Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I thought not. I would probably sleep a whole lot better at night without those details, thank you very much.
“Look, girls, it doesn’t really matter,” I told my Coven mates. “It’s not like I was in love with him or anything. I just thought he was…different from the other Drakes. And it was nice thinking that—thinking that he didn’t hate me for being what I am, like so many straight guys do.”
“Griffin doesn’t hate you!” Megan protested. “He respects and admires you—he’s told me so before. He likes how protective you are of us,” she added.
Kaitlyn and Emma were nodding as well.
“Ari truly doesn’t hate you either,” Kaitlyn said earnestly. “He likes you, Avery. He doesn’t buy into the same prejudices that most Drakes do!”
“And Bran and Lachlan like you, too,” Emma added. “Of course, being LGBTQ isn’t such a big deal in the Realm of the Fae,” she added thoughtfully. “I think people are more accepting of each other’s orientations because the Fae are all already so different from each other. I mean you’ve got brownies and fairies and trolls and goblins…” She shrugged. “The list is endless.”
“Well, they accepted the fact that you’re going to be with Bran and Lachlan when you come of age and go to rule over both the Summer and the Winter Courts,” I pointed out.
“Yes, well, we’re kind of a triad. The three of us just fit together and neither Bran or Lachlan is jealous of each other.” Emma blushed, which looked beautiful with her new roseleaf complexion. She was a stunning beauty now, though she had been completely plain and unassuming all her life until the geas she’d been under had been lifted. I was glad for her good fortune—nobody deserved it more than she did. Though I couldn’t help feeling just a teensy bit jealous that she got not one but two hot guys, while I still had no one in my life.
Admit it, whispered a little voice in my head. You thought you had Saint—at least a little bit. That’s why it stings so much to find out he secretly hated you all along.
The thought just made me tired and I wanted to go to bed. I wondered if Saint was asleep by now—that would be nice. I knew he didn’t want to talk to me and I would rather avoid talking to him too, if possible.
“Look, girls,” I said, manufacturing a yawn. “It’s getting late—I think I’m going to turn in.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk anymore about it, Avery?” Kaitlyn asked softly.
“Yeah, you know we’re always here for you,” Emma said and Megan nodded agreement.
I smiled at them.
“I know you are—I’m a lucky guy. Nobody could wish for better Coven mates,” I told them. “But it’s been a really long day and I honestly just want to try and get some sleep.”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay sleeping in the same room with him? I mean, now that you know how he feels?” Megan asked in a low voice, nodding at the door to the bedroom I shared with Saint.
I nodded.
“I’ll be fine. He’s probably already asleep by now. I can just sneak in and get in bed. And maybe tomorrow I’ll move out to one of the other empty bedrooms.”
“Ah, Avery—I’m sorry. It’s tough for you to not have a roomie—it gets so lonely.” Megan looked sad.
“It’s all right—I’m used to it,” I reminded them. “Remember, I was the only guy in the Norm Dorm for a good long time before Saint came. I don’t mind the solitude.” I shrugged philosophically, though to be honest, I did find it rather lonely—and a teensy bit creepy—to be in one of the big, echoing, stone bedrooms by myself. Still, better to be alone than rooming with someone who disliked me, I thought.
“It still sucks.” Megan came and gave me a hug and then Emma followed. Kaitlyn came too and soon all three of them were hugging me and saying how sorry they were.
I thought—not for the first time—that I was living a straight guy’s dream. What man wouldn’t want three gorgeous girls hanging all over him in their pajamas? But try as I might, I never felt anything but affection and friendship for my Coven mates. Not that I wanted to change who I was—I didn’t. But sometimes I couldn’t help thinking it would have made my life a whole lot simpler if I could just like the opposite sex instead of my own.
I sighed and hugged them back and thanked them for being so sweet. Then I told them all goodnight and tiptoed into my room, hoping that—since the lights were already off—Saint was fast asleep.
10
SAINT
I lay there in the darkness, listening to the rumblings of my Drake. He was mostly silent now, in a kind of dream state that he mostly entered at night. I had often wished he would enter it more often. It was much more peaceful when he was “sleeping”—though I did still feel his dreaming emotions, like catching the murmurings of a madman as he sleeps.