Page 5 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

“Ideally, that is the goal. As a member of PrincessAlana’s program, I’m sure you can imagine that I’m not exactly in favor of Castor having collateral against her kingdom.”

Trying to maintain my emotions, I grip my arms tight over my chest. The fae can’t be trusted. I know that. Even theones born in brightness—known asseelie fae—can have ulterior motives. And Alexios, according to Andromeda, is an unseelie fae called ayamachichi. His kind is known for thievery. Of emotions, souls,babies. On top of that, his words just now were indirect, which means they could be thread with half-truths intending to manipulate me. I need to tread carefully. “I want to talk to Alana about this before I agree to anything.”

“Gladly. I will arrange a time for you two to meet and go over details.”

“Also, this ent is ababy. Pila’s thirty-something and not strong enough to drop her natural glamour in front of me. Is this infant different somehow? How would I take care of a baby I can’t see?”

Alexios smiles, teeth pearly white and threatening. “You are aware ofmyage and that I am capable of dropping my glamour, yes?”

“The proof doth stand before me.”

“I can grant you the ability to see past fae glamourandenter Faerie without going mad on the realm’s magic.”

My eyes narrow. “At what cost?”

“Everything.”

My heart twists. “Everything?Alana told you to come here with thisofferand takeeverythingfrom me?”

“Let’s just say I have my own interests in these schemes, and she is not at liberty to set the price for my assistance. You will need the ability I can provide. I want everything in return.”Morning light from my window glints in his eyes. “So, the real question left is: how badly do you want to save a baby?”

Chapter 1

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Pretty effin’ badly.

The next day

When Alexios left my house yesterday, I expected that I’d spend the next few weeks anxiously praying for the little ent baby while I waited for Alana to get in touch with me.

After all, despite the fact Alana and I met once at a movie night hosted by one of Kassandra’s new friends and once when she helped Kassandra out with our school’s Christmas party last year, sheisa princess. And a princess is a government leader.

And governments are responsible for the DMV wait times.

Clearly, the fae government in Prince Cael and Princess Alana’s kingdom has got something together, because here we are, at Ichiban Ramen for dinner, just over thirty hours later.

“How famous are you?” Alana asks after our waiter, Jaxson, leaves with our drink orders.

Well, that’s an odd segue after our initialhellosout front. “What do you mean?”

She twirls a finger in the air. “The entire restaurant knows you. Three othercustomersgreeted you before we sat down. Is the YouTube gaming career you mentioned last time we met more popular than you let on?” Her deep hazel eyes sparkle as she scans the vaguely Asian-inspired reds and golds, cheap lucky cats, plastic bamboo planters, and paper lanterns. “Or maybe you’re one of the regulars? We did also rant about anime for a while. I’ve spent so much time in Faerie since I moved out here, I didn’t even realize there was a noodle place in Mountain Vale. I thought we had to go a town over to the sushi train.”

“Kitsune Sushi Bar?”

She lights up. “Yeah!”

“I love that place.” I slap the table. “Their inari avocado rolls are my absolute favorite. They don’t even offer inari here.”

Beaming, Alana bounces in her booth. “Willow, B, and I headed out that way about a month ago. Kass said she couldn’t come because of cross contamination, but she almost invited you. Unfortunately, it was a streaming night.”

“Bummer.” I click my tongue. I would havelovedto go with the faerie people to the sushi train. “Right now, I stream three nights a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.Anyother night, I’m in. Just…okay, maybe not some Fridays, either, because the LARP crew comes by once a month on a Friday. But give me a week’s notice, and I will clear my schedule for sushi.”

Alana’s eyes lift toward the small light dangling over the table. Calculations flicker through the deep green shades of her irises. “Isn’t today Monday? Do you need to be back by a certain time for streaming?”

“Nah. I canceled tonight’s stream.” My phone has been blowing up ever since I posted the news on Leopard, Twitch, and YouTube. The moment Alana’s message about being able to meet me came through, I stopped everything I was doing and cleared my day.

I have been sitting on my couch, scrolling through short-form content, and checking the time every three minutes, while absently reassuring followers and online friends that I am not dying just because I canceled a stream.

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