“Yes! He’s my new gay lover, Mal. We’re gay together. Very, very gay. It’s lovely finding someone to be with. To be gay with. We’re gay.”
Everyone on the stairs gaped at Clayton, and Mal burst into laughter. He pushed Cym out of the way and pulled Clayton into his arms.
“Mine,” Mal announced, kissing Clayton firmly on the mouth. “Mine, mine, mine.” He punctuated eachminewith a kiss.
Cym’s mouth twitched, and he began to laugh. “Okay, fine. You two are clearly meant to be together. Just don’t eat my friends, Mal, and we’re good.”
Clayton raised his eyebrows. Cym had some pretty nasty, quite recent, personal experience with nightmares and demons, so for him to hint that he knew what Mal was and casually give him his approval was all but unthinkable.
“You know what he is?” Clayton asked in a whisper. “And you don’t care?”
“I have my own experience loving a person that some people consider a monster,” Cym said, tilting his head to gesture over his shoulder.
Clayton jumped in surprise when he realized Fourteen, Cym’s hulking, silent bodyguard, had been behind them the whole time, perched in a tree like he was on a surveillance mission.
“Where in the Jiminy Christmas did he come from?” Eira gasped, clutching her chest.
“Sorry.” Cym smiled sheepishly. “He does that. He’s really good at hiding.”
“Too good,” Mal said, frowning at Cym’s pet killer. He focused his attention on Fourteen, and his face screwed up like he’d bitten into a lemon. “This guy tastes awful, Red. How can you stand to be around him?”
“Because I’m not in the habit of tasting people, unlike some uncouth individuals I know.”
“How could I not taste him? He’s all over the place. Can we leave now, Red? This guy is going to ruin my appetite.”
Fourteen watched the entire thing stoically, without comment, but Clayton thought he saw a glint of amusement in his eye.
“Gods, yes. Please get us out of here before I have an aneurysm.” Clayton nearly got kicked by Mister Stabby and almost put him down before thinking better of it. If he freed the unicorn, he’d have to chase him again, and then they’d probably run into a god who hated unicorns or something, and Clayton would have to deal with that, too.
Pass.
Mal made a flicking motion with his fingers, and a portal popped open.
“You’re not supposed to be able to do that here,” Cym said in awe.
They’d portaled in on the sidewalk, which was just shy of where the arsenal of protections Samantha’s companion set up began—the very first being a ban on any form of outside teleportation. In theory, Mal shouldn’t be able to create a portal until they reached the sidewalk again.
Clayton knew very well that Mal had been playing nice, and he didn’t put it past his monster to portal wherever the hell he pleased, but it didn’t mean he needed to flaunt it at Clayton’s place of work.
Mal had grown much stronger since his demon-eating spree. He had a whole new range of powers that Clayton had only begun to discover, and from this little display, he realized he could never bring Mal to the chapter house again.
What if his lover decided to take over? If he succeeded, would that make Mal his boss?
Never. Clayton straightened his spine. Never, ever would that happen.
Mister Stabby tried to kick Clayton again, and Clayton pitched the little beast toward the portal. It twisted agilely like a cat and made a littlepoofsound as it went through.
Clayton shoved the kids through, agreeing with Merry that he was a horrible person for throwing Mister Stabby like that. He’d agree to anything if everyone would just go back home safely so he could have a tiny nervous breakdown in peace.
He gave Cym an awkward wave goodbye before all but diving through the portal.
“Come back soon!” Cym called after him.
Once everyone was through the portal, safely inside Here, Clayton breathed a sigh of relief.
Tommy followed Eira and Grampy to the boat, lured with promises of treats that Grampy hadn’t had a hand in making.
Mal was busy checking over Mister Stabby because Merry was certain Clayton had given him hemorrhoids when he threw him through the portal. She was demanding that Mal go back to the Real to get her unicorn a special ointment she learned about from a reliable source.
