Chapter Forty-Six
Selena
The fuzzy sensation of being teleported washed over me, and I opened my eyes to the entrance to the music room.
Wordlessly, Kaede placed me on the floor and leaned over to kiss me on the forehead.
“Call out to me if you need me,”he pathed as he gave me a quick peck on the lips. “I am only a thought away.”
In a blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving me alone with my musician.
I hesitated to enter the room as I watched him approach each of his instruments and drag his hand along them.
Slowly, I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his chest, pressing my cheek against the middle of his back, stilling him.
“You will get your tentacles back,” I soothed. “You will play them all once again, someday.”
“I know,” he breathed. “But it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt knowing it will be a long time before I will be able to play them and even longer before I have the muscle memory as I used to have.”
“Even so, I am not going anywhere.”
“I know…. It’s just you gave me a performance hall, and I am capable of putting on an elaborate show now.” He spun around and palmed my cheek. “You gave me such an extraordinary gift, and I am unable to use it. It’s too gorgeous to have it sit there, left abandoned to waste away.”
“Then use it,” I stressed. “Play an instrument that you can play with your mouth and hands, and use it. Don’t become depressed because you refuse to play when I know you have a few flutes, exotic drums, and that shell ocarina.
“Own it, Odelm. You defended me—the Aldawi Beacon—who happened to be your nestqueen. There is nothing to be ashamed of, so turn this experience into a positive. You are the one who told me that I needed to work through my traumas. So I am telling you to work through yours. Challenge yourself to a new two-handed instrument. I am sure we can get you some you have never seen or heard of—and master it.
“But whatever you do, don’t stop playing your music because you are injured. It’s a part of you, and if I have to request for you to serenade me every night to force you to play, then I will.”
“You would do that?” Odelm jerked his head back. “For me?”
“Yes, for you.” I glared at him. “I love you, and if I need to drag you out of your funk, then I will.”
“You are right.” He pressed his forehead to mine as I stared into his pale green eyes. “And no, you don’t have to. I will do it myself, so I don’t have to bother you, it’s just…”
“What, Odelm?”
“I guess I am upset because everything I wanted was taken from me,” he confessed. “You offered me Second, and I hesitated, believing you would pick one of the princes instead—but now, you have Kaede, who might as well take the role since Zirene isn’t interested, and he gets along with Xylo.”
“You hurt me badly,” I stressed. “When you rejected my offer. Why accept being my Favored but not the Second?”
“I understand that, but you had only recently accepted the princes into the clan. Therefore, I would rather have you wait before you chose me than change your mind later on.”
“And that’s where you are wrong,” I muttered, letting him feel how much he’d hurt me. “The princes may be strong enough to hold the mental web, but they aren’tyou.”
“And Kaede?”
“He isn’t a Circuli,” I countered. “So why would I give him a Circuli title?”
“You haven’t thought about it?” The confusion in his voice laced his eyes. “Truthfully?”
“No,” I confessed. “My main focus has been getting my clan healed, finding a new home for the outsiders, collecting my cubs, and keeping Destima safe so I can open it soon.”
“So I still have a chance?” Hope filled him. I could feel it as it radiated through our connection.
“I never said you didn’t, but I am not going to claim you as my Second just because you have lost all of your appendages. If you doubted me before, what would prevent you from doing the same later? I’ve always believed it’s what’s inside that counts, and how you show me your love, and yet, you still doubted me till this day.”
“I will prove myself worthy.”
