Page 19 of Locked
Sighing heavily, I let my hand drop from his head. "No. Not yet."
I hadn't spoken with Kinden in two days. Not since I'd freaked out and logged off our chat app and spent the night wrapped around my pillow worrying about ridiculous things like whether or not Mother would be able to see our chats. Even though she couldn't. To her, the chat app looked and behaved like a mobile game. She wouldn't find out about our secret conversations. Not that way, anyway.
"Why not?"
"I dunno, Baz. It was awkward, I was being weird. I don't know how to approach that topic with him."
"A simple 'I'm sorry' would probably work. Kinden seems like a pretty stand-up elf. A standard apology would likely suffice."
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. "It's more than that."
"Okay. Maybe a 'I'm sorry, you were right, my guardianisa horrible mega bitch who treats me terribly'?"
"Baz…"
"What? She can't hear us, Zelle. You don't have to kiss her ass when she isn't here."
"I donotkiss her ass," I retorted angrily. "I give her respect--"
"That she doesn't deserve!" Basil argued, lifting his head up. His tail was twitching back and forth on the arm of the sofa. "She doesn't deserve your respect. You don't owe her anything. She's keeping you prisoner here!"
"And she can take away everything if I step a toe out of line, or have you forgotten our most recent fortnight in darkness?"
"If you honed your magic skills, that lock on your sunroom wouldn't stand a chance," he said with a sniff.
"So what, I'm supposed to hone my magic skills so I can constantly piss off the woman who brings us food?"
"Yeah, actually." Basil said. "She doesn't deserve you.AndI think it'd be good for you to stand up for yourself. I love you, Rapunzel, but you can't be the carpet beneath that horrible woman's feet forever. I saw your eyes when she was here. She scared you. You were afraid. Your heart was fluttering in your chest!"
"Yeah, she scared me," I confessed. "She had my hair in her hands and she went all shark-face."
"I told you, she's not human."
"Oh come off it, Basil. I can do that too, see?" I wiped my hand over my face, feeling the subtle shifts in my features begin to take hold. A slight stretching in my nose, lengthening of the chin and jaw. My eyes bulged as I abruptly opened them, glaring down at my cat with a wicked expression.
He jumped slightly and I changed my face back. "See? That has nothing to do with her being fae."
"So you admit she's fae?" he asked.
"Ugh.No!" I exclaimed. "She's a terrible person. A horrible human being and a mean old witch, but she's not faefolk!"
"Fine. But youdoadmit that she's terrible and she doesn't deserve your respect, right?"
"If I had any way of opening those locks she puts on the doors to my sunroom and a way to steal wifi, I probably wouldn't worry so much about upsetting her," I admitted.
"Okay then… why are we arguing? Stop what you're doing and go magic something until you're better at magicking." Basil sat up and stretched. "I'm sure your boy toys will be able to wait a little bit longer."
There was a chime from my messaging app, as if to argue what Basil had just said.
I smirked in his direction. "Maybe I could do both?"
"Ehhh, I guess both is good," my cat replied.
My tablet chimed again and all mirth was forgotten for a moment when I realized that the person messaging me could very well be Kinden and all my anxiety came rushing back.
I visibly gulped. Basil rubbed against my shoulder, placing his paw on my arm. "Just tell him you're sorry. It'll be okay, Zelle."
But, the chime wasn't Kinden. It was Sorrel.
