Chapter 27
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Movie nights and stolen babies…
Half the people in Willow's living room can smell my anxiety, so once again if anyone brings it up, I'm ready to pin my duress on the days it has been since I last spoke with Dani. It's not exactly a lie . I am growing violently concerned; however, to be certain most of my current stress stems from the fact Pila and Terra are at movie night this week.
It's been two weeks since the end of school, and only a handful of days since I started feeling like a person again. Xios has been acting a little weird since Saturday night, so I think maybe handling a sick me and Ash did a number on him.
As it stands, presently he's a tiny bat, hanging upside down from the large circle zipper ring on my leather jacket. All curled up, he rests against my heart while I look down at baby Terra and remind myself—over and over—that I did not steal her brother.
I am not in cahoots with a villain.
I do not possess oceans of guilt regarding the secrets and the half-truths.
Unfortunately, the moment I let my thoughts slip from denial, I remember that Castor is babysitting for me right now, and I'm almost positive no one in this room other than Alexios and I would approve of that information.
Sniffling, I wipe my eye so that a tear won't fall on Terra.
I don't know why I'm crying.
I have a baby now.
Must be the stress.
Either way, it helps make it seem like I don't have my own baby.
Which furthers the impending sense of dread associated with manipulation.
"She's beautiful," I whisper, basically croaking the words, like a manipulative, evil jerk, who should be taken out back and shot. I skim my thumb across Terra's soft, dark brown cheek. She's significantly darker than Pila. With the start of some exceptionally curly hair creating little swirls atop her head.
It reminds me of Ash.
But there's no blood between any of them.
And raising a sapling baby that sprouted from a mango is an adoptive mother situation no matter how you slice it, meaning we are literally the same and I am not withholding Terra's brother.
Dryads are not boys.
Ash wouldn't have existed solely under Pila's care.
He's my baby. And that's final.
Pila, seated on the floor in front of me in a flowing emerald gown smiles, exuding peace. "In other domains, the fae are known for robbing cradles. We could locate an infant for you."
"Pila!" Ollie crosses his arms, exasperated. "We shouldn't steal babies."
Pila's green eyes widen as she pushes the dark curtain of her hair back over her long ear. "Why not? We'll find one in need of a better home. It will be simple. Like taking children from bad parents so we can give them candy."
Willow's eyes narrow, and she lifts a brow. "No, no, Ollie. She has a point. I mean, that's not the idiom, but she has a point."
While Ollie is busy considering that Willow condones child theft—even though Willow is supposed to be in the Villain Protection Program and know full well I already have a borderline-stolen baby—Cael sighs, folds his arms, and says, "I don't believe I can allow that level of meddling in human affairs. Also—" His attention fixes on me. "—given your fae blood and inevitable transformation into a full asteriai, raising a human baby is ill-advised. Unless, of course, you're willing to outlive them."
I sniffle. Again. And refrain from saying, Ha, yes. Good thing I found myself a faerie baby to steal instead of a human one.
Because, again, I did not steal him.
Alexios did.
But also he didn't.
Because all he took was a sapling, and a sapling isn't a baby, and it wouldn't have become a baby if Alexios hadn't taken it.
You can't steal something that wouldn't have existed.
That's silliness.
Terra smiles in her sleep, and I swallow—hard. "No, I don't think I'm willing to outlive them…"
"Children aren't too difficult to come by," Pollux grumbles from where he's sitting with his little family on the love seat. "With the right ingredients, I could try and make one for you."
" Daddy! " Andromeda exclaims, throwing a finger toward me. "Zahr-Zahr and Yama-nii-nii need to try and make one together . That's how it works. Right, Mrs. Role?"
Poor Kassandra opens her mouth, only to close it again and clear her throat.
I stare dead at her. "What are you teaching my innocent beans, Mrs. Role ?"
"Wow, look," Willow drones before Kassandra can reply. "Movies. What are we watching tonight on this rare everyone is here week?" Sprawling dismally, she pins her husband, Zylus, with a distressed look. "I need fewer friends."
He kisses her forehead. "We need a larger living room."
"With a sushi conveyor belt. For snacks."
"Brilliant." He kisses her forehead again, curling her up in his arms.
They are too cute. I think I'd gag if Alexios treated me like that in public. Tiny bat accessories are far more my speed. Probably because, from a young age, anything remotely considered Public Displays of Affection were vilified as temptation and sin .
Truly crazy how entire religious sects demonize expressions of love while claiming to follow a being made of the stuff.
Relinquishing Terra when she begins to wake up and whimper for her bottle, I pour my focus into my tiny soulmate, and not into looking at Terra's formula. Which is somewhat milk colored. Alexios wouldn't let me feed Ash poison if it were hurting him. Ash is an unseelie ent. Terra is a seelie dryad. They are vastly different creatures. And, for all I know, she isn't even drinking milk like a normal baby.
Looks can be deceiving, right?
It doesn't help that Castor can both look like an evil tyrant and a harmless geek. If looks are deceiving, everything I've seen of him could be a lie and his character is a third secret option that no one knows about.
Alexios adjusts his position, drawing my attention down as Willow starts up a movie I've never heard of.
His little orange leaf nose pokes out from beneath his wings, and our eyes meet.
Much too adorably for a full-grown man, one of his large ears twitches.
He should really, honestly, and truly pick a lane.
He simply isn't allowed to be this cute and innocent when he's spent the past few weeks taking care of all my meals, the house, and a baby. I know bats are nocturnal, but that still means they're supposed to sleep at some point. Yet, he's maintained usual flawless grace in his every tiny limb as though sleep-deprivation isn't something he's ever heard of.
It's unfair.
The man barely eats, barely sleeps, and still has the nerve to be perfect all the time.
I wonder if it's because he has the body of a mid-twenty-year-old—which should just be coming to understand back pain—but the existence time of an infant.
Either that, or the fae are physically built different to such an extent basic needs are basic suggestions .
Who knows.
Inexplicably, I pet his small head and watch him snuggle toward my finger like a cat.
What a dreadful little monster…
Making matters worse, I think I'm really starting to like , like him.
He's a contradiction.
Useless, yet capable. Harmless, yet powerful. Mischievous, yet dear.
Childish and mature.
It's a balance I, growing up in the household I did, never got to achieve.
I existed in a constant state of contradiction, never knowing what the rules were or when they would change.
In contrast, Alexios's contradictions have yet to be wielded against me to progress his selfish agenda.
He came into existence in a state of safety. He's friends with the biggest threat I've been told about. He has known nothing but love since he stopped being a part of Alana. Even if he's no bright being, even if he sprouted from darkness and depression, he has still physically been met with nothing but kindness.
And it shows.
It shows in how the people of Cael's kingdom flock to him. It shows in how he interacts with Ash. And it shows…in how he's cared for me.
Maybe romance will always feel taboo. Maybe I'll never feel quite comfortable enough or… clean enough for it. But, steadily, I think I am at least opening up to the idea that I don't need romance if I'm going to accept love .