Bo closed his eyes and tipped his head back, pressed it to cold metal as well. Shit like this crossed the parasocial boundaries. Bo was usually so fucking good about not engaging personally past what was strictly needed. Butfuck, it felt good to talk to someone who wouldn’t think he was making this shit up.
And possibly, perhaps, Bo wanted to make sure Antonio hadn’t drowned. He’d seen what Everil was capable of, now.
“Got no clue what that means, man. Sounds like fancy words for, uh– Never mind.”
They both knew what the fuck it sounded like. Antonio was just uncomfortable and decent enough not to say it flat out.
“Affinity bond’s like– Fuck. This sounds– I know how this sounds, okay?” Like Bo and Everil were fucking against a magical tree on the regular. Bo drummed his fingers on his knee, and let out a quick, sharp sigh. “Everil also called it a ‘soulbond.’ It’s what hauled his ass out there when I lost my temper like a child. How he knew. That’s what had me calling. I wanted to apologize and feel shitty about going off. I’m okay. Just– Blue screening and feeling guilty.”
“Nah. S’alright. Let’s, uh…” Antonio stumbled over his words. If he’d not sounded uncomfortable before, he’d managed to dive headfirst into it then. “Never met a fae that wasn’t a bloodthirsty fucker.”
Bo winced. His hand tapped harder.
“He’s not eavesdropping, and we’re not talking about what we were then. But I follow.” He frowned at the ceiling he couldn’t see, and Antonio waited patiently. “You never knew a fae who wasn’t a bloodthirsty fucker and still came all the way out to talk to me.”
“More like, never knew a fae who wasn’t bloodthirsty,soI had to talk to you. Wouldn’t be able to live with myself, I checked the news and saw something about your body turning up by a river, you know?”
“Yeah,” Bo said quietly. “I know.”
A beat. Two. Then, edged with something like dark humor, “Gotta say, it’s kinda a jump, man. Going from ‘I don’t believe this shit’ to ‘the kelpie’s my soulmate.’ You sound pretty all in. Feet first kind of thing.”
“The kelpie is not my soulmate.” After all, soulmates were supposed to be a one and done deal, weren’t they? Bo was definitely not that to Everil. “I sound pretty fucking insane.”
Antonio laughed, sharp and short. “Didn’t say that.”
“It’s not like, werewolf universe stuff. It’s… fuck, like a science thing. Take two elements and they snap together. Not,” he waved a hand aimlessly, as if anyone could see it, “red string of fate under a full moon thing. Wrong place, right time, magic things clicked together in a way that’s slightly less freaky than I made it sound.”
“Right. Got it,” Antonio fucking lied.
“Look, I’m right there with you. I wasnotprepared for the sudden upending of my life. Again. If not for the fact you saw him too, and that I’m pretty sure my imagination wouldn’t make up a sluagh and kelpie being bros,I’dsure as hell think I was going insane.” Bo laughed, however little humor he found in the situation. “ ‘Kind of a jump’ is a very nice way of putting it. Which checks out, considering you didn’t hang up immediately.”
“Never saw a sluagh,” Antonio replied idly. “The fae I knew, he said ‘those sorts’ weren’t around much. I was mostly around will-o’-the-wisps. Some brownies, dryads, nymphs. Couple of pooka. A dragon, once.” Antonio laughed too, and the sound was bitter. “So trust me, you don’t gotta worry about me hangingup. Known about them since I could walk, and you’re the first one I could talk to who doesn’t thinkI’velost my mind.”
Thank fuck, Antonio didn’t circle back on the ‘soulmate’ thing. Bo didn’t know if he could figure out more ways to say they weren’t ‘fated mates’ without it sounding even more sordid. Everil made it very clear it wasn’t like that by default with affinity bonds (soulbond, he’d called it to Suire).
It’d been easier to believe him before. Now, he had the memory of Everil ripping through woven branches and holding him close, snapping at the other fae assholes. Could still feel the light touch of Everil’s soft fingers over his hair and their hearts beating together in anger and fierce protectiveness. Everil, his presence like a clear winter’s day, there with Bo.
…yeah.
Best to think about the fucking phone call. Bo clicked his tongue and finally opened his eyes to look at the ceiling.
“Usually, I’d be all, ‘holy shit you met a dragon’, but you’ve already established the bloodthirsty thing. You ever hear anything about Gates?”
“Gates? A little.” Antonio sounded confused. Not that anyone could blame him. “I’ve never met a fae who’s big on explanations. Gates areoldmagic. Wouldn’t bring them up, I was you. Talking Gates to fae is like… talking immigration.”
“Fuck.”
“No kidding. Got the impression most fae’d like to break them, but they don’t know how.”
Bo tried to imagine someone breaking Talia. Trying to. She’d pledged not to use her powers in violence and traipsed around like a kid at a theme park. None of it real. Everything too real. Innocent, in her own way. Fuck.
“Checks out,” Bo agreed, pushing thoughts of Talia hurt from his mind. They’d keep him up at night enough anyway. “One plus one equals being asked if you know math isn’t intuitive and no one is actually good at that. ‘What the hell are you doing with thishuman, it’ll piss on the carpet’ is definitely a vibe I’ve caught from every faebutthe sluagh.”
Talia didn’t count. Non-fae had to stick together.
Antonio laughed. Strained, but it didn’t have the same acrid edge.
“Yeah, I’m familiar. I was a kid. A toy, far as they were concerned. But they’ve got rules about toys. Fucking rules about everything. Be careful, yeah? If the kelpie’s breaking them, well, fae don’t mess around with slaps on the wrist. Toy or not.”
