Page 114 of In Your Light

Sawyer’s blue rings bloomed across his body and Ciaran laughed. See? Aurin will probably never forgive Hadeom for threatening Salem all those years ago.

But Salem has, Sawyer said. Kind of.

Because of the godlings. Ciaran shrugged. They love Hadeom. Well, his shadows. Salem will tolerate Hadeom for them. And Áine somehow controls his shadows and therefore she controls him. Salem has the advantage now.

And Salem’s mother?

Ciaran flushed with uncertainty. I feel sorry for her. She spent a thousand years in hiding, never morphing to human, out of fear of being found by Hadeom. I cannot even imagine what that was like for her.

She left Salem to fend for himself. Sawyer understood that no parent was perfect, but jeez.

She thought he was dead. Like he thought she was. Ciaran shrugged. She fled north into the ocean off Scotland, and he went on land down to England.

Well, I don’t care what Cern said, Sawyer grumbled. He can’t make her forgive Hadeom. It’s up to her.

Ah, Sawyer my love, Ciaran said. Are you forgetting what he is?

The god of the wild things⁠—

Cern knows stuff. He knows that if Salem’s mother wants to be part of the godlings’ lives, she will need to forgive Hadeom because of how the godlings interact with his shadows.

Sawyer’s new mind couldn’t join the dots. What?

What Cern’s saying is, the godlings and those shadow birds are going to be a part of one another’s lives, especially Áine. So if Salem’s mother wants to be part of the godlings’ lives, then that includes Hadeom.

That’s messed up, Sawyer said. And Cern needs to stop with the cryptic bullshit. If he wants to say something⁠—

Ciaran covered Sawyer’s mouth with four tentacles. Shh. He can hear you, you know.

Sawyer laughed. Yes, I know.

We’re not gonna make him regret changing you, because of the whole what he giveth he can taketh away thing, so be nice, Ciaran said. Then, entwining a tentacle with Sawyer’s he urged him toward the surface. Come on, let’s go see what we’ve missed.

Morphing back into human form was getting easier. Sawyer had more control now, and there were fewer instances of his foot or hand being an errant tentacle when he was in human form. He still had to surface, then morph into human form, and then climb out of the water. He hadn’t mastered the fluid change like the others did so easily.

But he’d only had a month to acclimate, he reminded himself. These things would take time.

Like getting used to the flutter of his hearts and being coldblooded.

Sure, Sawyer was used to weird shit, and it was just as bloody well, considering that when they climbed out of the cove, the first thing they saw was Fyn and Hadeom sitting on the grass. Fyn was in faun form, with Nyx in kitten form sitting on top of his head between his horns like a cute little hat. The other three kittens were running and tumbling with the shadow birds in the grass, using Hadeom as a roundabout. Salem, also in cat form, sat close by, supervising along with his mother and Aurin.

Yep. Life was definitely weird.

Sawyer pulled on some shorts and ran a towel through his hair just as they heard Fray laugh from inside the café. Sawyer looked down at himself, half expecting his foot to be a tentacle, but nope, he was fully human. “Thought he was laughing at me.”

Ciaran chuckled. “He’s not game to anymore.”

“I didn’t choose to be a blue-ringed octopus,” Sawyer grumbled.

Ciaran leaned in and kissed Sawyer softly, smiling. “I am absolutely not surprised. You were always spicy as a human, so now you’re spicy as a cephamorph.”

Sawyer snorted. “Spicy. That’s a nice way to say venomous.”

Ciaran laughed and slung his arm around Sawyer’s shoulder, leading him toward the café.

Fyn waved as they walked by, and Sawyer couldn’t help but grin at him. He was such a breath of fresh air, always smiling. Everyone loved him. It was hard not to. He worked hard with Beau and Hudson in the gardens, and he even had Hadeom helping with a shovel.

It was kinda funny to watch.