“Hello, old friend. I’m so happy to see you,”I say as I pull back so I can set my forehead against his, which is his favorite way to greet me, especially after a long separation. “I’m so sorry I left you. I don’t know how you can even forgive me.”
Quill seems to give few shits about it, like always. He’s never been stressed about the little things… or the big things.
“I’m so sorry I left you,” I whisper.
“Well, he’s fine now,” Riley says, sounding a bit sharp.
Confused, I look over at him before questioning whether he’s jealous I’m hugging Quill and not him, so I pull him in for a group hug which oddly doesn’t seem to make him happier. How could hugging Quill not immediately make someone happy? “Riley, this is Quill. Quill, this is Riley.”
“We already met when he threw me into the dirt,” Riley says sourly.
“You willingly tried to ride a mount?” I ask, thrilled that my ways are rubbing off on him. “I’m so proud of you.”
He doesn’t seem pleased by the praise. “I… thought you’d woken up and I wanted to get back to the palace quickly, but instead he threw me in the dirt. I’m going to the library,” he says before pulling from me and heading off. Quill rubs his antlers on my body while I watch Riley disappear.
“He seems a bit off… does he seem a bit off to you?” I ask Quill.
Quill just rubs with more vigor and nearly nails me in the nuts with his antlers.
“Watch those things,” I say. “My balls don’t need to be skewered. I need those things.”
I rub Quill’s face as my brain continues to struggle, strangely fixated on Riley. “Come on,” I say, and Quill follows me into the library. Riley is on a chaise looking very dramatic as he’s sprawled across it with a book open on his face.
I pluck it off his beautiful face while Quill sets to work chewing on his socks.
“If your monstrosity eats my toes, I’m going to be pissed.”
I swing my leg over his waist and sit down on him.
“You’re crushing my insides. Why?”
“What’s wrong?” I ask, quite bewildered by this whole ordeal. “Did you get hurt and you’re not telling me?” I reach for his gloves, but he pulls his arms back to his chest.
“My hands are fine,” he says, but I snatch one up and push back his sleeve to see that the curse has spread significantly up his arm after that last stunt. I’m not surprised, knowing the amount of magic I saw him use. But it worries me. What happens when it gets to his heart?
“We’ll keep you here so it doesn’t get any worse.”
“Nope. My old lieutenant told me that in order to do what I asked her to do to help you, I had to join the unit again.”
My eyebrows furrow at that. “No, you’re not going out and being forced to use more magic that’ll hurt you. Let’s fix this curse first.”
“You think that guy is just going to press pause while we figure things out? I made a promise. Go ride your precious creature around and stop pestering me.”
I stare at him while I try to think hard about this. Human issues don’t always make sense to me. I’d prefer everyone to just be happy and love everyone, but this human is rather complex. And I discover that I’m quite focused on the fact that he’snot happy about something. It’s not just interesting to me, it’sbotheringme.
“Riley… what’s wrong?” I ask.
He shakes his head and then gives me a smile. “Nothing. I’m very relieved you’re back. I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise.”
That smile would have worked on the old me. I would have decided it wasn’t my problem, but this time, I’m oddly fixated on it. I grab him and pull him up so we’re repositioned with him sitting on my lap so I can better scrutinize him. He’s not really committing to the position, feeling a bit like that Jell-O stuff I enjoyed, almost as though his plan is to dramatically fall back onto the chaise.
“Humans perplex me.”
“At least we’re not as strange as gods.”
“Why do you refuse to tell me what’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”
