He looks panicked now, and I tilt my head in confusion. Is he less comfortable with the half-humanoid, half-shark than with the giant animal? That seems very odd. I do not understand why that would be. “Are you okay? I did not expect you to jump in, but I feel very pleased that you trusted me enough to do so.”
The little demon looks around, then bites his lip as he frowns. “I…”
“Tell me. I will not judge you if this form is difficult for you to be around?—”
“No!”
I blink at his vehement response. “Okay. But you appear to be close to panicking, and I do not want that. Perhaps I went too quickly and you need me to slow down.”
Kit makes a frustrated sound and then he swims backward away from me as he rakes his lower lip through his teeth. Once I see he’s treading water well, even in our demonic spring, I float quietly while he gathers his thoughts. Finally, he gives me a sad expression, and it makes my heart stop in my chest. “Slash, I have to tell you something. I’ve been hiding something, and well… in this situation, I won’t be able to do that anymore. I… I haven’t toldeveryoneyet because I need to trust them a lot to feel safe doing it. And, um… I feel like I can tell you now.”
My visage melts fully into humanoid as I look at him in concern. Whatever this is, it’s very important to him, and I need my judgement to be unclouded by my animal so I can respond. “As long as it’s not that Jasper was right about you being a spy for Darkstar, I do not believe it will change anything.”
He blinks and shakes his head, his short hair flipping water at me as he does so.
“No, no! Not that—neverthat.”
I grin toothily, relief flooding me yet again as I look at him. “Thank fuck. He would have been completely obnoxious if his ridiculous claim were true. No one would have been able to be around him for at least a decade without that coming up. I’m not prepared to live through something that irksome once more.”
Kit frowns, arching a brow. “It’s happened before?”
“We’re ancient, little demon—manythings have happened before. But yes, we have disagreed on additions to the caliphate in the past who did not turn out to be suitable. Unfortunately, the prince is right more often than he’s wrong, and he is not a gracious winner.”
“Shocker,” he says as he grins a bit. “But that isn’t the secret, and I’m going to hold you to the promise that nothing else will be a big deal.”
I shrug. “I would not have said that if it were not true. Tell me your secret.”
“I’m not a guy.”
My brows furrow, and I consider that for a second before I shrug again. “Okay.”
“That’s it?Okay? That’s all you have to say?!” Kit’s eyes widen as he gives me a genuinely surprised look, and I meet his gaze without guile.
“Yes. Did you want me to have a more dramatic reaction or be upset?”
The puzzled expression only gets worse, and suddenly, he’s darting at me in the water until we’re within centimeters of one another. “You do realize I mean… biologically, right? Like I’m a girl? With boobs? And… other things.”
I snort before I can stop it, and Kit frowns harder. Once I am back in control of myself, I look down at him earnestly. “I don’t know why you think I would be upset about this. More concerned, yes, and definitely many things make more sense than they did before, but… I am absolutely not mad in the slightest. Curious how and why, maybe, but… not mad. No matter what physical features you possess, you belong to our caliphate, and that is sacred.”
“Oh,” he says, and his chin drops as his eyes fix on the murky waters of the spring. “That makes sense, I suppose. I’m a… brother or I guess… a sister now? So you’re good with me because we’re all bonded and stuff.”
Kit being a girl has not made his reactions and emotions any easier to decipher.
“Little demon, that’s not why it’s okay, nor is what makes more sense to me.” His eyes skate up my chest to my face, and he waits for me to continue quietly. “Knowing that you are a girl makes the pull from my shark and my demon toward you classifiable. I have not been attracted to men prior, and you drew them so completely. Now I understand why every ounce of my focus cuts to you the moment you enter a room or speak. I would have adjusted eventually were younota girl, but this ismuchless to figure out.”
“Huh?”
He looks confused, and I chide myself internally for being unclear. “Kit Camponella, my animal and my demon find you mesmerizing, and since I have not been attracted to men before, I was very confused. I would have learned the right things and followed my instincts had you been male, butnotbeing male is much less confusing to me.”
“Slash, are you saying you wanted to kiss a boy and didn’t know what to do about it?”
“I suppose that is accurate, no matter how odd it feels for you to say it out loud.”
Kit ducks his head and murmurs, “Would you like to kiss a girl instead?”
I have the feeling some of my brothers have been doing more than studying with our femme in disguise, and I’m going to thump them.
Together
