Page 10 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

“Clearly, that’s obvious. Walk me through what’s going tohappen, prioritizing when I’ll get to bring my baby home.”

He takes a step forward. “First…I’ll get my payment. Then, you may enter Faerie as soon as you’d like; tonight, even, if that suits you. There’s a trod a minute from here that connects to one of Castor’s gardens.”

“Oneof? How many does he have?”

“I am still ascertaining an answer to that question myself.”

I swallow. “Go on.”

He takes another step closer. “I will introduce you to Castor. He already knows about you and why you’ll be there.”

“Don’t you think you were a bit too confident I’d agree to your outlandish demands if you’ve already mentioned me to him?”

“I’m here at your request, aren’t I? One might assume I was not overconfident at all.” He lifts a gloved hand toward me, with all the grace of an escort. “Shall we?”

My expression hardens. “I want more details before I give youeverything. Like…what does the trod near here look like? What does it feel like to enter a trod? How far is the walk to Castor’s palace from his garden? Will we need to plan ahead on bringing baby supplies back with us, or should I get those first? What expectations will Castor have if he assumes I’m taking care of the childforhim and not yoinking it away entirely?”

“How fae of you to desire clear steps. Very well, I shall oblige you with details. The trod is positioned between two bushes…” Alexios relays the answers to my questions in remarkable depth—laying even the floor plan of Castor’s palace out. When he’s finished, he smiles. “Will there be anything else, snowflake?” His hand lifts again, opening toward me as a hungry glint enters his eye. Wetting his lips, he closes in. “Or…are you ready to become mine now?”

My heart pounds. I don’t move as his hand pauses a centimeter from my chin.

The hunger in his eyes dampens as his lips part. With stark delicacy, he traces a single gloved fingertip down the curve of my jaw. “Tell me…while you can still lie…that you’d like to be mine. Before I own your every whim and fabricate your desires to suit me…say you want me.”

In a final moment of pitiful weakness, a shudder plunges into my lungs.

Awareness overcomes Alexios’s desperation, and his confidence falters. “Zahra, are you unwell?”

Forcing a breath down, I grab his collar, twist my hand around the knot of his tie, and drag him down to lock our eyes. “Alexios Vox,” I hiss. “I claim you as my soulmate. From now until eternity,youaremine.”

His skin blanches when I release him andmarchtoward those two bushes he mentioned before, the ones that mark the entrance intoone ofCastor’s gardens.

“You—” He chokes on his own words.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Venom laces my voice as I cock a look at him over my shoulder and toss the long, dark half of my hair back. “You’re my recommendation letter. And if you get any ideas about goingoff script, I’ve scheduled a mass email that will send all the sensitive information you’ve told me about theVillain Protection Programto just about everyone I know in your circle. Including Pollux. Who I called on my way home from dinner in order to get some information aboutsoulmates.”

Alexios’s expression disintegrates into darkness. “You’re blackmailing me?”

I smile and resist the urge to flutter my lashes. “Tit for tat, pretty boy. I’m a professional gamer and teacher’s assistant. That is to say, I’m used to handling children, and you should have thought twice before trying to play me.”

Chapter 3

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Mybaby.

Castor is exactly what I expected, and exactly not.

He’s handsome, obviously, with amazing cheekbones that match his regal height and wicked grace. He’s wearing all black, from his hanfu-style robes to the strip of cloth tied around his eyes. The night-dark attire contrasts his long white hair and thoroughly porcelain skin.

Head lolling against the obsidian throne on the dais in front of where I’m standing in this dimly-lit ballroom, he murmurs, “Xios, what is the matter with you?”

At my side in the empty, vast room made of ebony pearl, Alexios smiles. Viciously. “Nothing I can share at this exact moment.”

“You’re angry.”

“Oh, yes. Quite pissed.”

If Castor weren’t rocking a fussing bundle in his arms, I might have the heart to be more smug, but, from here, all I can do is stare at navy swaddling clothes and listen to the little ent boy whimpering.

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