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I lift my hand to my face and gasp when I prick myself on their points.
I stand there staring until Erserro comes looking for me. He taps lightly on the open door. “Is everything OK?”
I laugh. “Yeah. I just—I didn’t realize I’d look different.”
From behind me, he lifts a lock of my red hair and toys with it as he considers my reflection. A crease forms between his brows as he looks at me. “You don’t like it?”
I turn in his arms and look directly at him. I still can’t get over doing this with nothing between us. “I love it. I love the little reminders that I belong with you, to you. I love you.” There’s a long pause while he stares down at me.
I have time to get lost in the magic swirl of his eyes for the hundredth time that hour. “You mean that, don’t you?” He shakes his head. “You really do.”
“Of course, I do. Even after you ignored me and hid from me for months.”
He grimaces. “I’m sorry, flower.”
I laugh. “I’m teasing. But you know, if you want to make it up to me, I could probably use a new ring...”
His smile lights up his eyes until it looks like moonlight dances there. I don’t think I’ll ever, ever get tired of looking into his eyes. “Well in that case, I think we ought to go shopping, just as soon as I finished properly measuring every single part of you. But you’d better go lie down, love. I’ve only just gotten started.”
When I only laugh, he picks me up and takes me back to bed and I quickly lose track of time.
TWENTY THREE
Erserro
I stretch and rise from my desk, glancing at the time. I’ve been working most of the day. But there are still a couple of good sunlit hours to enjoy. I decide not to waste them on more work.
Leaving my office, I put my head into the kitchen and living rooms, but Tamsin is nowhere to be found. Neither is Missy, so there’s a good chance I’ll find them both outside somewhere.
The weather is just as perfect as I could have hoped. The late summer heat caresses my skin as I leave the house. It’s heavy and comforting like a blanket, but instead of weighing me down, it speeds my movements.
I make my way across the lawn, already knowing where I’ll find them.
Sure enough, I spot them on the bench by the fountain. Missy is curled into a ball on Tamsin’s lap and my flower has her back against the armrest and her tail up on the seat, reading a book. It took her a while to master the shift, but now that she has, she spends little time in her human form, particularly if it’s sunny.
She looks up as I come near, closing the book around her finger and giving me a slow, sultry smile. “I hoped you’d make it out while the sun was still up.”
When I glance down, Missy has her blue eyes turned up to me and is giving me the baleful glare she seems to reserve for me alone. She might have made an excellent basilisk, that cat. If any creature could kill with a look through sheer willpower, it would be this one.
She sinks her fangs into me as I lift her gently and place her on the grass. “You don’t scare me, cat,” I tell her.
I suspect she is plotting a midnight ambush and watch as she turns in slow circles, grudgingly accepting her demoted position.
“Poor thing,” Tamsin croons. “It’s OK, puss. I’ll give you a big dish of tuna when we go inside.”
Missy flicks her ears and gives a wailing mew.
Yes, she will definitely attack the tip of my tail the next time I leave it hanging out of the sunbed.
“Should we go out for dinner?” Tamsin asks me.
I lift her tail and slide in next to her on the bench. “No. I have everything I need right here.”
She chuckles. “You know you can’t literally eat me, right? Like you need actual sustenance.”
I scoff. “A shame scrawny old cat doesn’t make much of a meal.”
Missy flicks an ear, but otherwise the cat ignores my comment.
