AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It certainly makes me feel better about the weeks we didn’t know about him,” Joy said.
“Yeah.” Pat had been reaching for a piece of jerky—Charon had broughta lotof snacks—but he abruptly dropped his hand into his lap. “We owe you our thanks for keeping her safe.”
“It was my honor,” Noctus said.
“So, why don’t we wrap things up here for tonight?” Ker sprang to her feet. “Everyone must be tired—and you’re spending the night, of course.”
Pat inhaled deeply, drawing his shoulders up. “Just for the night,” he agreed. He stood up, gathering his teacup of decaf coffee and empty plate—ignoring Charon hovering over us.
“I believe I shall also take my leave—for now,” the Paragon said.
“If you show up on my porch within the next week, I’ll call the police and tell them you’re an escapee from a residential home,” Noctus said, his voice devoid of feeling.
The Paragon scowled. “I have my answers, so I’m satisfied—for now. And I’m all too aware of Chloe’s personal warning to try to poke my nose in this beehive. But you’ll need my help, mark my words, when you decide to reveal yourself to supernaturals.”
“Certainly a person with your power would be advantageous to have on hand when King Noctus and the elves do come forward,” Joy said, instantly switching into her work mode as she smiled sunnily and her voice became bright. “However, since you and Pat magnanimously allowed them to use a cover story for tonight’s event, they have the luxury of choosingwhento come forward, which, naturally, I assume they’ll do when they have a story they can use to their advantage to make the maximum positive impact. Am I correct, Your Majesty?”
Both Joy and the Paragon swiveled so they faced Noctus.
Noctus—who had remained standing for the entire talk—didn’t even bat an eye. “Naturally,” he said.
The Paragon grunted. “Who needs a story—you just need to make a social media campaign and you’ll win the humans’ love and affection immediately with your looks and wealth. Why do you have all the luck? It’s unfair.” The Paragon groaned as he stood up, his knees cracking. “Come, Aphrodite. I’ve had my fill of elves for the day. We’re going.”
Aphrodite, cradled in my pretzel crossed legs, lifted her head up, twitched her tail, then flipped to her other side so she was looking at my stomach.
“Aphrodite!” the Paragon said, his voice shrill. “Are you ignoring me?”
“Mmert,” Aphrodite said.
The Paragon staggered a few steps backwards, as if he’d been hit. “So this is how deep your affection for me goes—when you are faced with a shadow you abandon me?”
“Don’t take it personally.” Pat stood up, finally freeing me from the jam between my siblings. “All cats love Chloe—unreasonably so. We went to New York City for a family vacation when she was seven, and she was nearly carried off by a feral cat colony.”
“I’d believe it,” Ker said with great seriousness. “It’s an unexpected superpower—as is her cat form. Cuteness is a power you must be careful with.”
“Why do you say that as if it’s somethingyou’reburdened with?” Aristide asked. “I remember what your wolf form looks like. It’s terrifying. It matches your name.”
“I could have gotten cuter since you were cursed,” Ker said.
“Impossible,” Aristide said. “You make me brush your teeth in your wolf form nearly every day. I know how big your canines are.”
I leaned Aphrodite against my shoulder and supported her with one hand as I stood up. I took a moment to shake my legs out—that pins and needles feeling had numbed my calves—then staggered over to the Paragon, who was still clinging to a bookcase.
“Here, Paragon. Do you want me to hold Aphrodite while you get the baby sling ready, or are you just going to carry her?” I asked.
“Ahh yes, my duplicitous cat and her new object of admiration. Hello.” The Paragon weakly sighed, as if he had lost the will to live, then winked at me and straightened up. “I’ll use the sling—it’s always better to have one’s hands free and available for anything. If you wouldn’t mind holding her for just an additional moment?” The Paragon reclaimed his sling—which he’d abandoned by the pile of pillows he’d sat on—and started shrugging his way into it.
“Sure.” I moved so I supported Aphrodite with both hands—she was pretty hefty to hold. “I’m glad you were here to hear the explanation.”
“Of course.” The Paragon’s glasses nearly slid off his nose as he secured the sling. “It let me judge what kind of a threat Noctus and his elves are.”
I paused, Aphrodite’s considerable bulk pulling on my arms as I tried to figure out the most diplomatic way to phrase my question. “Paragon? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but…why are you so accepting of all of this?”
After his attitude when he’d first found us, I’d assumed he’d be demanding that Noctus put the shackles back on, or accept some kind of limitation on his power or observation spell cast on the city so he could keep an eye on them.
Instead, the Paragon was practically his jolly self, and didn’t seem bothered at all by Calor Villa, when just hours ago he’d been ready to blackmail Noctus.
“You mean why am I no longer ready to throw hands with Noctus?” the Paragon blithely asked.
