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"How am I meant to go back and pretend that nothing has changed?"
"Better folk than you have done it." His eyes flashed again, but this time there was a small smile playing on his lips. "I want Selene to be happy, and she's going to need you soon enough. Her mother might not be able to harm you, but she'll be in the forest, sulking, and she'll find a way to get her revenge. She's not the type to let things slide."
I pressed my lips together, wishing that I knew more about this world; enough to make an informed suggestion.
But I had nothing.
"I could say I got head hunted. That I'm moving to another state for a bigger, better job." I suggested.
"And then?" Nico raised an eyebrow.
"Then we figure it out. I don't know." I shrugged, feeling defeated. "All I know is that I'd live with her in the hollow of that fucking tree for the rest of my life, if that's what she wanted. I'd get used to living off worms and bark."
Nico leaned against the back of the seat, his gaze assessing me. Movement caught my eyes, and I looked up to find that Selene was leaning against the door frame, watching us.
"I do not want to live in a hollow," she said, a warm smile on her face. "But I appreciate the sentiment."
"Honestly, I don't know what it is about your company," Nico muttered. "More bloody humans falling in love with monsters than ever before." He shook his head and dragged a hang over his chin. "Leave it with me, and I'll figure it out." He added something about Sam under his breath, who I could only assume was his wife, and then he got up and left the two of us alone.
I stood up and approached Selene as she stepped outside into the sunlight. It was strange to see her this way, clean, in the open, with the sun shining overhead instead of the moon.
But nice. Good.
Right.
No more hiding; expect for that which was necessary. Maybe just no more hiding from her mother.
"Do you think he really will figure it out?" I asked, figuring that she would have more of an idea than I did.
"He will," Selene said, reaching for my hands and drawing me closer. I tried not to look at the way her wings were bound close to her body to stop the stitches from pulling. Focused instead on her gaze as she looked at me. "Do you still feel the same, now that the geas is broken?" She bit her lip, one sharp tooth digging into the soft flesh there.
I wanted to kiss her so badly, but more importantly, I needed to show her that nothing had changed. Nothing ever would. I closed the distance between us and cupped her face in my hands.
"I want you, always. I love you so much, you have no idea."
She smiled at me and as she leaned in to kiss me, she said, "I think I do."
Selene
I could hearBrody in the other room, finishing up a work call. I knew it would be audio only because the man was covered from head to toe in paint. He’d been working hard to get the nursery ready in between work and catering to my every need.
It was strange living in a proper house, but way out here, away from prying eyes, we were free to just be us, and I had to admit that the super king mattress in our bedroom was a damn side more comfortable than the blankets of the hollow.
Any day now the eggs would hatch. Three precious, blue marbled homes for our babies. I could feel them squirm, the shell thinning in places as they readied to make their entrance into this world. I probably didn’t need to keep sitting on them at this point, but I wanted to. There was no other time I would get these children to myself, and I was making the most of it. I needed to be different to my mother, better. More loving and less demanding.
The pressure changed beneath me. A soft crack, a tiny chirp.
“Brody!” I yelled. “Come quickly!”
I heard him make his excuses, heard the creak of his office chair as he pushed away from his desk, the pound of his feet as he ran down the hall and burst into the room.
“Is it time?” he asked, his eyes wide. He dragged a hand through his hair, looking as stressed as I’d ever seen him.
We had watched some human birthing shows and they looked truly horrific. I could not fathom why the women of his kind decided to have children.
My kind certainly had it easier.
I slipped from the eggs and moved toward him, gripping his hand in mine and leading him closer. My wings fluttered in anticipation as the first hatchling breached the shell of the egg, a clawed talon breaking the surface. Silver grey feathers stuck to her leg and I gasped in delight.
