Nocte Yin: Anti-Villain, Anti-Hero and Anti-Everything Else

Chapter Seventeen

“Good,” she replied, putting down the tea to show him the woven bracelet around her left wrist. “It works like a charm.”

He smiled, both in relief and at her lame pun. “Good.”

“Yup,” she chirped. “How’re the eggs?”

At her reminder, Alex turned to the frying pan and cracked a couple of eggs in, sizzling and cooking almost instantly. She watched as he popped several slices of bread into the toaster next. He was running late, according to schedule. Nocte was surprised he wasn’t panicking, but taking a look at the clock, she realized that he wasn’t running late, but that Chantée had gotten up early. Even more surprising was that Chantée-

“Chantée woke by herself,” Nocte mused aloud.

Alex wiped the bread crumbs fromt eh counter and shrugged. “She didn’t sleep well last night.”

Nocte tensed, thinking that the Fae had played tricks again.

“She was worried about you,” Alex said, facing her. “She got up around one in the morning to check up on you, and I had to tell her to wait until morning to talk to you.”

Nocte’s eyes grew wide, not knowing what to say. She was shocked that she hadn’t heard them wake last night (a mistake she would not make again), and completely floored that they would take such pains to make sure that she was okay, to make sure that she was present — to make sure that she existed.

So much.

They were so much like them that it almost hurt.

So much.

“Thanks.” It was all she could get out.

“Any time,” Alex returned, taking out the plates to give her some time to recover.

“Here,” she offered, jumping down from the stool. “I’ll help.”

Again, not according to routine.

But then again, she reasoned, yesterday had been anything but routine.

“You’ll be back for dinner tonight, right?” Alex enquired conversationally.

Nocte read his hesitance loud and clear as she switched the toasts from the toaster and onto the plates. “Yeah. Yesterday was a fluke. Today we’re back on schedule.”

She didn’t miss the way his shoulders relaxed or the way his posture eased. He had been worried that she’d leave again… and how true it’d be if the Fates decided so. If her Keys one day suddenly worked, would Nocte hesitate before leaving? Would she even stop to say “sayonara”?

It was not something Nocte wanted to dwell on.

“So I’ll drop Chantée off at school?” she pushed her unpleasant thoughts aside, handing the plates back to Alex.

“We’ll go together today,” he said.

They paused in their conversation when Chantée moved from the bedroom, dressed for the day, to the bathroom. They were like parents in so many ways.

“Cool,” Nocte said once the girl was out of ear-shot.

“Listen,” Alex said, slipping the eggs onto the plates. Nocte straightened. “Halloween is coming.”

Despite herself, she perked. “Are we going trick or treating?” He pinched his lips unpleasantly. “So that’s a ‘no,’ obviously.”

Alex shook his head. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Right,” she agreed, distraught that she hadn’t thought of that.

“I have some charms for you, just in case,” Alex said. “They’re in my bag.”