“Jake’s harmless, but he’s also persistent,” she says, her wings shifting as she studies me. “If you don’t set boundaries now, you’ll be stuck dealing with him until someone else catches his eye.”
I sigh and run a hand through my hair. “It’s not that simple.”
“Why not?”
“Because…” I pause to think about it.
It’s an excellent question.
“He was one of the first people to be nice to me around here,” I finally say. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
I also need him on my side—the side of the humans who aren’t just going to lay down and accept our fates as pets to be enjoyed before they’re sent to the slaughterhouse. Also known as the barns.
We haven’t done anything to turn things around other than start carving pieces for a chess board together, but at least we’re preparing to play the game.
“It never is,” Aethelthryth says as we approach the doors to the human wing. “But it’s better to deal with it now than to let it fester. Trust me.”
With that, she opens the doors, and leaves me to continue from there.
