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I once found Quentin absently gnawing on a stick of butter while he was doing his homework. It would be terrifying, if it wasn’t so impressive.
I stand in loco parentis for Quentin in many ways, but I’m not his mother, and as long as he doesn’t starve or get scurvy, I’ve done my job.
“We would no more dream of refusing you an invitation than we would of dancing naked through a storm of glass,” said Tybalt smoothly.
Sadly, knowing where trauma comes from doesn’t magically heal it. Only time and effort can do that.
Gillian nodded. “Mass murder, very sad, and it’s why I’m not allowed to tell any of the other Selkies that their ‘Cousin Annie’ is secretly the actual sea witch from The Little Mermaid. I’m hanging out with Ursula on the regular, and I can’t even tell the other fairies about it.”
It was an old-fashioned thing, like it had been stolen from the set of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, with tall sails and a stylized mermaid on the prow. Only she wasn’t quite a mermaid: her body ended not in the long, scaled sweep of a fish’s tail, but in a tangled knot of tentacles, each one carved into an elegant spiral and colored the same coral red as her hair.
“You’re Sir Daye?” he asked. “Last time I checked,” I said. “Why?” “No offense, I beg, but I thought you’d be . . . well, taller. And larger. And terrifying. I expected substantially more in the way of teeth.”
“How much time have you spent desensitizing this kid to the idea that gods walk among us?” “I don’t know,” said the Luidaeg. “A lot. He follows Toby around, and she’s not great for nurturing a sense of self-preservation.”
“I met the other one, too,” said Dean. “The Daoine Sidhe Firstborn. I didn’t like her.” “Congratulations: you are now a member of a large and not at all exclusive club,” said Pete.
“My mother says the Lady bound Merlin in a tree for a thousand years because he was mean to her.” The corner of the Luidaeg’s mouth twitched. “That’s not quite how it happened, but you should listen to your mother. Mothers have many clever things to say, if you listen closely.”
The child wrinkled their nose. “You didn’t answer my question.” “I’m the motherfucking sea witch. I don’t have to answer your question.”
Only once the surface beneath our feet had shifted back to bare dock did Tybalt say, “That was impressively vicious of you. Had I not fallen in love with your ladylike charms long since, I think I might fall in love now, out of sheerest self-defense.”
“Believe me, that’s kinder than most of what I have to say about the Firstborn,” I said. “Truth,” said Tybalt. “My lady possesses a filthy mouth and a creative mind when it comes to describing our forebears.”
Self-sacrificing behavior from you, sure, I expect that, and we’ll loop back in a second, but why are you sending me after Pete? So we can drink mimosas and talk about how annoying our father’s other kids are? And his grandkids? Because believe me, you’re annoying on a level I doubt Oberon ever conceived.”
I’m a hero, remember? I didn’t want to be, but I am, and that means when a kid is alone and scared and in danger, it’s my job to try and make things better.
“That’s pretty normal for her,” said Quentin. “Her fiancé is going to be pissed.” “Not if it all washes off in the water,” I said. “There’s no need to tell Tybalt I got impaled.” “Again,” said Quentin. “Again,” I agreed.
“Please, no,” said Quentin. “I’ll jump into the ocean if we start acquiring extra Tybalts.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Where did you think all this blood came from? Blood Costco? It came out of me, when we had to pull your knife out of my body. You’ve already pissed me off today. Don’t make it worse.”
it’s the nature of cats to want more than we can have. If we were content to be content, we’d be little better than dogs, and what’s the use in that?
“My mother warned me of the cats who move like men,” he had said, before either of us could utter a word. “She said that one day you might come for me, as you came for my father. She said if I refused you, you wouldn’t take me. I refuse you. Go away. My pets are sleeping, and I’ll not have you waking them.”
Were all humans this obsessed with the testicles of others? I couldn’t plant my butt any more firmly on the floor of my cage, so I settled for flattening my whiskers and giving her my most imperious glare.
was sorry for the regret she’d probably feel when Willis and Helen failed to reappear with me, but the people in that building were far too interested in the state of my testicles, and I didn’t want to give them any opportunities to threaten them. I liked my testicles. I liked them exactly where they were, either between my legs or beneath my tail, depending on the form I was in, and a part of me I had no interest in losing either way.
