“Is everything alright?”
“Of course.”
I nodded. “I’m going to see Urgg.”
His brow furrowed. I hadn’t left the room unaccompanied since I’d gotten sick because Kal struggled to let me out of his sight.
“Just to Urgg’s?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Yes.” I pressed a kiss to his lips, and Kal hooked his arms around my waist. His claws slipped beneath the back of my shirt, playing with the skin above my waistband.
“Take your touchstone, please.”
Things between me and Kal had been better since we’d had sex, but at the same time, a new tension had appeared and Ihad no idea why. Maybe having sex with me hadn’t met his expectations?
When I stepped inside the bakery, I waved at Urgg, who grinned, then continued to speak with Klirgg. I took a seat in a corner and waited. A few minutes later, Urgg plopped down next to me with a plate of cookies that had a fat walnut, or at least what looked like a walnut, in the center. Cautiously, I nibbled on the edge. I’d seen some unappetizing additions to Urgg’s baked goods enough times to worry about what they added.
The cookie was crumbly, and the nut tasted more like a peanut than a walnut, but it was delicious.
Urgg shoved one into their mouth. “Eat. You’re too thin. I could break you in half.”
“No doubt.”
They grinned. “How are you and Kalvoxrencol doing?”
Heat immediately rushed to my cheeks.
“That good?” Urgg asked, guffawing and clapping my back, which sent me reeling.
“Yeah, but he’s been a bit distant since we…” I trailed off.
“Fornicated?” they offered, which made me sputter.
Who called it that?
“I told him how I felt and we did… what we did, but now he’s acting odd.”
Urgg ate another cookie, nose scrunching. “Did you tell him you’re going to stay?”
“I told him I loved him.”
“That’s not the same thing,” they said. “Just because you love him and are fucking him, that doesn’t mean you plan to stay.”
My mouth dropped open. Did Kal think I was going to leave him after all of this?
“Not everyone gets hints, Seth. Some people need the words.”
Was that what was going on? Did Kal need to hear I was going to stay with him?
I shimmied up the ladder to the cramped space I’d found in the atrium and sat against the round window. The stars gleamed in the distance. I was pretty sure Urgg was right. I hated talking, but Kal needed me to directly say I was going to stay.
My fingers brushed the touchstone in my pocket. This wasn’t something I should say at a distance but rather in person. Did I need to make a big production about it like a marriage proposal? Or should I tell him directly?
“NAID,” I called, tugging the touchstone out of my pocket.
“Yes, Seth,” she said, her voice reverberating in my ear.
“Can you manifest here?”
