Page 70 of Falling in Love with A Tiny Bat

Brittny’s expression twists as her mouth falls open.

Sneering at the spinach, Alexios continues, “I don’t need any more siblings.”

The tense silence that sweeps into the parlor is not one my “powers of extroversion” can remedy. Understanding that, under different circumstances, Alexios would have swallowed Meda whole is…really quite harrowing. On some level, I knew that faeries from Faerie held opinions outside the constraints of human sensibilities, but—

Wait.

No.

Ollie was born and raised in Faerie.

He looks horrified, too.

This is not normal behavior.

Recovering from his tiny bite of spinach, Alexios scans the room. “What?”

Ollie attempts and seemingly fails to reply.

Alexios arches a brow at me.

I smile, prettily, and steal a bite of cheese off his plate. “I don’t think casually discussing the murder of potential siblings is apropos dinner conversation, dear.”

“Your fears are not the sort I wish to persist long enough to gain a consciousness of their own…darling.” Lifting his hand, he wipes a bit of sauce from the corner of my mouth onto his glove, then holding his hand above the white dish in the center of his plate, he lets the fabric dissipate, releasing the drop back into the bowl.

My heart stammers in response to whateverthatjust was. Mercy. Excuse my running rampant hormones. My face might be marinara sauce red.

Brittny’s eyes gleam. “It seems you both get along well.”

Heart jerking, I rip apart my calzone, fish out the spinach, and trade with Alexios for more of his bread and cheese, if only to get my eyes off him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Alexios, smiling, says, “What pretty humanity you employ, lover.”

“We arenot—” I choke when my eyes slash to his again, getting stuck in the way he’s looking at me. My poor heart stumbles. I level my tone. “We are not lovers.”

He watches me, smiling, then says, “Anyway, I got a picture of the boogeyman. Who wants nightmares tonight?”

“You didwhat?” I blurt, in unison with Ollie.

Brittny appears too shocked for words.

“Well, it seemed the smart thing to do at the time.” Setting his food aside, Alexios angles his hips so he can get his phone out of his pocket.

My stomach twists, heart echoing pounds in my gut. Before he can pull up his photo app, I grip his arm. “I think that’s enough joking.” I don’t want to see. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it if my boogeyman looked anything like…him. Closing my eyes, I regain my composure and smile at Brittny. “Any updates about the book you’re publishing?”

She gasps, and her excited ramble brightens the whole room, almost washing all memory of my nightmare away.

Chapter 18

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I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.

DaniBird153: Sorry for disappearing on you like I did…

I’m stretching after a successful Wednesday night stream, thinking about nothing other than getting out of the silver wig I’m in, when Dani’s message comes through, setting my heart tumbling into stilted motion.

Dani.

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