I can’t bear to remember what happened last night. The way I just word-vomited all over him. I said too much, was too vulnerable, put myself out there with someone in a way I haven’t done in a long, long time.
It makes my skin crawl.
Goddess, what was I thinking?
Instead of letting myself dwell on it, I do my best to shove all those thoughts aside and get ready for the day.
When I finally work up the nerve to creep back out into the main room, Callum is sitting at the small kitchen table with two cups of tea.
I can’t make myself join him.
I’m too jittery, too wired, too amped up and looking for any excuse to get out of here so I don’t have to deal with… any of it.
“So,” I begin. “About what happens next…”
The twitch of a smile at the corners of his lips. “Next, we have some tea.”
“Right,” I say, running a hand through my rumpled hair. “Right. Yeah. But after that, I mean. I don’t want to intrude on your hospitality, so if you could… If you can just give me a lift back to the Veil, then we should be all set. You don’t have to worry about—”
“Seren.”
His voice stops my rambling dead in its tracks.
He gestures to the seat across from him, and I slowly walk over and sit down.
This is… weird.
I mean, not just this.
All of it’s weird.
It’s weird I’m here in this realm, in the apartment of some demon dude who claims he’s my mate. It’s weird he found me and saved me yesterday. It’s weird I almost died. It’s weird I came back here with him and poured my stupid heart out to him last night and he didn’t immediately send me packing.
Probably the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.
Probably way,waypast weird and into surreal territory.
But as long as it’s already so weird, I suppose I can’t make it any weirder.
Callum slides the second mug toward me. I take it, sip, and almost moan out loud over how good the tea is. Sharp and herbal, with an unexpectedly light floral finish, brewed to the perfect temperature.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
I shrug, ready to brush the question off and assure him I’m fine. But the arch of his eyebrow and the flat look he gives me make me reconsider.
“Honestly?” I say instead. “Kind of trash, but compared to dying by fungus inhalation, I’d say I’m doing alright.”
He nods solemnly, and that’s weird, too.
It’s weird that he cares.
I mean, maybe not. Maybe considering someone your mate means you have to care about them, but… I don’t think I like that either.
I don’t want anyone to feel obligated to worry about me.
“But I’ll be fine. Soleil really knows what she’s doing with those potions of hers.”
Callum grimaces. “What she gave you seemed… unpleasant.”
