part where Iâm squired to a knight with hydrophobia, heâd be pretty much perfect. And I guess the hydrophobia thing means weâd never have to worry about Toby interrupting when I was over at his place.â
Dean turned to fully face me, blinking slowly. âYouâre bold today.â
âI just had a bit of a shock to the system,â I said. âMy parents threatened to end my fosterage. Made me really think about what I wanted to do while I was still here. And I like you, Dean. I like you a lot. I have since I met you, and I like you more every time I see you.â
âAre you sure youâre not scrambling for something to make you feel like staying here was the right thing to do?â Again, the identity of my parents hung between us like an unspoken oath. He knew. His comment about my fatherâs hair . . . he knew. He was just doing the socially appropriate thing, and not saying anything about it.
âNo.â Iâd been honest so far. Might as well stick with it. âAnd Iâm not saying Iâm in love with you, either. But I like you. Weâre still kids. Isnât that supposed to be enough?â
âIâm a Count. Youâre a squire. We have duties.â
âAnd one day weâll both be expected to marry long enough to provide heirs for our family names. I know that. Iâm not asking you to be in love with me. Iâm just asking you to . . . to hold hands with me, and see a movie, and maybe go out for ice cream.â
He smiled a little. âMy parents spent their first real date looking for ice cream.â
âSee, and now we have modern refrigeration. We can
find
ice cream, no problem.â
âQuentin.â Dean sobered. âYou know that in the Undersea I was considered sort of, well, a freak. My dadâs Daoine Sidhe. I canât breathe water. I canât even put on scales. Mom nearly lost the Duchy because I was so weak and wrong.â
I nodded slowly. âIs this your way of saying you havenât dated much?â
âItâs my way of saying I havenât dated at all.â
âThatâs okay. Iâve only had one serious girlfriend, and we had to break up after Blind Michael turned her into a horse and she found out Faerie was real and then the Luidaeg wiped her memory. So weâre on pretty equal footing here, Iâd say.â
Dean blinked. âI think the worst part of that sentence was how every part of it was awful, and yet it all still made sense.â
âThatâs life with Toby, and by extension, I guess thatâs life with me. So if you donât want to, you know, risk itââ
âSometimes I think about how soft your hair must be, and then I have to go sit quietly for a little while until I stop blushing.â
I stopped.
âAnd sometimes I think âI should ask him out,â and then I go no, heâs a blind foster, heâs someoneâs important son, he has better prospects than some Merrow-maidâs half-breed son whoâs still not sure how he even wound up with a title and holdings of his own. So I donât.â
âMaybe you should,â I said softly.
âMaybe.â Dean took a deep breath, smiled, and asked, âYou want to catch a movie?â
I smiled back. âOnly if youâll let me pay for the popcorn.â
âItâs a deal,â he said, and reached over to take my hand in his. His fingers were cool, with the ghosts of webbing extending from his palms halfway to the first knuckle. We sat there on the edge of the dock beneath the mountain, and we watched the tide roll out, and for a little while at least, it seemed like there was nothing else to say.
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