Kitty Zylus snuggles Willow while she, Zahra, and Alana help me with my name issue.
Nearby, Brittny and Ollie—as an adorable fluffy pomeranian and an unbelievably cute little arctic fox—doze, occasionally shifting into their human forms to make a comment or get some food from the snack table.
It’s warm here.
It’sfamily.
Thisis what a family is supposed to feel like.
I guess I never realized before this moment that I’ve never had a family before.
It took being kidnapped to learn that my mother was the real warden in a prison without bars. Now, I am weightless. Now, I am surrounded by people who care enough to forgive each other, no matter what has happened, because that’s what family does. That’s whatfamilyis. The people who love you when you’re broken and stay with you while you heal.
Even if I could, I don’t know that I want to take any part of the supermodelDanielle Stormwith me into this new era. I don’t think I want to hold onto my past. I have learned from it. I have appreciated the parts of it that have led me to my present. And, now, I am ready to let it go.
Which means, of course, I’m starting from scratch.
Sighing, I mutter, “This is hard. I don’t want to end up with anotherBillysituation.”
“Billy?” Zahra asks.
Frelsi’s shrieking laughter fills the air. “Billy!”
“Have you not met Billy yet?” I let my lip jut. “Imayhave named a goblin Billy, thinking she was a boy… She turned into the prettiest bugbear I’ve ever seen.”
Cael’s smooth voice drifts toward me from across the room. “Isthathow your pandemonium has grown? You’ve the power to rename the fae?”
Frelsi pricks, wings irate. “Yeah, what of it?”
“She’s a phoenix,” Castor clarifies.
Cael’s eyes—along with Alana’s and Zahra’s—go wide.
Zylus yawns as Willow says, “Huh.”
“Aphoenix?” Cael states.
Silly me thinking what I am was a secret. So much for saying I wanted to pick a new name because I’m ready to choose who I am…while I was literally asking other people to help me choose who I am. I guess I could have started this conversation a lot differently.
Deflating, Cael covers his eyes with his hand. “Short of a story fae, we’ve many of the most powerful creatures in existence tucked in this room.”
“Ah,” Zahra cuts in. “I need one of those to contract with me so I can lie again.”
“No,” Castor says, “you don’t.”
Alexios tilts his head back and Zylus looks up, both staring curiously at Castor, who ignores them.
Alana interjects, “Can we circle back to the fact you have a pretty bugbear in your kingdom?”
I pout. “Sure. What about it?”
“You have aprettybugbear in your kingdom? Abugbear. The massive, hairy goblins with teeth like tusks.”
My lashes flutter. “When was the last time you saw a female bugbear?”
Her attention drifts upward, then she declares, “Never!”
I sniff. “Well, there you have it, then. They arevery pretty. Large. Muscles fordays…no,weeks, but beautiful. No tusks. They should never—ever—be namedBilly. Yet I did. Maybe I should call myself Failure.”
