re a complete dork around kids.”
Still leaning over, he opened the text, and I caught a glimpse of a photo on the screen.
A photo of a frog.
“Oh, fuck yes,” Nuni muttered as he twisted around to lie back on the bed, subtly angling his phone screen away from me.
I side-eyed him warily. “Okay, what’s with the frogs?”
If it was sexual, I had questions.
Nuni’s eyes jumped to me. “Huh?”
“The frogs. The towel in the bathroom, your socks. Those,” I added flatly, pointing at the collection of small glass frog figurines on a shelf by the closet doors. “And that.” I then pointed at an art print on the wall made up of murky dark swirls but with a definite deep green frog painted in the centre.
His ears went wild.
“I just like frogs, okay?” he said defensively, cradling his phone to his chest.
“Really?” I grinned. That was kind of cute.
“Yes,” he shot back, ears still fluttering. “I just think they’re cool.”
Mouth twitching, I nodded at his phone. “And Laki likes them too?”
He huffed imperiously. “That was a photo of a toad, actually. A spadefoot toad. But yeah, they like all animals, and they’re a landscaper so they’re always coming across frogs and toads. So they… send me photos when they find them because they know I like them,” he added in an embarrassed mumble.
Okay, that was adorable. Unable to stop myself, I leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Frogs are interesting. I’ve always found toads kind of gross though.”
“They’re not gross!” he said enthusiastically, sitting up straighter. “And technically they’re just types of frogs anyway.”
“Huh. I didn’t know that.”
He shot me a triumphant grin, looking pleased to have finally won at something, then glanced down at his phone before setting it back on the nightstand. “I really need to eat a proper meal. Do you want anything?”
