Antonio’s hands started shaking.That fucking fae today.“Looking for her cat.”She’d come from Calloway.But why?Why now?
“I’ll come back soon.”
It’d been a lie.The wisp had forgotten about him.Abandoned him.And Antonio was glad of it.He wanted nothing to do with Calloway or any of the fae.A childish infatuation and an equally stupid heartbreak.And his life entirely fucked by it.
“Tio Tio?”Mara asked, her voice taking on that cautious, worried softness that was so familiar.“They’re just flowers.”
“Right.Just flowers.”He forced brightness into his voice, even as he gripped the bouquet too tightly.“Sorry girls, I thought I’d thrown these out.”
He did just that, dropping them into the trash with the horseshoe then going to wash his hands, as if Faerie was a stain that could be scrubbed away.
“But what about–” Dulce started, only to be loudly shushed by cousin and sister both.
Subtle, his family was not.
“How about that pizza, huh?”he asked, returning to the freezer.“I’m starved.”
A chorus of agreement, all nervous, raw-edged cheerfulness.Everyone smiling.Everything fine.Don’t upset Tio Tio.He’s crazy, after all.
Antonio pulled the pizza from the freezer, breathing through clenched teeth.
A present from Calloway.Calloway, who had forgotten him.Who had let him go.Fuck.Fuck.
Chapter Two
Declan
Whatinthemultipleworlds had Declan gotten himselfinto.
He refused to let the thought be a question.Questions required answers and he, surrounded by scrolls and notes and bits of fancied magic with memories tucked inside, felt fairly sure he’d never find another answer in the whole of his cursed life.In fact, he’d never even leave this room.
One day, some poor soul would stumble over Declan’s bones stretched over a mountain of papers and still stained with ink.Not solely to feed his own sense of drama, Declan rested his elbows on the large desk in the center of his mother’s library, fingers pressed to his eyes, the very picture of academic despair.
Portrait of Frustrated Scholar in Jump Boots
A lamp near the door flickered on, lighting up the parts of the library Declan wasn’t lurking in.He lifted his hand, eyes narrowed at the sound of light feet and a swishing tail.
“Mother?”Declan called warily, staring in the direction of clicking cat claws.“Did you bring your monster into the library?”
Puck, the miscreant, meowed in his high, bright way.It gave Declan enough time to hastily start tidying the desk, delicate documents tucked away from large paws and invasive teeth.
“Of course I did, darling,” Aisling answered.She appeared from behind a bookshelf, looking small and delicate against the solid, polished wood.Like Declan, she wore a minor glamour out of habit, her sharp, too-wide mouth gone smaller and blunt.“He’s been a wretched creature all day.I’m quite displeased with him.”
“So, you subject me to his attentions.”Declan frowned at the large cat as it ambled after Aisling.
“You sent me to fetch you an early grave, my precious boy.I’m quite displeased with you, too.What in the world are you doing in here?”
Aisling smiled sweetly at him.Declan’s father liked to say that his ruthless, charming wife’s simper hid steel.Always said with affection.
Declan busied himself with stepping out of Puck’s way, still frowning.What was there to say?
He’d hoped to find something useful, something he hadn’t already read on bonds between fae and humans.They were possible, but he alreadyknewthat.Everil and Bo had proven it, and been verified by the Council, even if some pairs had stepped down rather than confirm it.
“Still looking for any details on fae with human bonds.They remain elusive.”
“Pre-Convergence information is scarce, hummingbird.And my beithir associate hoards most of it.”Aisling patted his shoulder.“Even if it weren’t, it’snotoriouslydifficult to find things on any person’s day-to-day.”
“If you can keep that furry shredding machine alive for decades, why can’t anyone write a detailed diary for the whole of their lives and pass it on to you when they die?Is that so difficult, Mother?A little common courtesy?”
