Page 96 of Forget Me Not

Lis shook her head. “Not the moment Ray realized you were his—honestly, what wordarewe saying? Well, whatever. Not when you realized he was, or could be, yours. That was what Calcouldmean to you, right, Ray? But that surely wasn’t the moment you decided you wanted him forever.” Lis seemed oblivious to the sudden lack of air in the room, but if she was anything like her son, she wasn’t. “You barely knew Cal then. You panicked perhaps, probably, from what Cal told me. You had some strange ideas based on what you thought was true about fairies. But you let him stay around you anyway. For that case and then for others. You knew—or thought you knew—that he would leave you someday, and you chose to deepen your connection despite that. Youchoseto love him.”

“Mom, holy shit,” Cal croaked. “You don’t need to be ruthless.”

“Lis’s son,” Calvin remarked, probably not meaning to say it at all.

Ray forgot about Calvin and focused on Lis. She could have been saying that for him, but he thought it was far more likely she was saying it so Cal could hear that he’d been chosen.

He lowered his head in a small nod of agreement.

Lis clapped her hands together. “For all your faults, Raymond, you always did understand what was most important. Now. Oh—Calvin, can you turn off the oven, please? Now.” She came one step closer, then held out her hand again.

Ray put his hand over hers and didn’t know what to think when she clasped it tightly. She looked at him without blinking, the green of her eyes compelling, overwhelming, like a wave crashing into the bluffs.

Then her gaze went still and her voice was everywhere, “Rememberchoosing to love him. Remember choosing your mate,Callalily.”

***

THE ONLY THING that stopped Lis from smashing into the counter was Calvin, who was shoved backward but caught her with one arm even while he grunted with what had to be pain. Off-balance, Lis stumbled and tripped, barely keeping on her feet, still hitting the counter with enough force that it pinned one of her wings.

Ray was on his feet, growling, clutching his head. The airitched. Fairy magic wasn’t supposed to itch.

The chair he’d been in was on its side on the floor, Cal behind it but only for a few, stunned seconds.

“Ray?” Cal was in Ray’s face—reeking of panic, his heart thundering, but in Ray’s face all the same. He put his hands over Ray’s, tugged them gently down. “Ray. Ray? Are you all right? Is it the same as this morning? Ray? Answer me please, in more than a growl.”

“Is she okay?” Ray looked past Cal to Lis, who was on her feet but shaky, Calvin’s arm at her waist to hold her up even though Calvin was the one who had taken the brunt of the hit. “Are you all right?” He turned to Calvin, who was going to hurt later if he didn’t already. Ray tried to pull his hands free but Cal wasn’t letting go. “I didn’t do that, did I? I didn’t push her?”

“You didn’t,” Lis assured him, glancing up and then smoothing her hair in a nervous gesture. “You didn’t lay a hand on me. That was… something else.”

“Your wing,” Calvin said to Lis, carefully touching the area above the damage. “I’ll get you some sugar. That should help it heal faster.”

Lis turned her head to look up at him and put her hand to his cheek. “Or you could keep holding me, my love.”

Calvin’s eyes were so wide behind his glasses that Ray looked away for his sake. “I’m old, Lis.”

“You’remine,” Lis returned, fierce. “I am furious and I always will be, but nothing else has changed. It won’t. You knew that. It’s why you avoided me all this time.”

“Ray,” Cal called Ray’s attention back him. He was scowling. He was pale, his eyes too bright. “Come on.” Hel had Ray’s hands, and pulled him out of the room with almost no force, but Ray had no urge to fight him.

***

“I KNOW I brought them to that moment, but I also cannot be there to witness it.” An agitated twitch of Cal’s wings accompanied this pronouncement. He led Ray into their bedroom, stopped to close the door behind them, then looked up. He hadn’t turned on the bedroom light but studied Ray anyway, frowning. “How’s your head?”

“I didn’t vomit,” Ray offered.

Cal didn’t think that was funny. “I should’ve grabbed some ice and a towel before we left. Come here.” He said it as though he wasn’t still leading Ray around by the hand. He pulled Ray into the bathroom and ran the cold tap in the sink while he grabbed a washcloth. Then he hopped up onto the counter and got the cloth wet before turning off the water and gesturing to Ray.

Ray obediently stepped between Cal’s knees and bent his head so Cal could hold the cold washcloth to the back of his neck. After a moment, he dropped his forehead onto Cal’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Cal smelled likeCal, and also like sugary coffee. He didn’t smell angry.

“Sorry,” Ray said anyway. His voice was rougher than it should have been.

There wasn’t a pause in Cal’s breathing, but Ray got the impression Cal hadn’t expected anything like that.

He dragged one damp hand through Ray’s hair. “She’s fine. She said herself it wasn’t you, it was the magic, somehow. And even if she gets a bruise, it will be gone in a blink.”

“Not for Calvin.”

“Yeah.” Cal exhaled heavily. “Yeah, he’ll bruise. Older humans bruise without any…” He shook his head. “But, well, she’s there to take care of him now—and don’t think she won’t. I know she seems in control to a lot of people. You might not realize how much this has been hurting her but, oh, wait, of course you do, you sniffed it out.”

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