“I would love that, actually, but I don’t want black.”
“We should ask Seir tomorrow, I’ll bet he’s got some blue or even purple lying about. He bought a few new bottles not long ago.” He flipped a page. “If not, I’d bet he knows where to get you some in a hurry.”
“Careful. They’ll smear.”
“I know.” He glanced at me, eyes soft behind his spectacles. “What’s your birthdate, Phin? I was meant to ask you for Rylan a while back, but I kept forgetting with everything else that’s been going on. But also, that feels like something I should know. Something important.”
“I was born on Litha, so early summer. Seventy-five years ago.”
“Mmm.” His eyebrows drew together as he shuffled the book-size pages. “There was an eclipse then.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Do you know when your parents disappeared?”
I thought back. “They left me at the church in the spring, eleven years ago. I don’t know the exact date.”
He shuffled again. “He’s never wrong about these things. How annoying,” he muttered. “We’re due another soon.”
“Eclipse?”
“Yes, within the week if Rylan’s charting is right, and it always is.”
“What will that mean?”
“Hopefully nothing, but Magnus will be sending some reinforcements to help Coltor watch on his end, and Seir will be coming here. There’s just been a pattern of something significant happening during those events, we don’t want to be careless.”
“Makes sense.” I put the little brush back in the bottle and tightened the top. “All done.”
“Thank you.” He held his hands out in front of him and admired the shiny black lacquer.
“What’s your birthday?” I asked, excited to learn something new about him.
“I don’t have one.” At my confusion, he tilted his head, amusement in his eyes. “I wasn’t born, remember?”
I blushed. “Oh. Of course.” I settled into the sofa, disinterested in the book I’d chosen but too lazy to go to the workshops for another. “You should choose one.”
“Just a random day? Point at a calendar with my eyes closed?”
“Sure, why not? You should still have a day to celebrate.”
He smiled softly. “I’ll consider it. I’d be open to suggestions, of course.”
The heat in my cheeks flared again. “I’ll think about it. Do you have a surname?”
Tap glanced up, amusement all over his face. “No, I don’t. Never seemed a need for one, honestly, as I’m here all the time. Rylan uses his old name, Stolas. Vassago chose one for himself many years ago, and Seir uses that one as well now, actually. Do you?”
“We used Engel, which looking back is a lot like them naming me Seraphina—hiding us in plain sight. But no, not really. Not unless my father was doing business that required paperwork here on Earth. There’s no need for that in Heaven, first namesare enough.” For some reason, having no birthday or surname struck me as funny. “We’re strange, aren’t we?”
“Perhaps, but I like us that way.” He stared at me for several heartbeats. “While you consider what date I should use, you should also pick the surname you’d like to have. That way, it’s already sorted out when I officially make you my wife.”
I gaped at him, lost for words as my cheeks burned and he just smirked, smug to have rendered me so speechless. Marriage hadn’t come up yet, though now that the word had been said I found myself intrigued by the possibility.
We sat there a bit longer while he scowled at the calendar pages, but he finally set them down on his side table and stood, reaching out for me.
“Come on, Feather. Let’s get you to bed.” He took me by the hand and led me down the hallway. “Yours or mine?”
I fidgeted. “Would you be upset if I said mine?”
