“I felt like it,” he mutters, and then.
Then he hugs me.
Something inside my body…breaks.
I crush Danielle’s hand while I hang there in Pollux’s arms, feeling his heartbeat, his heat, his closeness. It’s a closeness I haven’t possessed in…ages.
His fingers dredge into my back with an urgency that suggests he can’t get me close enough, no matter how hard he might try. Breath fills and leaves him, and he mutters near my ear, “You’re different.”
My back straightens. “Whatever does that mean?”
“Xios gave me a lot to think about recently. But he’s right. You’ve changed, Tor.”
Bitterness coats my tongue. “Well. Hownice. Now that I’mdifferent, I suppose I’m good enough to associate with again? Now that I have a soulmate, you understand that the universe has deemed me worthy of affection? I suppose I should be overcome with joy, shouldn’t I?”
“Shut up, idiot.” Pollux sighs. “You’re no saint. You’re stillyou. You’ve just…grown. I think.”
“Loneliness will do that to a person.”
“Yeah, so will love.” He pulls back and thwacks me in the head. The sensation is so familiar that it takes everything in me not to cry. “It always was hard to get you to accept it, though. You never really believed it was real. But, I guess, when the universe shoves your soulmate into the picture, not even your overactive loathing can twist what that means into something self-effacing. I’ve always thought you were ‘worthy’ of love, Tor. You’re the one who needed to be convinced.”
Running my thumb over Danielle’s knuckles, I mutter, “Yeah? Well. Sucks to suck for you, because we quite recently decided that, actually, instead of becoming better people, we may very well become worse ones. So.” I sniff, indignant, not to hold back anything stupid like—I don’t know—tears. “You better—” Anotherindignantsniff. “—watch out.”
Pollux hums. “Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, Tor.” He gathers his equipment. “I won’t be at movie night tomorrow. Meda made plans with some of her friends from school since they’re missing each other over summer break, and I have to chaperone.”
Polluxchaperoningchildren leaves me to believe I’m not the only one who has done some “growing.” Pretending I haven’t grown at all, though, I say, “Oh? Why should I care?”
“Next week, I’ll be there, but Cael has a meeting.”
I tense.
Pollux tosses his supply bag over one broad shoulder. “Come.”
“I don’t th—”
His large hand lands on my head, and I find myself…younger. All of a sudden. Even though I’m older than this oaf.
He repeats, “Come,” then he turns toward my bed. “And stop keeping your soulmate in a cage. It’s messed up.”
“It’sromantic,” I protest, feeling the moment he exits this plane in favor of another.
With a sigh, I shift my attention to Danielle and sit on her bed. Kissing her fingers, I say, “I’m sorry about that, love. It’s just… We haven’t…” It’s been an age since last we had an amicable conversation. “It doesn’t matter right this instant. The medicine he gave you…it’s working?”
“I’m scared,” she says. “It’s working right now, but…if the worst hasn’t happened yet…”
My heart aches. “I wish I could take the pain for you.”
“There is something you can do for me.”
“Anything.”
“I’m worried about Frel. Can you please find her and bring her home?”
Finding the hatchling…would undoubtedly send me to Cael’s palace. Though I understand her worry. It has been three days. By all my logic, the pixie should have worn herself out and returned to the point of her origin by now. “I’m not sure I want to leave you alone at the moment, mine.” Her heart dips, and I wince, calculating my options, remembering I have the luxury offriends. Regaining my phone, I say, “I’ll ask Zahra to come care for you. She is probably better suited given that this particular affliction leans heavily on a feminine burden.”
Danielle’s head shakes. “You can’t do that. It’s Wednesday.”
I pause in lifting my phone to tell it tocall Zahra. “Yes, and?”
