Chapter 15
Facing the Family
Juniper
I felt like I’d been run over by a semi-truck. I buried my face in the pillow, trying to pull myself together. A warm hand rubbed up and down my back.
Groaning, I pushed myself sideways and up to sit. Caspian perched on the edge of the bed, his brows furrowed and lips pursed.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“How are you feeling?” he said instead of answering my question.
My eyebrows shot up. “Fine. The time?” My tone was sharper than I meant it to be.
One corner of his mouth pulled into a smirk. “Glad toknow you’re feeling more like yourself.”
“What does that mean?” I grumbled, irritation and frustration bubbling up in my chest.
“That I love your fire, and I don’t like it when anyone tries to make you smaller or force you to be whatever they think is palatable."
His words reached into my chest and yanked on my heart. That cord between us tightened. No one had ever said anything like that to me. I felt like he was staring into me with x-ray vision, finding all the secret vulnerable spots and exposing them.
Would our connection be like this after I ended our magical marriage? Would he still be able to read me so easily and see the things I wasn’t even aware of myself?
The sadness I’d momentarily forgotten came crashing back over me, soaking into my lungs and filling me with a cold unease. His coat was laid over the back of the sofa in the other room, and soon I would ask my mother to take it and not tell me where it was. It was the only way I could think to lose it.
Voices drifted from the living room.
Oh, shit, more people are arriving.
“It’s ten?” I asked, sliding my legs over the side of the bed.
“Yeah,” Caspian said. “But Juniper, we need to talk.”
“I said not until after,” I snapped. Being angry was easier than being heartbroken.
“Fine. But you do not have to stay here any longer than you want to. If you feel like leaving, we will go. You don’t owe anyone an explanation or excuse,” he said, his eyes darkening.
“Of course,” I said, starting to reach for his hand but thinking better of it. Instead, I headed into the little hall bathroom to freshen up.
My mother’s drawling voice billowed into the room, followed by a higher voice—Daphne—and by extension, the cockwaffle Derek. There was no avoiding them.
Ignoring the wave of nausea and the cold numbness spreading up my hands, I walked back to the living room. Caspian stalked behind me, and I could feel the tension rippling through him. He needed to chill, because I had enough to worry about without an angry selkie starting a fight.
Although, I had to admit that seeing Caspian suckerpunch Derek was a new secret fantasy.
Not going to happen.
“Junie, there you are,” my mother crooned. “Someone needs to hand out the welcome bags as everyone arrives. They’ll be here soon!”
I resisted the urge to scowl. “Mom, I think they can pick their bags off the ground. I don’t really want to stand there passing them out for the next hour.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, darling. Oh, who is this?” Her hawklike gaze fixed on Caspian. One eyebrow arched, pretending to be surprised when we all knew Daphne wouldhave called her the moment we left the restaurant yesterday.
“Mom, this is Caspian, my boyfriend.”
He wrapped one arm around my waist, and some of the swirling chaos in my head quieted. My mother squinted at the hand he offered her, and he finally dropped it.
