“Darkness. Same language.”
“Why would this world have creatures named after a language in yours?”
I shrug. “Who knows? What matters is that they’re a very good boy and girl.” I squish their cute faces together. “Yes, they are.”
Samson crouches beside me. “They’re…huge.”
Coming from a giant…yes. Yes, they are huge. Thank goodness I’ve not been sleeping in the queen guest bed. They’ll be able to use it. Because, sadly, we would die if we tried to get the four of us in even Samson’s giant bed together. It would take an Alaskan King to house the three giants I’m about to live with.
Samson, ever cautious, extends his hand to Tsuki. The big boy snuffs before nosing Samson’s palm atop his head. It’s that moment Samson falls in love, and it is beautiful to behold. All the tension exits his shoulders as his mind begins working,running through every important thing. “They aren’t going to hurt the farm animals?”
“Nooo.” I baby Yami. “They wouldnever. They’re good puppies.”
“What do we feed them?”
“Monsters.”
Samson’s attention jets my way. “What?”
“They’ll eat most anything, isn’t that right?” I flop Yami’s ears, scritching. “In the game, they hunted on their own, and some mornings you’d wake up to a monster drop on your doorstep and the dialogue box,Looks like Yami and Tsuki brought you some of their dinner.They’d just wander around the farm. You’d pet them to raise your relationship status. And the better your relationship, the better the gifts they’d bring you.”
Samson blows out a breath. “What is everyone else in town going to think about this?”
I smirk. “Who cares as long as I can gloat about my cool magical babies in front of Austin? Help me come up with a clever way to work his snide remark about how I wouldn’t last a week into introducing them, will you?”
Freezing, Samson turns achingly slow toward me. Blue eyes wide and several shades darker than Tsuki’s, he says, “Did…did you just saymagical?”
Tsuki, helpfully, barks, then leaps over Samson onto a cloud that forms beneath his feet. Popping from one cloud platform to another, he fully circles the shadows in the room before returning to Samson’s side and wagging his tail. Like a very good boy.
Refusing to be outdone, Yami rises, stares at the center of the room, and snuffs, hackles rising.
Lightning crashes majestically through the ceiling, blasting sunlight into the room and sending a zipping shock up my spine.
Samson’s eye twitches. His mouth opens. He covers his lips with his hand. Patient, calm, tense, he says, “C-Citrus…”
I throw my arms around Yami and snuggle. “We’re keeping them.”
“B-but, Citrus—”
“Happy wife, happy life,” I say, because it’s good to remind myvery dear friendwhom Ishare a platonic bed withthat we are married with missing steps. One day he’ll figure it out. I believe in him. Just like I’ve begun to believe that the question marks under his name indicate utter confusion on his part where I’m concerned.
He doesn’t understand emotions.
He’s been isolated from them his entire life, raised in a loveless, careless way.
He doesn’t know what I am to him, not really.
And I’m okay with that, because in response tohappy wife, happy life, he deflates with utter acceptance. “I guess it would make me feel better to know you have a magical wolf with you whenever you disappear.”
I’msparkling. “That’s the spirit.”
Shaking his head, he sets my hair back over my ear and kisses my cheek. Then, he rises and offers me a hand. “Are you ready to head back home?”
Dazed, I nod as I take his hand and let him pull me to my feet. The metal scales on my armor chime as I stop before him, inches away. The memory hits me late, but I gasp and turn toward the gemstones in the door panel before it’s too late to ever return to the Sky Dungeon again “Right, I need these for my sword. To upgrade it to Verity’s Edge. With these, I’m only missing a diamond and a cosmic shard. Located in the Cosmic Mines. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Samson echoes, as though he’s almost used to my wee rambles by now.
As though he almost finds them endearing.
