“Have you been yourself today?”
He pauses, lips at my hairline. With a sigh, he murmurs, “Today is a poor judge of my true character. I’m always less…mewhen I am deeply unnerved or composed primarily of anxiety. I’ve spent the day worrying for you and facing reflections of a past of inadequacies. I have felt many things. And I have not enjoyed the experience. It has left little time for me to exhibit the less savory parts of who I am.”
I let my eyes close so I can dwell on the sensation of his nearness. “Oh, okay. That makes sense. Tomorrow, then? Tomorrow, you’ll be unsavory?”
“Pollux said you’d be unwell for several days more, dear heart.”
“The worst already feels over. I can handle unsavory in the,” I yawn, “morning.”
“I think I’ll continue to worry until I no longer register that you are in any manner of discomfort whatsoever.”
Wow. How positively savory of him.
Silly, sweet, wonderful soulmate of mine.
If he wants to believe he’s The Worst™ despite these glaring truths, so be it. I know better than to think fighting such an opinion will change his mind. All I can really do is accept him for him, whateverhimhappens to be—from day to day, and moment to moment. Loving someone at their worst, after all, is easier than trying to convince them they’re always at their best in your eyes.
My own thoughts drift like a tide, ebbing and flowing, coming and going.
Odd.
I could have sworn I just thought something profound and revelatory.
But, before I can figure out what exactly it was, it’s gone, stretched out again on the sea, and then I’m gone, lost to pleasant, warm dreams, faerie kisses, and tender souls.
Chapter 29
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The beginning of an invisible kingdom.
Who knew that learning magic would involve playing with fire?
“Cael’s stinky and stupid and mean, and I think we should rise up against him, topple his princedom, and free all those poor losers he’s conned into taking his oath.” Frelsi sits on the dining room table, shredding through a grape the size of a watermelon in her arms.
I smile, take a bite of my own food, and return my focus to the candle before me.
This morning when I woke up in what I’d consider a bearable amount of pain—compared to yesterday, anyway—I asked Castor if we could restart magic lessons.
He seemed hesitant, given that he could tell I was still under mild amounts of duress, but inevitably he agreed. And gave me this candle. And told me to work on rewriting my human fear of flames.
So.
I can conclude that Iamsome kind of fiery faerie.
Maybe a fire nymph? Or a salamander? Aren’t those giant mythological lizard creatures? If Castor is a basilisk and affiliated somehow with snakes even though he’s person-shaped right now, maybe I’m also something linked to a reptile. It would pair well with him, and I like salamanders well enough. They’re pretty cute. I wonder if I can learn how to turn into one like Zylus can turn into a cat.
“King Castor,” Frelsi states, “I would like some paper and crayons. I will use them to depict your mighty army laying waste to the moths, then I will take it upon myself to chart yourmonarchy. No gratitude is required, but an offering of sweets would do well.”
“As you see fit,” Castor notes, smiling into his bite of breakfast casserole. “I shall make sure you have what you need for such a respectable undertaking.”
Frelsi’s wings flit, merrily, and she twists toward me. “What’s a group of snakes called? We need a fancy name for our subjects!”
I hum, reach to pull my phone out of my pocket, and find my Safari search interrupted by Castor’s low voice. “A bed, a pit, a den, a nest, a slither, a ball…there are many options, none of them particularly inviting or pleasant like Cael’s ever-so-romanticeclipse, though.”
Frelsi’s nose wrinkles. “Why would you want to be like that guy? Hesucks.”
I offer, “Slither is cute.”
