A flash of silver in Odessa’s periphery pulled her attention from the odd sight. “Katrin.” She greeted the silver doe with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry I’m late. There were some unexpected developments.”
Jax lifted his brows as he turned, his eyes bouncing back and forth between them. He crossed his arms. “Is that all I am to you? A development? I’m wounded.”
Odessa rolled her eyes but otherwise ignored him. “The first being, we have a dragon now. His name is Bean.”
“Ihave a dragon,” he corrected. “And you’re not going to introduce me? I’m even more wounded.”
“You’ve already met.” She leaned into Katrin’s shoulders as she watched Bean hide himself in a patch of tall grass, then pounce on Sonya’s hind legs as she passed. “Katrin helped me carry you to Dmitri after I pulled you out of the lake.”
“Katrin, is it?” Jax surprised her by holding a hand over his heart and bowing. “I’m honored.” He waited a beat, and Odessa could see the moment the mischief entered his eyes. “She didn’t also kiss me, did she?”
Odessa’s jaw dropped—something she didn’t realize it was quite so capable of doing until she met this infuriating man. “I didn’t kiss you!”
Katrin let out a huff of air that was the closest imitation of a laugh a deer could make, and Odessa directed a glare her way. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Do you always speak to your animals as if they can understand you?” Jax reached a hand toward Katrin’s neck, but she shied away from his touch, and he shoved his hands in his pockets instead.
They were hardlyheranimals, but it wasn’t a point worth arguing over. She smiled fondly at where both Sonya and Bean had sprawled, momentarily exhausted, in a pool of moonlight. “They’re excellent listeners.”
“I can imagine. Though wouldn’t the other swans be more sympathetic to your plight?”
Katrin stilled suddenly, as if she had just spotted a predator in the wild. She turned wide eyes to Odessa, who simply nodded, wishing she could speak with Katrin the way she could with Bean.
Jax narrowed his eyes. “I feel as if I am missing some important context here.”
Odessa opened her mouth to answer and was not in the least surprised when the words she was searching for simply wouldn’t come out.
Well, it was worth a shot, anyway. But I suppose that just proves that the two aren’t tied together.
She closed her mouth again and swallowed thickly before forcing herself to smile brightly, as if a spark of hope had not just completed an entire life cycle in her chest. “No. Katrin and Sonya are much more understanding than the swans will ever be.”
Chapter Nine
JAX
“Let me get this straight.” Jax’s mind was a mess of convoluted plots and horrible parenting decisions that made his own family issues seem warm and fuzzy in comparison. He stabbed a pitchfork into the large wheelbarrow full of straw, following Odessa’s example as she spread an even layer over the floor of the three-sided shelter. The small herd of zebras stood at a distance, eyeing him with nervous suspicion. “You’re a swan because your father caught you somewhere he would rather you not be, and instead of talking things through like a mature adult, he decided that the only reasonable course of action was tocurseyou?”
Odessa propped her pitchfork against the ground and leaned against it. “It’s a bit simplified, but yes.” Exhaustion formed dark circles under her sad, beautiful eyes, but there was a stubborn strength underneath. She was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once.
And he was self-aware enough to know that though she might be cursed, he was quickly becoming enchanted.
No, no, Jax. Just because a girl with pretty eyes smiles at you and doesn’t scoff at your career doesn’t mean you’re soulmates. You’re not even from the same Realm. And she took your dragon, remember?
Not that he could entirely blame the little creature who was currently snoring cozily in her pocket. If given the choice, he would also go with Odessa.
Stop! What did we just talk about? Different Realms, remember?
He stabbed his pitchfork into the straw again, silencing his inner debate. “And he lets you retain a few hours of humanity because he needs a keeper for his menagerie?”
“I’m just the Assistant Keeper,” she was quick to correct him as she picked up her tool and joined him again.
Jax made a show of looking around. “The only one I seeassistinghere is me.”
“Boris is still the one in charge. It’s a royally-appointed position, so only Her Majesty can change it.”
“And no one thinks it strange that you’re just…gone during the day?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think anyone has really noticed. As long as the Menagerie is running smoothly, Her Majesty is content to let Boris manage things as he sees fit. The visitors who pass through during the daylight hours could hardly be expected to know better, and if someone does happen to ask for me, he’ll just tell them I’m busy working in one of the enclosures.”
