Page 149 of Vameer

“Hi, Princess.” Dad’s voice is loud as always. “Did you like the birthday bracelets?”

I look at my wrist. “I did, thank you. I’m actually wearing two of them today.”

“Show me,” Dad demands. “How do we make this into a video?”

“Well, so, before you do that…” I swallow. “I just have a little something to tell you first.”

There’s a long beat of silence before Mom uses her cautious tone. Like when she finds a snake in the garden. “You can tell us anything.”

“Yeah.” Dad’s tone is too bright. “We will support you no matter what.”

Mom hums her agreement. “And if it’s a baby, you can always move here.”

Vameer is grinning.

I roll my eyes and blow out the loudest breath. “It’s not a baby. But love that you assume I’d just let the man off the hook.”

“Oh, we would take him to the cleaners. Don’t you doubt it.” I can picture Mom wagging her finger while she says it.

“Anyway.” I lift my voice to cut off whatever other nonsense might come out of their mouths. “I just wanted to let you know that I, um, met… a man.”

“I knew it!” Dad practically shouts.

“If you’re going to yell, stand on my other side. I need to keep some of my hearing.”

Dad grumbles something, and I hear them shift around.

Vameer is still grinning like a fool.

“So, who is he? How did you meet? When can we meet him?” Mom rattles off her questions.

“Well, his name is Vameer.”

“Strong name,” Dad chimes in.

“We met on my birthday.”

“Oh, recent!” Mom adds.

I lift my volume again, trying to keep them on track. “I don’t know how soon we’ll be able to visit…” I move my gaze over to the druid. “Hold on a sec.”

I mute my end of the call.

“It’s your timeline,” Dread answers before I even ask my question. And I notice he no longer has the ax, and he’s wearing an open robe over his pants. But still nothing else. “If we leave now and you keep your visit under five minutes, it should be fine.”

I unmute the call. “You’re at home, right?”

“Yes. What’s going on?” Mom asks slowly.

“Can you see into the backyard? Is it empty?”

“Yes…”

I pull up their address and show it to Dread.

He takes the phone from me, tapping on things, probably looking at a map.

I talk louder so they can still hear me. “There’s no one over, right? It’s just you two?”