Page 53 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

He swears, whips his back toward me, and braces himself against the counter. His long braid falls over his shoulder as he trembles.

I roll my lips into my mouth in an effort not to laugh at him. Whatever is going on in his body at the moment, it’s probably physically painful to experience. Poor guy. I really shouldn’t abuse him like this. “Are you going to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or what? My arm is getting tired.”

A shaking finger rises. “W-wait just one second. I’m so conflicted.”

“Five, four, thre—”

His mouth wraps around my fork, pulling the morsel off, and I get to watch the fireworks in his expression go frompop-ittosuper shell. A visible shudder barrels through him.

My mirth rises and overflows in ways that might suggest I am not a good person and God is not proud of me.

Alexios’s eyes water. His mouth moves, then he’s hunching over the sink. “Why is it spicy?” he croaks.

Laughter bursts out of me before I clamp my hand to my mouth and remember this is an actual, literal disorder, and I should be imprisoned. “Are…” I swallow the giggles committing mutiny in my chest. “…are you okay?” My eyes are watering now, too. I take a breath and repeatit’s not funny, it’s not funnyin my head. But I am just really a rotten example of a human being. Can I blame the fae blood in me? Or…do I have to take responsibility for my own actions? Ew. “The tang is probably thevinegar in the ketchup?”

Eyes narrowed, he scrubs a dish cloth against his mouth and mumbles into it. “How are we soulmates?”

“Maybe we’re like that one nursery rhyme with the thin husband and the fat wife. I forget their names. Rhymed withsplat, I’m pretty sure.”

He blinks, slow. Gathering himself enough to straighten while I merrily go about enjoying my after-school snack, he says, “That almost sounded like an acceptance to our having a future matrimonial relationship.”

I bark a laugh. “No, no. Absolutely not. I wouldnevermarry someone who treats their mother so poorly without a good reason. And you can’t have a good reason, because Kass is my friend and has never done a bad thing in her life.”

“Have you not tortured me enough?”

I grin. “I dunno. Want another bite?”

“Cruel goddess of pain and suffering. With what offerings might I appease your infernal bloodlust?”

“Go to movie night and talk to your parents. I’ll stay here and take care of baby.”

He arches a brow. “And if they ask why you’re not with me? I cannot lie. And if you give me lies to say, Pollux will catch on to my awkward language immediately.”

I scoop up more eggs and ponder.

Alexios’s nose wrinkles as he removes his gaze from me.

“Xios,” I murmur, “have you eaten today at all?”

His gaze flicks to me, then off. “I ate yesterday.”

“See, in these here parts, we call that anoto my question.”

“This body will last weeks without sustenance so long as I suffer the sensation of imbibing fluid. I am almost growing used to it, you know? Water is…consistent. And cool. It staves off the hunger. I’m even gaining a grotesque appreciation for the way it moves down my chest and into my stomach.”

Setting the rest of my food down, I grab a cup, fill it with water at the fridge, add a couple ice cubes, and take a gulp. My brows jump as the cool sensation rides down my throat and into my chest before landing like a ripple in my stomach. “My dear good brother in Christ,whyare you paying that much attention to what happens after you swallow?”

“Are you suggesting there’s a way to…to turn it off?”

“Have you not mastered dissociation?”

His mouth opens and closes. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing to master?”

“Well, frankly, sir, which is worse? A little bodily disconnect, or starving to death.”

The darling proves that his origin story wasAlana’s depressionwith the way his contemplation takes several long moments.

“Xios.”

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