He slumped and sighed. “Mannix means well. He’s been very helpful. Most of the time.”
Oh, I was going to have to call bullshit on that. “Anyone who tells you to stop being yourself is the one with a failure of character, whatever the hell that means.” I reached over and held his hand. “If it’s normal and natural for you to have flowers in your hair, let them grow.”
He looked at our hands and then my face. “That’s not…everything, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s more that I’m…um…”
“Suppressing?”
“Yes.”
I gave his hand a squeeze and smiled encouragingly. “Hydris, with me, you don’t need to hide anything. Let it all out. I’d really love to see whatever you’re supposed to be.”
He met my gaze and smiled shyly before closing his eyes and biting his bottom lip. His brow furrowed like he wasconcentrating, and then the flowers came back. This time there was a bigger pink one on the left that was round with at least a hundred petals curling toward its center. Across the top of his head spread other flowers in pink and yellow. Like a crown.
His wings changed shape next. They became larger and their black outer edge was now rippled, while the colors deepened to richer shades of blue and green. The bottom sections developed a drooping part that resembled a raindrop. And they looked like they were covered in sparkling dew.
The same twinkling texture appeared on his face like freckles over his nose and cheeks. I couldn’t resist reaching over to touch him, find out if it was like a sheen of perspiration on his skin. His eyes popped open and they were a brilliant blue now, so much more vibrant than they’d been before he’d had permission to be himself.
“I justlookdewy,” he whispered. “I’m not actually.”
I nodded since the dew on his face was nothing more than a subtly bumpy texture of tiny crystalline dots. I briefly cupped his cheek and smiled.
“You’re absolutely beautiful,” I told him. “Please don’t hide who you are.”
He bit his bottom lip again but smiled this time as he nodded. “I’ll try.”
Chapter 4
Throughout our meal, I couldn’t help noticing that Hydris seemed more confident. Or maybe more comfortable and that made him confident? We were chatting about my work as we ate, and he laughed heartily when I told him about tripping and falling face-first into a wheelbarrow of manure. He was animated and relaxed, those vibrant blue eyes just sparkling.
Why the hell would Mannix make Hydris hide who he was?
Control. That had to be it. Hydris might think Mannix was helpful “most of the time,” but I had a feeling Mannix was doing everything out of a need to be in charge. And since Hydris didn’t seem like the type to stand up to a bully, Mannix could go right ahead and take over.
Ugh, I hated that! Hydris was telling me a silly story about himself and some puppies. It was adorable, and he was so cute. I didn’t know if those were ideal qualities for a prince of the realm, but I definitely wanted to protect him at all costs.
At the very least, I really hoped Hydris stopped diminishing himself, but I had a feeling it would take more than one revealand supportive conversation to make that happen. Mannix didn’t seem like the type to give in easily.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Hydris exclaimed and dropped his spoon into his empty bowl of sherbet. “I was spying on the spell workers who were working in the pool and learned something.”
“Spying on them? Why couldn’t you go in and talk to them?”
He blinked at me.
“You’re the prince. You can ask anyone anything you want,” I said and booped his nose in the hope that it didn’t feel like I was lecturing him. “But what did you learn?”
He sat up a little straighter. “Well, there were two important things. The first was that the portal—that’s what they’re calling what the ring creates—has multiple branches inside it. Like, alotof them. And that’s very unusual and powerful magic.”
“Maybe that’s why I didn’t end up in the same place as Milo.”
“Your friend who went through first?”
“Right. He could be here, too, but miles away.”
“Or in a different court.”
