Page 21 of Mated in the Stars

Why was I tongue tied? How was that even possible at this point in my life?

“It’s alright,” Elio said. “Do you want to sit outside with us, Nelum? Less pressure out here. No privacy. Not much pressure.”

“Alright,” Nelum nodded.

“Fred?” Elio said, tugging on my arm. “Sit down.”

I sat down where I was right on the wood planks of the porch. Elio laughed. Obviously, he meant for me to sit down in one of the porch chairs, but I was on autopilot. My dragon head butted against my ribs wanting to get closer to Nelum but my mind’s eyes were full of Lotus. There weren’t many books or guides for what to do if you met your true-mate for the second time during a single lifetime. My vision flipped back and forth between seeing the dark-haired man standing in front of me and remembering the blonde-haired fox shifter I married.

“I think I broke him,” Nelum said, his laughter a nervous melody that I wanted to soothe.

“Not really. He gets like this more than you’d think. He thinks a lot. Too much sometimes. Other times he flies off the handle like he has six wings and two dicks,” Elio said.

“So, Teddy was right, huh?” Nelum asked.

“It would seem so. He and Lotus were close. So, I’m not surprised. Will you two sit down somewhere, please?” I asked, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “It’s starting to feel like I’m a spectacle.”

“I was a mum,” Nelum blinked and dropped to his ass next to me.

He was so fucking close. His knee brushed against mine and the baby fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Scales popped up over my knuckles and my other joints. Elio sat downon my other side and leaned back against the porch banisters. He rested his hand on my knee and let out a long breath. Eventually, Nelum leaned back too and a few minutes later I relaxed enough to unclench my jaw and lean back.

“I thought he was a bit off in the head to be honest,” Nelum was the first to break the silence. “Not quite a mental patient but someone who grieved their mum so much that he made up stories about her in his head and projected them onto me. I wasn’t sure why everyone else went along with it, but people do strange things for the people they care about.”

“Teddy is probably the sanest of my kids. My eldest is a grandfather now. So, I’m sure he started out sane but…” I said and laughed at my own joke.

“Oh, wow. Shit. You’re ---” Nelum started but stopped himself.

“If you say old, I swear,” I laughed, leaning my head back to look up at the sky.

Only the roof over the porch blocked out any view I might’ve had.

“Well, you’re older than me. I haven’t even hit one hundred yet.”

“I didn’t drag you through the door to meet me,” I laughed.

“No, a pig did that and your son tossed my supper back through,” he sighed.

“You can’t say you’re going hungry here,” I shrugged.

“Do you guys want to know why I thought Teddy was right?” Elio changed the subject.

“Yes,” Nelum and I said in tandem.

“Teddy said he handed you Minter when he went to fight the pig,” Elio sighed. “Teddy is protective over his brother. If he just handed you the baby, he knew you were someone trustworthy.”

The three of us fell into silence again. Elio squeezed my knee. There were a million things I wanted to say to Lotus. A millionthings I wanted to tell her about, but this wasn’t her. Nelum was himself and to treat him like anyone else would be an insult to who he was now.

“This is anticlimactic,” Nelum said. “I don’t know what I expected. Thought you two might jump me or something.”

“Was that what you wanted?” Elio asked him.

“Maybe. Not exactly. I don’t know. I think maybe I would’ve if this wasn’t so tied up with my past life,” Nelum said.

“Sorry about that. We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to,” I said. “No one expects you to be her. I had a long time to come to terms with that. She did leave things she wanted you to have and some letters and stuff. They’re all back on Earthside. You can have them if you want but you don’t have to. I mean, they’re yours but…”

“I get it,” Nelum nodded. “That does seem like the sort of thing I’d do. If I knew I was going to die soon and knew there was a chance I’d find you guys again, I’d leave a message for my next self to check on my parents and stuff.”

“Okay, we have to stop being depressed about these things,” Elio said, pushing himself up onto his feet. “We really have to. This isn’t a sad thing. This isn’t a dangerous thing. This is a good thing. This is what we wanted. We could even show you the memory from the Other World where we met and stuff.”

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