Page 30 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

Crossing his arms, he leans his shoulder against my doorjamb, angles his head, and arches a brow. “My angel, is it not more embarrassing to admit that than it is to admit you find me attractive?”

“First of all, I’m notyouranything, Xios.”

“A lie. You’remysoulmate, whether you like it or not. Soul pairs come in two, and there are no replacements.” His gloved hand unravels and splays. “While I’m thinking about it, may I have your soul tonight?”

Letting my tongue roam my cheek for a second, I flick my gaze up off his hand to his eyes. “How about no?”

“Pity.” His fingers close. “I could do such marvelous things with it.”

Acid rises in the back of my throat, and my stomach sours.

His smile tames and falls as his brows dip. “What did I say that troubled you?”

“You really have to ask?”

“Would you expect me to read your mind?” The way his eyes gleam makes me hesitate to reply with a quippedyes.

“Xios,” I begin.

He all butpurrs, “Yes?”

“With the correct…permissions…are you able to read my mind?”

He chuckles, darkly. “Now, what would give you that sweet little idea?”

“You know what’s not fun, Xios?”

“Bloodletting. Paper cuts. Meda’s homework.Eating greenbeans. Walking on nails. Broken pencils. Mushrooms. Cracked book spines. Dull knives—”

I interject, “Not knowing the rules to a game.”

His brows rise. “I provided you with a concise list of the rules to our game.”

“And, yet, I’m a prisoner to my ignorance where you, and most faerie matters, are concerned.” Extendingmyhand, I say, “May I have a guide to all thingsyamachichi?”

Crimson rises in his cheeks. “What an intimate request. I don’t find it veryprofessional gamerof you to ask for the cheat codes.”

“Cheat codes? How is knowing that I’m not accidentally going to give you firewall access to my braincheating? I don’t get respawn privileges here if I mess up. When you tried to trick me the other day, you didn’t ask for mysoul. You asked foreverything. That implies there are multiple pieces of me, beyond my soul, that can be sold to a creature like you.”

His eyelids lower, and he scans me, leisurely. “Aren’t you clever?”

“I try to be. Sometimes.”

“It’s cheating for you to know everything about what I am because I do not know everything about what you are.”

“Well, to be certain I can’t access any of the star nymph stuff and I’m pretty harmless in the human department.”

“Lies are remarkably far from harmless, Zahra. They can tear apart the very fabric of a universe. I know, because I can sense the ones that have left scabs on your soul. It takes everything in you these days not to reopen those still-healing wounds.”

I lean forward, much too close to his face, and mutter, “Dude. It’s comments like that one that really leave me needing some information. You have to see how unfair this is. I can’t sense anything about your soul or whatever icky scabs you’ve got.”

“Pardon you. My soul is pristine.”

“You are just further making my point.” Nudging past him, I pad through my bedroom and position myself at Ash’s crib. My sweet little boy has got a fistful of dirt. But of course he does.

He is still so very small…but he’ll grow before I realize what’s happening. Before I know it, he’ll be an entire person, with thoughts and feelings and wishes and dreams. And I’ll be responsible for guiding him through every twist and turn of this mess calledlife.

A thread of unease pulls taut in my chest, but I swallow the fear.

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