Chapter 10

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Nothing makes sense, but movie night ever looms.

"So the moth faerie princess learned she actually was living her best life, thriving, and only occasionally leaving her lane to give kidnapping advice to possibly evil, but maybe just misunderstood, faerie princes. She took her prescribed drugs when she was supposed to, and never ever stopped singing. In that way, she lived—really, truly lived—ever after, sometimes happily, sometimes sadly, but always fully. The end."

I…might be crying.

Swallowing hard, I stare at Willow as she stands from the head of the circle of children utterly fixated on her story, closes a book that one thousand percent did not contain whatever it is she just shared, and fixes her attention dead on me.

My heart jumps as she glides from the throngs of kids and silently finds her way to where I'm waiting by a window.

Folding her arms, she looks up at me. "Yes?"

"Um. Hi. Willow Harding, right? I'm Kassandra Role, Andromeda's teacher? We met once a few months ago when you enrolled her at Noble Faith?"

"Yes?" Her head tilts. "Is everything all right with Meda? She's not biting people, is she?"

Why is that even a concern? Why is that the first thing the adult people in her life ask me?

"Um. No. It's just…I wanted to ask a couple questions?"

A perfect brow arches above Willow's fiercely dark eye makeup, then her black lips curve. "About the fae?"

Well, no. But now that it's been brought up… "Your story did seem remarkably similar to the ones that Meda brings to school."

Willow passes me and takes a seat at a table in the corner. Inexplicably, a black cat jumps from beneath the table onto her lap, then flops onto the wood in front of her. She scratches behind his ears as I take my seat.

"Does she get her stories from you?" I ask.

"I think we both just get them from the source content."

"What does that mean?"

She stares at me for several, long, uncomfortable moments. "Weird. Pollux doesn't seem like the type to be scared to tell you all the things. I wonder what his reasoning is." She sniffs. "I smell miscommunication. What has that unfortunate man done that has you hunting me down instead of talking to him?"

I take a deep breath and find my resolve. "Mrs. Harding, I'm here to ask about Meda's relationship with your husband."

"She doesn't have one. They've never met." She looks down at the cat. "Right?"

The cat jumps up onto her neck and mews in her ear.

"Yep. They've never met. Zy stays as far as he can from Pollux and his brood most of the time."

"Why's that?"

Willow chuckles. "Because, Pollux is the kind of spoopy Zy isn't allowed to hit. You know how cats can be. Natural-born killers. Either terrified or murdering. Pollux isn't a bad scary, so poor Zy can only be afraid."

My brows knit. "Mrs. H—"

"Call me Willow."

"Willow. Meda told me that she has a complicated relationship with your husband and her father doesn't want her talking about it. I don't really understand the full situation, by any means, but when you came to look at the school with her, it seemed like you genuinely cared. Please. If you know anything that can help me help her… I…" I clench my fist against the table. "I haven't been able to get any help from CPS. All I know is that she works late with her father, and—"

Willow, and her cat, are staring at me so horrified I bite my tongue. Willow blinks, shakes her head, and lifts her hand. She swears. "Wow. Okay. Zy?"

Her cat meows.

"Right. Okay. But, like—"

Her cat meows again.

"Okay, okay." Folding her hands together, Willow presses her fingers to her lips. "Kass. Where to even begin…" She watches me, eyes calculating for long moments. Finally, she blurts, "Zy's obsessed with me."

Her cat nods.

For some reason.

And my brain immediately reminds me that Andromeda says Zylus is a vampire cat.

But I shove that unhelpful and insane thought far, far away.

Willow continues, "Like, you don't even understand how little room there is in his brain for the kind of relationship you're assuming. This man forgets to eat but never forgets to feed me. It has been three days since my last outing without him. In that time, I don't think we've been outside the same room. We basically breathe each other's air. Against my will."

Her cat begins to purr and nuzzle her chin.

She ignores him in favor of leaning forward and splaying her hands. "He has issues." She flicks her fingers toward herself. "Me-centered issues." She snaps her fingers. "You know what? Just come to movie night. Bring Pollux and Meda. Let the crap storm hit the fan so they can clean it up and put your nerves at ease. Because, oh my word, no." She looks down at her cat. "My word, I thought you were bad in the way you handled things. And then Ollie was a little bit of a nightmare, but—" She curses. "—I guess we can't exactly rob Pollux of being the most disastrous nightmare of them all."

Her cat lifts its head and whines.

She shushes it. "Movie night is every Thursday at eight if you're good about time, seven if you aren't. Water and popcorn are always available. Snacks just appear. I live in the woods past downtown. Follow the sound of the chickens, and you'll get there. Pollux also probably knows the way. Even though he doesn't love me enough to visit. For legal reasons, that is a joke. Don't you dare add love triangle thoughts to this mess." She stands, and the cat melts off her shoulder to sit behind her on the floor. "I will see you then. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go punch Pollux in the face. Bye."

