After the fail that was tonight, I barely want him around me. He’d be safer away from my world, yet the idea of pushing him away and compelling him to forget me twists something deep inside my chest.
Alexander scoops out another huge bite. “Your boyfriend, huh? One of ours?”
I shake my head.
“Does he know about us?” Alexander asks.
“No.”
“He’s the boy I met the morning I came over, right?” Gael asks.
I nod.
“By the way, Pops, Grandma Ari said she’s flyin’ down to the ranch tomorrow.”
Grandma Ari…“Are you close with Ariana?”
“Closer than I am with Arabella.” Alexander’s jaw clenches. “But that ain’t such a feat when your mama only loves herrealkids.”
“Did she say that to you? That you aren’t herrealkid?”
“Sure did. On multiple occasions. It hurt a bit the first time, but now I just pity her for hatin’ me.”
“You’re awfully wise for someone so young.”
He smirks, and although his eyes are brown, his hair golden, and the frame of his face still rounded by youth, it feels like looking into a mirror.
“Do you think Ari will ever get her runes back?” I muse aloud.
“No one’s ever gotten them back before, so odds aren’t great.” Gael leans his hip against the island, right where Cillian and I…
I evict the image.
“How about you fly down to the ranch with us tomorrow?” Gael asks.
Dorian would hate it. My parents too. In spite of this, I’m very tempted to say yes. I cut my eyes toward Alexander to read whether he wants me there or not.
When he says, “You should come,” I decide to take Gael up on his offer.
Genuine happiness seizes the Atlantean’s face. Even though I’ve always felt wanted by the Serrans, being wanted by my bio father heals something in me. Makes me feel worthy.
I know what Calanthe would say—that I shouldn’t measure my worth through another’s eyes—but the little girl in me who was used and abused still reaches for that validation.
Alexander drags his fork back through the snap pea dish. “Is your boyfriend a chef?”
“No. Just a hobby.”
Gael’s phone lights up with Tarian’s name. “We got restaurants,” he reminds me before swiping right on the call and ambling away to chat with our overlord.
“What time’s the flight tomorrow?”
“We’ll probably leave once Otto comes to. Why?”
I tuck my cell phone into the pocket of the sheer windbreaker I threw on over my black tank top. “Because I want to go see my boyfriend before I leave.”
“You should invite him along. The cook we got back at the ranch could do with some lessons.”
“I’ll ask him,” I say, even though I won’t.
