I swallow hard. There’s a reason why Felix is the person he is, and I’m willing to bet his family is a big part of it. “Sounds nice.”
“It is. Are you coming? My parents want to meet you.”
My whole body jolts. “They?—”
“Relax. I talked about my friend, Ari, an elf who’s been assigned to help with the PR thing, and they’d like to meet you. Mom’s met a couple of elves before, but only briefly, and Dad never has. I think they want to pick your brain about elf physiology.”
Oh, in that case… “What?” I stare at him in befuddlement, and his eyes narrow.
“Did I ever tell you that half my family are doctors of some kind?”
Ohhhh. I shake my head. “No, it never came up.”
He makes a self-deprecating noise. “I’m the family black sheep—not to mention the one with the least smarts.” He holds up a hand as my back shoots straight. “Chill. Nobody says that except me, and I know it’s not exactly true.”
I study his face for any sign that he might be protecting his family. “They don’t make you feel bad for being a professional athlete?” What am I even saying? There are families whose dearest dream is for their children to achieve the level of success that Felix has.
“Never,” he promises me. “They might not always get what I do, but they’re proud of me and they’ve encouraged me every step along the way.”
Good. That’s exactly what he deserves.
“What about your family?”
It hits like a blow, and my jaw drops open as I suck in air. I wasn’t prepared for him to ask that.
“The anomalies killed my family,” I manage. It’s the first lie I’ve told him, and I hate it.
His hand lands on my forearm, then slides down so his fingers can tangle with mine. “I’m sorry. I figured they probably were, since you don’t talk about them. Is it… too painful? You don’t want to try to remember the good times?” He winces. “Fuck, did I just shove my foot in my mouth? I don’t even know how old you were when you lost them, or if… I don’t know much about what things were like for you all toward the end. You don’t have to talk about it, but if you want me to head off my parents before they can ask, I kind of need a hint now.”
It takes me a moment to untangle my thoughts enough to realize that he’s talking about the quality of life in a dyingdimension and not specifically about how things were with my family.
“It would help if you could tell them I don’t want to talk about how things were before the end,” I say quietly. “I might, when I know them better.” In general terms, anyway. There are some things I’ll avoid forever. “I’m happy to talk about elves in general, though, including physiology. And dragons,” I add. “Did you know that they’re not actually shifters? Not like you are.”
The distraction works even better than I expected it to. “But they have two forms!”
“They have no forms and every form,” I correct. “Dragons are beings of etheric energy.”
Felix shakes his head. “I’m not even going to ask, because IknowDad will, and he’ll have better questions than me.”
That’s when it hits home that somewhere in our conversation, I tacitly agreed to go to family dinner with him.
And I’m not even mad about it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Felix
Ari straightenshis shirt and then smooths his hair for the third time. It hasn’t moved from the sleek, low ponytail he put it into an hour ago, but if it makes him feel better to fuss, who am I to stop him? Greta’s going to think it’s adorable.
“Ready?” I ask him, taking mental notes for when Dáithí asks me for the details. He nods like he’s not nervous at all.
“Of course.”
Uh-huh.
I grab the door handle and have the door open only two inches when he grabs my arm and hisses, “What are you doing?”
Maybe his ponytail is too tight?