Her platform shoes pad past before I understand what in the world just happened.

?

Pollux stared at himself in the mirror. He'd been doing that a lot today, in between making Andromeda a lunch. After last night, he knew he had to reassess what happened during his first meeting with Kassandra in a little more detail, so he put together a few spells and viewed those moments in his own memory through a somewhat clearer mind.

She'd wanted Andromeda to have a lunch, so he'd made her a lunch and asked Alexios to drop it off earlier.

He would do nothing about what Andromeda chose to wear each day or keep her from drawing or tell her to stop sharing her life, but at least he could give her a lunch, then try to explain the reasons behind everything else in a way that a human who seemed to be rejecting what she had already been told might accept.

He could not undo the fact he'd mentioned autopsies in his first conversation with his soulmate. That would have to be something that remained forever unaddressed. Or perhaps he should address it just to clarify that he didn't kill anything for research. He had humane sources.

Would a human find it creepy that he had sources at all, though?

That was indeed the question…

Closing his eyes to block out the sight of the form he rarely ever wore outside the dream plane, he pressed his palms against his face with his nails pulled back to keep from scratching himself. He was utterly out of his depth.

If Kassandra didn't believe Andromeda's "stories" when she adored Andromeda, how was he supposed to tell her in a way that she'd believe him? Did he take her aside and change his form to this monstrosity? Or was she clinging to her humanity for other reasons?

She had seemed more real in her dreams than she allowed herself to act in real life.

He could not ignore the fact that sandmen were terrifyingly powerful creatures.

If Kassandra was subconsciously suppressing her faerie blood, it may be unwise for him to shatter the picture of her normal world. Also, if her hatred was linked to him in more substantial ways than he presently could decipher— Well, plainly, unlocking the kind of power she held might lead to his untimely demise.

And.

And, of course, the plausibility of that threat was not supposed to make his heart beat faster. It was not intended to make him want her more desperately. Unfortunately…however…it really did. Exactly how messed up did he have to be to feel excited in response to the concept of his woman fighting him to the death?

He was desperate to play with the sparks.

Dropping his hands, he looked in the mirror again.

He felt the burn of her lips against his cheek.

Pretty?

She had most definitely called him pretty.

On some level, Pollux knew that soulmates were crafted specifically for their other halves. He had not expected the bond to alter perception like that,though.

Heat rose, so he covered his cheeks with a claw, averted his eyes, and began pacing.

Perhaps he should create a comprehensive pamphlet for her? Maybe a presentation? An essay, at the very least? Some gentle, multi-step program to ease her in to all things faerie in a way that she would understand, accept, and not wind up hurt in the process of. Willow had mentioned wanting such a thing. Pollux was not above learning through others.

He and Kassandra were married—by human terms.

But that was another thing.

If she didn't believe he was fae and therefore could have no knowledge of the fact soulmates were a thing, if she hated him because she assumed he was mistreating Andromeda somehow, if there was no reason for her to assume his actions were explained with cultural differences, why had she accepted the marriage kitten?

Had she not known it was a marriage kitten?

She had to.

What adult human would provide another adult human with a kitten in private without it being a proposal? That was disgraceful! Inappropriate! A scurrilous attack on her integrity to even ponder a situation in which she was unaware.

What exactly did Pollux need to understand better?

Romance? Humanity? Women?

All the above?

She hated him. She thought he was pretty, like this, for some reason. She didn't believe he was taking care of Andromeda.

He kept returning to that revelation since her mind had forcibly kicked him out of her dream. That part hurt him the most.

If only he'd been able to pay attention properly and respond appropriately when they'd first met.

Her existence had blindsided him. Most of his life he'd been led to believe unseelie fae like him weren't supposed to have soulmates. But Cael got his, and then…then Pollux's appeared. Like a bomb. Dropped right into his heart.

It scrambled his brain. The amount of active research he had done in this field was zero. The amount of practice he could get with anyone else was zero. His only option was to fumble and make a fool of himself in front of his one and only soulmate as he figured things out.

Great.

This was the problem with being the one everyone else went to for help…

What was he supposed to do when he was lost?

Like an answer to his unspoken question, his senses pricked as Willow approached his home.

Shedding his more monstrous form in favor of the one he'd come to naturally hold in front of friends, he went out to greet her. He made it to the center of his balcony right as she plowed through his front door, ignoring every last haunted mansion detail he had woven into the glamour that protected his home from prying human eyes. Stopping in the foyer, she crossed her arms and looked up at him. A slight shudder shook her frame, but she got over it, opened her mouth, and—

Pollux beat her to it. "Dear, what does it mean when a woman accepts a marriage proposal but can't actually stand you?"

"It means she's being sarcastic. Please tell me you didn't propose to Kass while she thinks that you're horrifically abusing your child."

"I didn't know she thought that until last night, so I did propose, and she accepted."

Four minutes later, Pollux and Willow were sitting in the back parlor while Pollux did his best to explain the situation as well as he understood it. And, as far as he could tell, while Willow did her best not to laugh.

