Page 118 of Valpar

“It is your decision. Perhaps it would be good to know how we both can prepare.” Her fingers dove back into my hair, scratching my scalp.

I groaned when she used her nails, and she laughed when I kicked my leg how good it feels.

“What a good little orc you are.” She snorted and continued to scratch the delightful spot behind my ear.

“I am not little, female! Fuck… don’t stop.” My eyes rolled in the back of my head and nuzzled further into her neck. “Female, you will be the death of me.”

“You also deserve all the good things, Valpar.” Her nose went into my hair and took in a deep breath.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Calliope

Even though Mom, Dadand Valpar were getting along better than I had hoped, the next morning at breakfast, I was still uneasy. Simon was still missing and my parents stayed up late looking for him. I tossed and turned the night before, too worried about where he could be.

It didn’t help that I had the same ominous dream of a rundown house, with missing shingles, dark laughter, and the smell of heavy smoke. I still wasn’t sure if I was ready to face it all head on or get the missing puzzle pieces one by one.

“We will check the palace today,” Mom said and placed a blueberry muffin on my plate.

Blueberry muffins were just naked cupcakes. I try to get past their nakedness and eat the darn things, but it was so hard when it didn’t have icing. It was too dry and not enough sugar for my taste.

My mom raised a brow, knowing I was trying to skip breakfast. “Perhaps Osirus and Melina have seen them. What do you think, Birch?”

Birch had his arms crossed, chewing on a piece of dry jerky. “I don’t know where Simon could have gone. Maybe he found himself a female. Now that Calliope has found her own male, perhaps he got the idea he needed to go find him a companion of his own species.”

My lip trembled. This only made me feel worse. I didn’t even get to tell him goodbye. Wouldn’t he want to tell me goodbye? I thought he would want to go with me and Valpar. He sounded like he was into moving with us.

Valpar’s rubbed his hand up my back in comfort. “We will find him. We will go to the cave today, gather our supplies and return here by sunset. Don’t worry yet, little fairy.”

I let out a defeated sigh and pushed my muffin around on my plate. I wasn’t hungry. I worried for Simon and the letter we would bring back. I decided I would read it, but only if Simon was with me. He’d been with me from the beginning, it was only fair he was there too. My entire support system should be.

Dad wiped his mouth. His wings fluttered behind him when he pushed away from the table. “Right, let’s get going. I’ll see if Osirus would have the guards be on the lookout, as well. That goat has given them all sorts of entertainment over the years.”

That was true. Their favorite part was when Simon climbed up to the highest part of the palace and started screaming for help.His voice echoed for miles, and they had to make sure not to scare him or he would have fainted and fallen to his death.

Silly Simon.

“Thank you,” I said when Mom finally stood up from the table.

She clapped her hands together and her eyes softened. She opened her mouth several times but before anything could be said, Dad pulled her arm and nodded his head toward the door.

Valpar had me on top of his shoulders as we walked our way back through the forest to the cave. I continued to look around for any signs of Simon. I called out to him with no answer back. My shoulders slumped further, and I knew the longer it was that we didn’t find it…the least likely we would find him.

It was like in those mystery books from Earth. If you don’t find them within the first forty-eight hours, you are less likely to find the missing person.

What if he fainted into a puddle and he drowned? What if he got his head stuck in a bush somewhere? What if he really didmeet a lady goat and didn’t know what to do? I didn’t teach him about the birds and the bees yet! He’s just a baby!

Valpar’s hand wrapped around my leg and tugged on the leash he had tied around my waist. “Female, if you squeeze your legs any tighter around my head, I will think you want me to stop for a snack.”

I released my legs that were, in fact, squeezing his head like a giant melon and let go. “Whoopsie, sorry.”

“We will find him. I know it. I will begin tracking him once we grab our supplies.”

“Do you have a good nose, like wolf shifters? Do you get on your hands and knees and sniff around?”

Valpar scoffs. “No, I do not sniff around like a dog. Unlike shifters, I use both scent and tracking abilities. I check for breaks in branches, drops of fur, foot—or in Simon’s case, hoof prints.”

“You know a shifter would take offence if you called them a dog,” I said playfully.

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