Call of Water (Madame Tan's Freakshow #1) - Marina Simcoe Page 0,67

take a breath of air not saturated with his warm, fresh-out-of-shower scent, things would clear up for me, somewhat?

“I just don’t know what to believe, Zeph. You lie so easily, so convincingly...”

“Coming up with a lie is easy for me,” he admitted. “Lie or truth, I rarely have to think long to come up with words. That doesn’t mean I lie about everything, Ivy. Or that I do it with malicious intent.”

“A lie is a lie,” I said softly.

“But is it, really?” He shoved away from the wall, raking his fingers through his hair. “I made up a story for Neal and Mariana to convince them to give us a ride, but it didn’t harm them in any way, did it? I came up with another story, to explain your disappearance to your mom. But I didn’t do it out of disrespect for her.”

His hands gripping his hair, he took a few paces in front of me, intense concentration on his face.

“Ever since I was a child, Ivy, Lero has been hammering into my brain to keep secret what we are and where we came from. I do not remember the reasons for it, but I suspect it has to do with the two of us trying to fit in, in this world. I wasn’t ready to disclose who I am and where exactly you’ve been to your mother when it would make little difference to her but could potentially harm Lero and me. Whatever there is to be done about Ghata now, we’ll need to decide it between ourselves without getting the human world involved.”

“Well, I am a human, and I’m already very much involved.”

Dropping his hands down, he stared at me.

“I remember Lero giving me a speech about the dangers of dating anyone from this world,” he said slowly. “I brought home my high school girlfriend for dinner, to meet him, and he got furious. He forbade me to date her or anyone else.”

“Why?”

“He said humans are fragile and easily hurt. They couldn’t handle our differences or deal with the dangers that could come from being with a Fae.” He rubbed his forehead. “I believe he tried to become close with a woman once, and it didn’t end well. Since there are no female Fae in this world, he was determined to spend the rest of his life alone, planning for me to do the same.

“Is that what you want?”

“I don’t remember if I’ve ever been sold on the idea. All I have to go by right now is that speech of his and...you.”

“Me?”

He nodded, slowly.

“The two don’t add up, Ivy.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I look at you, I don’t see the weak delicate flower that Lero was convincing me all human females were. You’ve learned about our world, survived some of the worst parts of it, and only gotten stronger. I don’t know why I didn’t tell you the truth about myself back in Paris, but I wish I did because I know you can handle it.”

Back then, I realized, I might not have believed him. Only after spending time in Madame’s menagerie had I begun to understand his world enough to accept it as real.

In a way, my experience there, as horrible as it was, brought Zeph and I closer.

He stepped back to me again, cupping the side of my face.

“I promise you will always know when I lie, because I will never lie to you.” The somber sincerity in his voice rang true.

I released a long breath. “Not even if I ask whether my pants make my butt look big?”

That twinkle in his eye appeared again—warm and humorous.

“I’d never have to lie about that,” he said, confidently. “I love your butt. No pants could ever make it look bad to me.”

With a half-laugh, I attempted to look away, but he kept my face turned to him, not allowing me to break eye contact.

“You want one more night with me?” I asked.

“One.” He nodded. “To start with. We can then have a thousand more. And then ten thousand more after that.”

“That’s a lot of nights...” I smiled.

“And a lot of new memories to make.” His hand curled around my neck, he trailed his thumb along my jawline. “One of the memories I regret losing the most is the one of our first kiss.”

There had been many kisses that night, but the first one would always be special, wouldn’t it?

He brought his face closer to mine, pausing just a hair’s breadth away from my lips. With the