“Then why wouldn’t August tell me anything?” she asked, her voice still wavering with tears. “What’s going on?”
“I promise I’ll explain when I get home,” he replied, glancing up to meet Kade’s eyes; but he looked just as uncertain as he felt. “It’s hard to explain. But I’ll call you as soon as I get home and we’ll get together, okay?”
For a long moment she didn’t answer, only the sound of her sniffling and breathing coming from the other end of the phone.
“Fine,” she finally snapped. “You’d better have a good explanation for all this, Florian.”
“I do, I promise,” he said, and she hung up. With a long sigh, he put the phone back in his pocket.
“Your friend?” Kade asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern. Florian nodded before leaning forward to put his head in his hands.
“God, I totally forgot to tell Nadia anything,” he groaned. “What am I going to say to her? All she knows is that I just ghosted her for a month. I’m a terrible friend.”
“That’s not true,” Kade interjected. “It’s not like you were on vacation. You had a lot going on.”
“I guess,” Florian replied bitterly. Thatwastrue, but it wasn’t as if he could really tell Nadia what exactly was going on. She had sounded hurt and suspicious—he could only imagine what she must have thought of him now. “What can I even tell her?”
For a long moment, Kade was silent. When Florian glanced back up at him, he was looking out at the ocean, a thoughtful expression on his face. For an instant he had the miserable thought that Kade was ignoring him, then he recognized the pondering look on his face. He had always been one to consider his words before speaking, Florian reminded himself. Kade wouldn’t ignore him.
“It’s up to you,” he finally settled on, and Florian sighed. It wasn’t exactly helpful. “It’s not that humans aren’t allowed to know, but... Even if you told her the truth, she might not believe you.”
“That’s what I’m worried about,” he groaned. “But I don’t know what a more convincing lie would be. Why would I have been gone for a month? Why wouldn’t I have just texted her back?”
Kade shook his head. “Then tell her the truth. Whether or not she believes it is up to her, then.”
Florian managed a wry smile. “Yeah? Not gonna get me in trouble for tattling to a human?”
“What’s tattling?” Kade asked, and Florian laughed. “And anyway, you’re King of the Winter Court. You can’t get in trouble with anyone. There’s no one above you to get you in trouble.”
Florian wrinkled his nose. It was a blessing and a curse, he supposed; but at that moment he hated the thought of being a king. “Not when we’re on Earth,” he sighed, turning away to look out at the ocean. “I’m just a regular guy here.”
Kade did not respond, but instead put one arm around his shoulders, a quiet gesture of comfort. Florian kept his eyes on the horizon as they sailed and watched the light of the sun flickering off the dark blue of the ocean, choppy waves rising up in their wake as the ferry made its way toward the mainland. It had been a marvel to walk along the ocean’s surface in the Winter Court, but he still liked the Earth’s ocean better. He had spent all his life just a few blocks from the beach. The ocean was familiar, welcoming, safe—everything the Veil wasn’t.
Before he realized, Florian began to doze off, until Kade gently shook his shoulder, startling him awake.
“Sorry,” he said softly. “We’re here.”
He stumbled to his feet, taking the backpack from Kade’s hand. Together they disembarked, and they were truly on their own.
