Bat Out of Hell (Promised to the Demons #2) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,50
apparently I could change my name and I would be...liked."
"It's so strange," I said. "Everyone likes your face even though they don't know you, and they are even offering to take you as a lover, but once they find out who you are, they hate you again." I looked at Bevan.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"I thought you were handsome when I first met you. But I really think it's because I could tell you have a nice personality. Isn't it strange that people like Piers when they actually hate him once they know who he is?"
"It isn't just good looks that matter," Bevan said. "Maybe...Piers has a different personality these days."
"I'm trying," Piers said. "I don't think it's going well."
"I think it's going fine," Bevan said. "If you still wanted power as much as before, you wouldn't be on this trip. I don't think there's anything in it for any wizard."
"Oh!" I grabbed Piers’ hand. "I think I get it. I need to talk to Piers alone for a moment, because he told me some things in confidence before and I don't know if he wants everyone to hear them."
"It probably doesn't matter now," Piers said, but I took him into a room alone anyway.
"That's exactly it," I told him. "What Bevan was saying. I know why my subconscious made you so pretty now. You are a different person."
"I'm definitely not a pretty person."
"You told me that when you were a kid, your parents and other kids judged you for being scrawny, and worse, for Chester. It must have been so frustrating to feel like you wouldn't be taken seriously because your familiar was cute and male. I know kids do tease about that kind of thing. Pretty meanly, too. Bernard and I were kids once. I know boys need to have a cool familiar, like a bird of prey or a lizard or something, or they get made fun of eternally, and that it’s considered effete if your cute familiar is a boy, on top of it. There was a boy in Bernard’s class who had a male dove as his familiar, and that poor kid never had a chance.”
“All true." Piers let out a single, dry laugh. "So...you're telling me this is my chance to be judged on my character only, because everyone assumes very attractive people are more worthy."
"Yes. This is your chance to shake all that off."
"And then...what? When I've learned my lesson, I get my old face back, and my mangled body? When I've finally gotten used to being a person that others respect and find charming?"
"I...I don't know how it works," I said. "It's not my spell. Queen Morgana told Variel he had to find his way back to his old body. So maybe you just won't find your way back."
"I'm afraid to get used to it..."
"Well..." I chewed a nail. "Piers, to be honest...I like your old body just as much. It was more...real, or--or interesting. I mean, I can certainly see why you would want two hands, but your face wasn't so bad at all."
"I wish you wouldn't be so nice to me," he said huskily.
"I wouldn't want to not be nice to you," I said. "I'm never going to stop being nice to you."
"I told Bevan I would never get between you and him...and I won’t, but your kindness is agony."
"Agony?"
"I'm sure you mean nothing. You have generosity to spare for everyone you meet. But I've never..." He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I shouldn't have even said anything."
I had a quivering, funny feeling in my gut. I understood what he meant, too late. "All this is new to me," I said. "Being around people. Men."
"Well, that's why it's our job to control ourselves," Piers said. "I've never cared about anyone before. It's harder than I expected to accept that you..."
"That I what?"
"You really need those lines filled in?"
I bit my lip. "No."
The room suddenly darkened. Clouds had passed over the ship.
"A storm already?"
"Don't worry," Piers said. "I'll go see what I can sense out. The weather is going to be rough for this leg. At least, compared to what we got used to..."
It was true; the seas were starting to grow choppy. The ship was rolling on them, and I stumbled on my way to the door. Piers came out right behind me and headed for the navigation room. "Just stay down here," he told me. "It'll pass."