He looked startled for a moment, and then he starting laughing uproariously, hunching over and holding his stomach. I pursed my lips at him. It hadn’t been that funny.
I ignored him and looked at the chips in my speckled bronze nailwraps and decided I needed to do a new nailwrap soon. I had a sparkly blue one with moons and stars that I thought would be appropriate.
Rhys’s laughter died down, and he winked at me. “We’re going to be pals, you and I.”
“And you know this, how?” I mean, I wasn’topposedexactly. I could use a friend.
He smirked. “It’s written in the stars.”
“Well, okay then. Nice to meet you, friend.”
* * *
Rhysand I spent all of my exile (resting from my almost death) in my room getting to know one another. He never once looked at his watch, or seemed to lose focus on the conversation that was flowing. By the end of the evening, I felt like I’d known him my entire life. He was funny and charismatic, but also kind of dorky, especially for what I imagined an elf should be. He was a star elf. An elf that could harness the power of the stars, and use it magically.
To me, it sounded crazy.
I mean, harness the power of the stars?
Uh-huh.Sure. Even though he’d done something glowey in the shower to shave with, it didn’t mean he had the power of the stars at his disposal.
He just smirked at me and let me have my disbelief.
He’d set up a nail station, and was putting my moon and star nailwraps on like a pro.
“Done this for many girlfriends?”
He looked sad for a moment. “I don’t really date.”
“Ever?”
“Are you interested?” He perked up, and paused what he was doing to waggle his eyebrows at me.
“You wish!”
He smirked and went back to filing the excess nailwrap down around my thumb. “I have a broken heart that hasn’t mended yet. I’m not ready to date again.”
I squeezed his hand with my free one. “Sorry, Geezer. Broken hearts suck, or so I’ve heard.”
He ignored my lack of previous social life and sputtered a laugh, lifting the nail file so he didn’t do permanent damage to me. “Geezer?”
I shrugged. “It fits, right? You’re like eight hundred and ninety-nine?”
He scowled at me. “One hundred and forty-one, smart aleck. If I were human, I would be in my thirties. Still the prime of my life.”
I smiled. “I stand by Geezer. And so you shall be named.” I picked up a pen off the table, and tapped both his shoulders, and then the crown of his head like I was knighting him.
He laughed, a goofy grin on his face. “You’re a little weird, you know that, right?”
“All the best people are.” I was a firm believer in this.
I grabbed my virgin piña colada that Henri had sent me and took a long sip through the curlicue straw. “Did you know they can make anything in the kitchens?”
He nodded. “We’re doing a movie after, right? We should order dinner and snacks.”
“Henri gave me his cell number earlier. He told me to text him what I wanted for dinner tonight since he knew I’d be resting in my room.” I pulled out my cell phone and prepared to text the chef. “What do you want?”
He moved to my index finger, clipping the excess nailwrap and filing the jagged ends. He shrugged. “I can eat just about anything.”
