“No one but Morgana. And that’s because she caught Donn and me fucking in his office once.” Cael’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Donn was the first beloved. You can probably guess how that went. I found the book with the prophecy in Dad’s library after Donn rejected me, then gave it to Morgana. She was my boss, even back then.”
Like a lead balloon. “Did you meet him before you became a reaper?”
“Sort of. We met and fell for each other. I didn’t realize until after we’d made love that he was my beloved. I didn’t realize until after we’d bonded that we’d only bonded partially. Donn stopped everything once he realized. I didn’t understand why until I came back home to lick my wounds. My father showed me the book and then got pissed when I took it and didn’t bring it back.”
“You became a reaper to be close to him, didn’t you?”
Cael hummed in agreement. “It was unbearable. That’s why I left. I thought you’d break Grym’s heart and reject him the way Donn rejected me. I wouldn’t have blamed you. You didn’t even know about reapers until last week, and now you’re a catalyst for the end of life and death as we know it. Not every change will be good, by the way.”
I rubbed my chest. “I’m sorry for what Donnie Death did to you.”
Cael smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “Love hurts, doesn’t it?”
“I also feel amazing. Like I can fly. And Grym...” I couldn’t help but smile thinking of him. “He’s kind and patient. He’s so steady with all this shit being thrown at us. He didn’t bat an eye when my ex turned out to be a beloved and ended up at my house. He also likes my best friend. Grym thinks he’s funny, which he is when he’s not doing or saying the weirdest shit.”
“Grym worked too much before all this. And since you’re not going to reject him... you’re not, right?”
“No way. He’s stuck with me for as long as he wants me.”
“Then I’ll just say I think you’re good for him.”
“Thank you. I know you’re friends.”
“He’s going to punch me in the face when he sees me again.”
“Does that mean you’ll help me talk to your dad?”
“I’ve been trying. He isn’t listening to reason. Maybe seeing you in person will change his mind.”
Before I knew it, we were at the castle's door.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Grym
We were in the living room. Joel finally stopped eating Elliot out of house and home. He sat in the recliner, letting the chair do its job. For some stupid reason, Joel had the remote. He clicked through the shows at a snail’s pace. He’d stop on something, letting the streaming service take the show to the first episode. His reaction each time was a semi-wide-eyed “Whoa. Dude.” Then he’d let it run for another five minutes before having to backtrack until he got to the main page. The whole routine would start all over again.
Finally, Miles stepped in, taking his gaze off me long enough to do something about Joel. “Leave it. For the love of god. Just leave it here.”
Joel met Miles’s gaze. His eyes were half-closed, and he wore a dopey smile. “You want to watch The Goonies?”
“I don’t give a shit what we watch. Just fucking pick something.” Miles sat on the couch, finally relaxed enough to stretch his legs out in front of him. For reasons unknown to me, he stared me down as if I were a wild animal.
“Who pissed in your Cheerios?” Joel set the remote on the table beside him. As soon as he did, Miles got up, snatched it from him, and then sat as far away from Joel as possible, putting the remote between us.
“No one. Shut up.” Miles gave me a side-eyed glance but said nothing.
Joel didn’t take his eyes off the opening credits as The Goonies came to life on the television. “Pretty sure it was Elliot’s dude.”
Yeah, I suspected that, too.
“Shut it, Joel.” Miles’s cheeks turned pink.
“I take itElliot’s dudemeans me.” I waited for Joel to confirm.
“You are indeed Elliot’s reaper.” Joel giggled, as if something he said were funny. “But someone doesn’t like it.” He sang the last sentence in a singsong voice.
I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Miles, who was doing everything to avoid my gaze. “He’s high. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” Most of the time, when someone needed to get something off their chest, I found it best to just wait them out in silence. And a raised brow. I had an excellent ability to raise one eyebrow at a time, which helped in Miles’s case because it somehow made his mouth move much faster. I’d been told I could be intimidating. In my defense, turnabout was fair play.
