Page 82 of Glitched Fates & Stolen Mates

Eomma’s face went through several complicated expressions before settling on something I couldn’t quite read. “Oh! I didn’t know you were…” She trailed off, clearly wrestling with vocabulary.

“Eomma, it’s twenty twenty-six,” Lily said, popping back up from under the table with Appa’s chopsticks. “Everyone should stop assuming straightness by default.”

Eomma coughed delicately. “Of course, of course. I was just… surprised. And how old is this… man?”

I cringed. “Um, a bit older. Like, thirty-two.”

“I see.”

The way she said it suggested she saw quite a lot, actually. None of it particularly encouraging.

“Can I see a picture?” Lily bounced in her chair, eyes bright with curiosity. “Please? I need to know if he’s worthy of my brother.”

Did I have a picture of Kit? I scrolled through my phone, then remembered the security cameras. They recorded everything in HD. I pulled up today’s footage, found a clip from this morning in the kitchen. Kit stood with his arms crossed, talking to Priya about something, his expression serious and focused.

I zoomed in and showed Lily the screen.

“OH MY GOD, HE’S SO HOT!” she shrieked. “Like, grumpy hot. The brooding type. Felix, well done! I’m seriously impressed. Does he have a brother?”

“He does, but sadly for you, his brother has his own hot, grumpy boyfriend.”

Lily pouted dramatically.

I glanced at Eomma, who was clearly swallowing down about seventeen thousand different comments and questions. Her face had gone carefully neutral—never a good sign.

“When do we get to meet him?” she asked finally.

Probably never, I thought, trying to imagine Kit sitting at this dinner table, making awkward small talk about my university achievements while Eomma interrogated him about his intentions.

I sighed. “He’s actually outside right now, waiting to take me out after dinner.”

Eomma choked on the sip of water she was taking.

“So he could wave at you from a distance or something. But you’re absolutely not talking to him,” I said, waving my chopsticks between Lily and Eomma like a tiny weapon. “Either of you.”

Appa chuckled quietly. “Am I allowed to meet him, at least? You know you can trust me to behave.”

I nodded gratefully. “Yes, you may, Appa. But not yet. We’ve only just started dating. It’s not serious yet.” Those words felt strange on my tongue. Probably because of the whole eternal soulmate thing. I was still trying to largely ignore that. “We met on an app,” I added, before anyone could ask.

Eomma pulled a face like she’d bitten into something rotten.

“You told me you wouldn’t let me set you up on an app!” Lily jumped in, pointing her knife at me accusingly. “When I offered to help you find someone nice through Hinge, you said that—”

“That I don’t need my little sister’s help with my dating life,” I interrupted. The room suddenly felt stifling, too hot with my hoodie on.

I pushed back from the table, the chair legs scraping against the hardwood floor. “Actually, if it’s okay, I should probably go. Kit’s been out there waiting a while.”

“Kit,” Lily repeated slowly, testing the name. “Kit. I like it.”

“And, um,” I said, backing towards the hallway, “maybe you guys could wave at him another time? I really don’t want to scare him off.”

What I really meant was: “I don’t want you all rushing outside to find my date crouched behind the wheelie bins like some sort of deranged raccoon.”

Eomma nodded, but her expression remained shell-shocked, like I’d just announced I was joining the circus. She’d need time to adjust to this revelation. Which meant I had exactly seven days—maybe less—to prepare for her next assault, which would be violent and thorough.

She’d probably want to run a background check on him. Shit. I needed to be careful I didn’t ever give her his surname. With her wealth and connections, it might be possible that she could actually find something if she looked hard enough.

I grabbed my jacket from the hook by the front door, then tied my shoelaces at breakneck speed.