Page 1 of Lessons with the Mothman

CHAPTER 1

Elias

"Try this."

"Needs more yuzu," Rafe replied with no more than a glance at the cup I held in front of his nose.

"I said 'try' it," I parsed out.

Astraeya cut in, perched on the high stool, looking like a delicate pink and purple doll someone had placed incongruously in the chaos of Rafe's rental kitchen, "What about a weekend away with Gabriella? She's attending her ex's wedding in Cabo and wants to convince them she's moved on."

My antennae twitched, and I turned in the succubus's direction.

"I don't have to try it. I saw you balancing out the sour with sweet, and I'm telling you I don't want it even. It needs to find balance with the food, not without it," Rafe answered me, as stubbornly hard-headed as his gargoyle stone form.

"It needs balance with both," I said, but Astraeya's question was busy rolling through my head.

A fake date? Feigning emotions and acting on the premise of being already coupled had potential for creating a romantic entanglement between myself and a client, certainly. My browfurrowed as I considered this. Gabriella was a lovely woman with a bit of sylph mixed into her human family line. At our appointment through the Agency months ago, she had levitated at her climax, floating right off my lap in her throes of pleasure. She'd been pleasant company, but I hadn't experienced any hints of real attachment. According to my research, an attachment was something that grew exponentially with time and proximity, but there was usually an inkling to start from one or both parties. I wasn't sure what that inkling ought to feel like, but I imagined I would know when it occurred.

"I'm looking for something more…long term," I told Astraeya.

Specifically, I was looking for love—first love, as it turned out, in spite of my many decades of life. Centuries, perhaps, but who was counting? Love was rare for any fae, and a moth fae like myself was rare amongst the general populace. When I was very young and inclined to fanciful thinking, I'd imagined love would find me when the time was right. With time, I'd grown more skeptical of the concept, eventually losing interest in it entirely. There were more compelling pursuits, and sex was thrilling regardless of any emotional entanglement.

Lately, however, the evidence in favor of a loving relationship had begun piling up around me. I'd found myself distracted and surprisingly…wistful. If love wouldn't find me, I would go in search of it directly.

Rafe choked softly at my claim, and I rustled my wings out to hide any expression he might be wearing from Astraeya's too keen stare. Not that my answer didn't make her skeptical in her own way, her precise eyebrows rising over her milky lavender face. But I had always been particular when it came to the clients I partnered with at the Monster Smash Agency. I was one of their few sex worker staff who was freelance, and the only one who had final word on who I partnered.

It paid—generously—to be exceptional at what you did.

"Oh, really? Because you managed to worm your way out of the last three long-term clients I booked for you," Astraeya parried.

I bristled. "I did notworm. If anything, I helped you pair them with even more fulfilling partners."

Astraeya puffed out an annoyed breath and snapped her file shut, shuffling it to the bottom of the stack. "Why don't you go through these yourself while I make us some tea?"

"Tea?" Rafe murmured distractedly, glancing around his kitchen. "Tea notes…Hannah likes pu-erh and caramel…" He trailed off, thinking of his werewolf mate, a softness smoothing over his previously anxious frown.

Love seemed to have that effect on people, I noted.

"With miso," I suggested to the gargoyle, who made a bright, excited sound in the back of his throat as he shot over to the refrigerator.

The pair of them left my side, setting to their own tasks, and I drifted over to the pile of bland manilla folders Astraeya had left behind on the steel counter.

"Isn't it a violation of company policy to let him rifle through those?" Rafe asked Astraeya, head clearing from some new recipe idea.

"Not strictly," Astraeya said, but her voice was a little tight. "Not if I'd have to go through the entire stack with him anyway."

"I signed a very thorough NDA," I said, shrugging a velvety, light wing at my back.

I flipped through a profile about a recently divorced human seeking to fulfill long buried fantasies and explore their personal identity. It would've been a client I'd taken a few years ago; the human fascination with discovery was always a source of entertainment for me. Out of the corner of my eye, Astraeya'sfoot tapped impatiently against the linoleum tile as the kettled purred with growing heat.

"How are the new recruits?" I asked her, opening another file.

"Fine."

Rafe's eyebrows rose as our gazes met over the littered kitchen counter.

"Well, we lost one, but the other two are doing all right...so far," Astraeya said, fiddling with mugs and tea bags.

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