Once he was finished relaying the details, Willow cleared her throat, crossed her legs, and said, "Let me make sure I understand. You gave Kassandra a kitten. Because that is how humans get married. The one proposes by offering a kitten to the other, and the one takes care of the kitten until the other accepts it if they don't accept right away. Then—whenever the kitten is accepted—the two humans are wed."

"Is that not still accurate? It's been a part of the human culture since Viking times."

Willow leaned back against the couch. "No, no. You're absolutely correct. It is a tried and true custom that goes back hundreds of years. So much so, until modern times owning a cat was quite the scandal. Thankfully, we're moving past all that judgment. I suppose I just didn't expect you to go so fast."

"I didn't expect her to accept so quickly. I had prepared to take care of the kitten for months. I simply didn't know how else to explain the severity of my intentions in a way a human might easily be able to grasp them." His jaw rocked, and he massaged a muscle beneath his ear as he muttered, "I do not understand how to…flirt."

Willow pressed a hand against her mouth and nodded enthusiastically. "Mhm, mhm. Yep. I totally understand. Flirting is very weird when done intentionally. But, just…humor me, was telling her you liked her and wanted to get to know her better not an option?"

"Like is not the word I would use to describe how she makes me feel." The words left him harsh, raw. Like they broke him from the inside out. Pollux was tired. So tired. And the sun hadn't even set yet. He still had to take Andromeda hunting in several hours, once she returned from wherever it was she had gone after school. Given that he'd supplied her a lunch at school, she had not so much as come home for their family meal. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. Was it important to Kassandra that Andromeda have food at school every day? Family meals were important to him. "I do not know what I'm doing, dear. I am trying my best to be a parent, and I still don't think I know how to do that effectively. I was not expecting to need to learn how to be a lover any time soon, but the way I want to love her…frightens me."

Willow dropped her hand against the other in her lap and folded them together against the frills of her black dress. "Hey. It's okay. This kind of stuff doesn't have a rule book. If you're looking for advice, get to know her a little better. See if you can have neutral conversations. Let her see that you're not a monster."

"But I am."

Willow laughed. "No. You aren't. You're a goofball who has no idea how to open up to people. Kind of like our prince. It makes sense. Show me your friends; I'll show you your character, and all that."

He couldn't stop the weak chuckle that escaped him. "Never in all my life has anyone called me a goofball."

"Well, consider me honored to anoint you with the truth."

His head shook as he sighed and clasped his hands together between his knees.

Willow continued, "Meda told me how Kass shuts off the fear factor when she asked me to help her enroll in that school."

Pollux grunted. "Right. It is my understanding you were the one who helped her. I'm grateful you sidestepped my authority and asked no questions about why she wasn't coming to me directly to enroll her in a human school, given that I would not have let her."

"It sincerely sounds like you're being sarcastic, even though it can't be…" Willow smiled and extended her hand. "Yes, it's totally my fault you've found your mate. May I have a favor as thanks?"

"Don't push it, dear."

She chuckled, darkly. "Pila says securing favors is always worth a shot, but anyway…being frightened. That's new for you, isn't it?"

His eyes closed. "It gives me a different kind of respect for your husband and…Ollie."

"Hard not calling him the runt anymore, isn't it?"

Pollux huffed. "I respect when people embrace who they are meant to be. The least I can do is recognize his efforts and how he has grown past that title." He brushed his fingers over his hair and murmured, "I hope soon I will grow as well. I had thought myself desensitized to all sorts of terrors. Many feelings I am experiencing lately are foreign and uncomfortable."

"What exactly are you scared of?"

He could see Kassandra in his mind. Her smile had been different last night. Her laugh… He'd wanted to trap the sound forever. Her power, in complete obliviousness, had been absolute. She'd wrapped around his soul and eased every pain within the dream she had crafted.

It was a power so effortless Pollux knew his years of experience could never hope to attain similar vastness.

When his eyes opened again, he was staring down at the carpet beneath the coffee table between them. "I'm afraid I'll be no match for her."

"Ooh." Willow scooted forward in her seat. "What is she?"

"A dream…garbed in nightmares…and adorned with incomprehensible horrors."

"She sounds fun. I'm glad I invited the three of you to movie night this week. And every week following. Since now someonedoesn't have the excuse of scaring everyone in his vicinity if his soulmate is around."

Pollux's brain lagged as he lifted his gaze. "What?"

"I invited you, Meda, and Kass to movie night."

"You did what?"

A whiff of fear met him as Willow folded her arms. "Kass turns off the fear factor. You two can finally join the friend group. Movie night is where the found family rendezvous each week to cuddle and eat snacks. Be there or I will find her home address, drag her here, then drag you all into the woods myself."

Pollux reined the power of his presence in as well as he could on his own. His mind ran rampant, but when it came down to verbalizing the cacophony of thoughts, all he could do…was swear.