Page 58 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

I speak up, reiterating, “Castor, do you intend for me to keep Ash or not?”

“Who knows? Do you think snakes are cute?”

My lips purse. “Yes.”

He relaxes. “Truly? You aren’t exploiting your humanity right now?”

“I follow a little white hognose snake named Marshmallow. Would you like me to bring up receipts?” I regain my composure, move away from Alexios, and open a new tab on my laptop.

“No,” Castor says, “I trust you.”

My fingers freeze before I can type anything into the search bar. Castor…the villain in this story…trusts me? For why?

“Hognose,” Alexios muses, lips curling into a wicked Grinch-like smile. “As inpig nose? Like what manybatshave?”

“Why can’t you let me have this?” Castor snaps, exasperated.

“Because, she’s mine.”

My eye twitches.

“Yet, she’s raisingmybaby.”

Why am I in the middle of this? Why are they fighting like children? Either of them, I’m fairly sure, could bring about the collapse of an empire. These are both grown faeries. I require their emotional maturity in order to feel safe.

Alexios recoils. “One day, we’ll have a baby of our very own, and th—”

“Xios.” Iron-firm Castor’s voice echoes in my ears as my skin washes cold.

Alexios…wants…children?

Wordlessly, Castor stands. “I apologize. It seems I may have overstayed my welcome. I’ve learned previously that movie night begins at eight. I shall arrive here at seven.”

Forcing sound past my closing throat, I start, “I never—”

“Don’t fight me. I may not favor children, and Ash may hate me, but I will be a part of his life while he grows up…in your care.” Lifting his hand without looking my way, Castor sinks his fingers into my hair. “He is your son, Razah. Yours. And as he is a member of my kingdom, so are you. Know in good faith that I treasure my subjects. Beasties as they may be, life…is precious.”

I don’t know why, but a tear traces down my cheek.

The ghost of Castor’s hand lingers, long after he disappears.

Chapter 15

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Assimilate. Assimilate.

“Yama-nii, Yama-nii, Yama-nii-nii!” Andromeda dances around Alexios as I put on my bestI’m not worried at allsmile. I can hardly find the nickname mashup ofyamachichiand the affectionate Japanese word forbig brothercute while my mind is back home, with Ash and a man who needs to stay blindfolded or risk turning people to stone.

With any luck, any of the fae here who cansensemy worry—through magic or scent—will come up with something wholly mundane to justify it.

If anyone asks, I am prepared to blame my anxiety on Dani.

I haven’t heard from her since Monday, even though I sent several follow-up messages asking if she was okay and offering to talk more whenever she was comfortable.

I…am really worried about her. I wonder if Cael and Alana will be here tonight. Kass tells me that sometimes they’re too swamped with work to come by…but Cael might know what different sorts of creatures sound like through the phone? At least then I’d know what kind of faerie she might be with.

Scanning the room, I locate Willow and her vampire cat husband, Zylus; Brittny and Ollie, the werecanines—which are fae able to shift into any canine form—and Kassandra and Pollux.

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