Kallie’s expression quickly took on a note of surprise, but she rearranged her features to be polite as she said, “Oh, this looks… delightful!”
“Thank you.” Marcus gave a nervous laugh. “I worked on it all afternoon.”
Is that how long you left it in the oven?Oberi commented. I offered him a bit of blackened chicken, but he turned his nose up at it.
I did my best to swallow. The noodles werecrunchy,like they’d come straight from the package.How he’d managed to undercook and overcook the food at the same exact time was an act of Mother Miriam herself.
Silence resonated around the dinner table as each of us took a bite. The sounds emitting from our mouths resembled the chomping of bones.
This is really bad. Charlie’s thoughts slipped into my mind.I’ve dug food out of dumpsters that was tastier than this.
We can’t let him down. Just eat it,I pressed. I still had trouble eating a lot, anyway, but even if I could, I didn’t think I wanted the rest of my meal.
Kallie liked Marcus more than she was letting on, because somehow, she managed to eat her whole plate. She drank the rest of her matus tea in two gulps before she leaned over the table in a feminine way and said, “This is actually really nice.” She looked around at the skeleton birds that were flitting from tree to tree. “It’s cool that you put all this together.”
“I’ve been practicing a lot with my powers,” Marcus admitted. “Since I’m a demigod, and I’ve got powers from all five Casts, I can do anything any witch can do. I’ve been experimenting a lot, too, seeing what kinds of different spells I can make.”
“Your magic is exceptional.” Kallie put out her hand, and Alette crawled to the end of her fingertips, batting her wings as a skeleton bird landed beside her. “I had no doubt you could create such wonderful things.”
“It was easy to make them… once I thought of you,” Marcus confessed bashfully.
“I enjoy the dark aesthetic,” Kallie said. “You know me well.”
Charlie and I were more or less here to be a buffer, but I honestly thought this was going really well. They barely knew we were around.
“I made you a gift,” Marcus started abruptly, and he dug in his jacket pocket. He placed a small crystal ball in her hand, one that swirled with purple magic. “I used my Seer powers to put my memories inside this crystal ball. It replays the day we met, and all my favorite moments of… time we’ve spent together.”
“Oh, my.” Kallie raised the crystal ball up to her eyes. I couldn’t see what was inside the smoke, but apparently she could, because I watched her tear up. “This is lovely.”
“I just thought… you should have the right to know,” Marcus said quietly, almost to the point I couldn’t hear him. “To see yourself like I do. Through my eyes.”
A true romantic,Oberi commented dryly.
He’s got some smooth lines right now. Think he rehearsed it? Charlie added telepathically.
Well, he is the dramatic type, I thought. Shakespeare himself couldn’t be more amorous.
“I’ll treasure it, truly,” Kallie said. She clutched the crystal ball like it was her lifeline.
She was acting so different, but not in a way that felt fake. Rather, her responses were genuine. I had the firm notion thatthiswas the real Kallie. Soft and sweet, with that regal fae elegance sorceresses always had. That tough girl persona she put on was just that— an act to protect herself. When Marcus stepped up, she had the ability to relax and be who she truly was… a gentle girl from a noble family. I never thought I’d seen Kallie be more authentic to who she was than right now.
Kallie hadn’t acted this way before around me, but I knew she must’ve let her guard down around Marcus more than a time or two, because he was looking at her in a way that was utterly familiar. This is who they really were. I was proud of them for letting their walls down long enough to appreciate each other.
“Do you like roses?” Marcus asked. “I enchanted these ones for you, so they’ll never die.”
Kallie inclined her head. “I have a reserved fondness for them.”
Marcus plucked a flower from the vase, then leaned over to place it in her hair. The black rose stood out against her blonde locks, and Alette fussed over the petals.
“Thank you,” Kallie replied lightly. “It smells blissful.”
“I dyed the petals by hand, painted each one,” Marcus said with pride. “Got a bit distracted with it, actually.”
Is that why you ruined dinner? Oberi wondered.
Kallie was absolutely glowing. “That’s incredibly thoughtful. I always thought I’d like to craft a potion to make black rose hybrids. It’d be nice to have a garden of them outside my home someday.”
Marcus gave a huge smile. “Yeah. I’m sure our kids would love them.”
