Page 59 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

No fae royalty.

No…Pila and Terra.

“Hush,” Alexios grumbles at his sister before we make it far past the entrance. Burying his fingers into Andromeda’s hair, gripping her skull, and holding her at arm’s length, he stops her from throwing a hug around his waist.

“Xios,” Pollux says from where he’s sitting with Kassandra on one of the couches, a possessive hand on her thigh.

Alexios lets a smile bare his pearly teeth. “Long time no see. I’ve been charged with apologizing for my absence.”

Pollux arches a brow. “Have you now?”

Grace incarnate, he flourishes his free hand toward me. “Quite so. My soulmate claims I’ve worried you. As though, if my presence were desired, devices that could request such a thing don’t connect us in any way.”

Pollux grunts. “Your apology is going poorly.”

“Possibly since I never so much as started it.”

“A deciding factor, to be sure.” Lifting his hand, Pollux rubs his eyes. “You could have told us what Zahra was to you. Our concerns wouldn’t have applied to your soul’s other half. We only sought to ward you off toying with Kassandra’s friend for the—” He swears. “—of it.”

“I didn’t realize what she was to me when we first met. Compared to how long you had to wait…I wasn’t even old enough to recognize the sensation.”

“Daddy doesn’t care about stuff like that,” Andromeda chirps, throwing her weight up and wrapping her legs around Alexios’s arm. “We’re all happy for you.”

Alexios attempts—fruitlessly—to shake his sister off him. “This is a sensory nightmare, tiny monster.”

“Punishment.”

“Meda,” Pollux murmurs.

She slinks off Alexios’s arm with a pout. Big blue eyes resting in pools of black sclera, she peers up at him—to no avail. When her attention flicks to me, brightness overwhelms her. “Zahr-Zahr! We’re going to besisters! When are you and Yama-nii-nii getting married? Will you have aproperwedding? Are we going to meet your family? Will they get to know what we are like Mrs. Role’s parents?”

“Whoa there. That’s a lot of invasive questions…” My eyes drift towardKassandra Role, and I try not to read into the way she’s watching me as I deflect. “I’ll let Xios explain that we aren’ttogethertogether. He’ll do a better job of it than me.” To escape being a bystander inthatconversation, I lift my hand toward Ollie, AKA the famous dolivers_not_trending. “Hey, buddy, did you get a chance to look at that email I sent you last week? I know service in Faerie can be spotty.”

Laughing, Ollie smiles, pulling at the tan spots scattered across his pale skin to create a dimple in one cheek. He threads his fingers into his sandy brown hair as I plop myself onto the other side of the couch he and his wife, Brittny, are cuddling on. “You sent me an email?”

Willow, perched on the window seat in Zylus’s arms, sighs, clicking aimlessly through movies on the wide screen TV. “As Ollie’s agent, his emails go through me.”

“Oh.” I give her my attention. “In that case, what’s the verdict?”

Willow’s eyes roll my way, then she melts deeper into her husband. “Your email was sweet. But it neglected to inform me how much your friend is willing to pay formy client.”

I blink.

Ollie blinks. “What’s…going on?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Willow comments.

I say, “I think Rogue’s budget for his game’s music is close to ten thousand.”

Willow straightens up off Zylus. “Dollars?”

“No, churros.” I throw up a hand. “What do you think we’re talking about?”

Willow brandishes a devious grin. “My client would bedelightedto work with your friend.”

Ollie’s brows knit. “Willoughby…did you just sell me for 10K?”

“Books are expensive. So are bookcases. And the addition of a library annex. Have fun making music for Zahra.”

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