“Let’s do it.”
Poppy squeezed his hand, and he squeezed back.
“Now?” said his father, looking mildly surprised. Max was coming to find that many of his expressions were mild. It didn’t quite fit with the memories he had of him, but, he supposed, a long time had passed.
“No time like the present,” he said.
Do it before I chicken out,he didn’t add.
In the end, even the way his father removed his powers was mild. The lightest touch of fingers to Max’s temples, and then a slight tingling inside his head while his father’s eyes grew oddly hypnotic. Max felt like he couldn’t have blinked even if he’d wanted to… but he didn’t want to do anything, really. This was quite nice as it was.
It could have been going for two minutes, or two hours. Max really couldn’t tell. He just kind of… drifted.
“It is complete,” his father said eventually, lowering his hands, and Max actuallydidblink this time.
“What?” Poppy exclaimed. “That’s it? I thought you hadn’t even started!” She turned to Max. “How are you feeling?”
I am still here, in case you cared,the manticore muttered – and it did seem to be. When Max inspected it in his mind it seemed intact, wings and scorpion tail and all.
I do care, actually,Max retorted. He hadn’t spent this long wishing to be a shifter just to want to throw it all away, even if his shifter animalwasa bit of a dick.
He felt around in his head, trying to work out if there was a difference.
There was, and there wasn’t. Max didn’t think he could explain it if he tried. It wasn’t like there was some gaping hole in his brain, or anything. It was just like things had…shifted, for want of a better word.
He felt confident that it had worked. There might have been a number of reasons he didn’t fully trust his father, but on this issue, at least, he had Max’s full confidence. Max could well believe that fae nobility were just that good at magic, especially where protecting their secrets was concerned.
It was like a weight had come off his shoulders – a weight that he’d been carrying his whole life, without even realizing it.
“I’m good,” he said, and a smile broke out on Poppy’s face. “Still here, still me. And the manticore’s still here, for better or worse. Just pretty sure I can’t mind-whammy anyone anymore.”
He wasn’t one hundred percent sure he could still shift, but it didn’t feel like the connection between him and the manticore had been disturbed in any way. Either way, he wasn’t about to try and shift now, when he barely knew how to shift to begin with. He’d try later, once things had calmed down. And if he couldn’t shift… well, it’d be an incredible disappointment, but he’d work through it. He had Poppy now, after all, and that was by far the most important thing in his life.
His father looked like he wasn’t quite sure what to say, or whether he should say anything at all. Making a sudden decision, Max stuck out his hand. Things weren’t going to be suddenly easy between them, but he did understand now why his father had done what he’d done, and he definitely appreciated the help he’d given them today. There was no point in making things difficult.
His father stared at his hand for a long moment.
“Oh, yes,” he said eventually, before reaching out for an awkward handshake. “Forgive me. It has been quite some time since I last did this.”
Max could easily believe that handshakes weren’t a thing amongst the fae. Probably they’d be worried that the other party would set their hand on fire, or deliver a lightning bolt, or something.
On impulse, Max leaned in for – not quite a hug, per se, but a bit of a pat on the back. Friendly, but not too personal.
Pulling back, he watched as his father blinked, looking surprised. “Indeed.”
It’s a start,thought Max with a smile.
“I just have one question,” Poppy said. “Well, I have a ton of questions, but the rest can wait.”
“Go ahead,” said Max’s father.
Her brow wrinkled in confusion, and she indicated the unconscious fae on the floor. “This guy said that he identified me as being your child because I had my father’s eyes. But… I don’t even have your eyes.”
Max’s father peered at Poppy’s face for a moment, before looking almost… embarrassed?
“Oh,” he said. “The thing is… most fae have green eyes. A very specific shade of green. But some fae in our clan have what you in the human realm might call ‘hazel’ eyes.”
Poppy’s eyes widened. “And he based his identification of me on that?”
