He nodded and lifted an arm out of the water, twisting it this way and that as he looked himself over. “I used to be covered in them.”
“Really? Like head to toe?”
He nodded, seeming wary of telling me.
“Like everywhere?” I pointedly looked at the water obscuring his groin.
“No, notthere,” he drawled like I was being childish. “The palms of my hands, bottoms of my feet, and there were always bare skin, just not…this shade.” He frowned at his boring white-guy hand.
I felt a little giddy as I asked, “What color?”
“Blue.”
Yeah, I chuckled like a kid. He rolled his eyes.
“So is this you recovering?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps. Everything started fading about two years ago. I thought it might’ve been due to stress. I was told to relax.”
Well, that explained why he’d shirked his duties. If a little relaxation was good, why wouldn’t completely avoiding everything stressful be even better? He’d probably still been stressed out, but he’d buried it down deep over the last two years.
“Maybe I’ll stick around and distract you when things get too heavy,” I said. “Then you won’t get stressed and run away.”
“I didn’t—” He cut himself off and got rid of the frown on his face. “Fine.”
“At this point,” I said with a smile, “you have to know I’d just track you down and bring you back.”
A hint of a smile tugged at his lips. “Tie me up and have your wicked way with me?”
“I’ll do what I gotta do.”
He huffed a laugh and shook his head. The Solaris of a few days ago wouldn’t have been so easy to calm and accept. He really was changing for the better.
After that, we got to work actually bathing ourselves. It wasso niceto finally wash my hair and feel truly clean from top to bottom for the first time in days. A little part of me still felt guilty for using so much water, but oh, how I’d needed that.
In raiding his closet for something to wear, I realized that the Peter Pan outfits he and the boys had worn were like a royal’s version of super casual peasant wear. His normal clothing consisted of poofy-sleeved shirts, vests, something that I bet was called pantaloons, and knee-high hose. And though I was thicker than him, that only meant his clothes were slightly less poofy on me. According to him, I was still within the standards of fashion.
Thank goodness. I’d been so worried.
The shoes, though, those fuckers hadheels. I didn’t want to even attempt them, but how could I wear hiking boots with the rest of this fancy outfit? The shoes were a little tight, and I might break an ankle eventually, but I managed to get across the room in one piece a couple times.
“I’ll have them make you several pairs in your own size,” Solaris said as he opened the door for us to leave.
I carefully tottered over to him. “Maybe if they could make them without heels?”
He just smiled at me. I had a feeling that was a no. He was going to dress his man even if?—
Was that what I was now? Were we just going to be boyfriends? I wasn’t fae, wasn’t royal, and, well, wasn’t going anywhere. He’d walked me by everyone like I was his and that was the end of it. But neither of us had said anything. Did I need to ask?
And then I watched Solaris walk down the hallway in front of me and realized what those heels were doing to his calves and ass. Up and tight. Damn. Maybe heels weren’t a bad thing.
I’d think about the rest later.
An older woman with an extremely tight bun on top of her head and who wore… Well, she kind of looked like a nun without the hat part of the outfit. She stood with her back to the staircase, and I got the feeling anyone who wanted to come down this hall was going to have to fight her first.
“Your Highness,” she said once we got close. “Rumor has spread that your human companion arrived via a fairy ring. The council of spellworkers has assembled and wishes to learn more, if that’s acceptable.”
Solaris looked back at me with a tired expression.
