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How long has it been since we’ve been separated for any length of time? Am I codependent?

Scilla isn’t in the room, so I’m left in relative peace and anxiety-ridden nerves, waiting to find out what her issue with me is now. Getting clothes on is taking a lot longer than it should. I have to stop and rest after putting one foot through the hole in the shorts for my leg. This is ridiculous and painful.

As soon as I finish dressing and start milling around, examining posters, and putting off finding her, Scilla returns with a fancy silver tray with a tea set ready to be poured.

It reminds me of that kid’s book about the Fae teatime. Where did that thing end up? Are there library fines if you don’t go to that school? Questions for later.

“Have a seat,” she smiles and sets the tray on a side table so far back against the wall it’s basically just a stand for a lamp.

When I glare at her, the smiling facade cracks, and she demandingly says, “Sit.”

I raise an eyebrow and silently refuse.

Her gold and black eyes narrow on me before she sniffs in disapproval and pours two cups of tea.

“Now, what’s this I hear about you being mated?” She brings the cup to her lips and gently blows as she eyes me over the steam.

“Mated?” I ask in confusion. “No, bonded. Plus, it’s broken now, so I don’t know - “

“Mated,” she intones darkly with a glare. “A bond denotes trust in the person you’ve attached to and vice versa. A true mating happens without conscious thought or decision. However, the pull between two bonded increases over time tobecomea mating. You have mated, whether you realize it or not. And not to my Benji, might I add.”

Her disapproval washes over me as I try to reconcile what little I know with what she’s telling me. It could be a lie. I wouldn’t put it past her. But this involves Ben, and she’s always serious about him.

“I’m supposed to be bonded to Ben? Says who, you?” I’m not touching the whole mate thing with a ten-foot pole.

Come inside, denial. There’s beer in the fridge. Make yourself at home.

“Says Hastur,” she sneers.

“Who the fuck is Hastur?” I ask with enough disdain to emphasize that whoever that is means nothing to me.

“Careful,” she smiles slyly. “Saying the King’s name has… consequences.”

“Okay, Candyman,” I roll my eyes, and she breaks into the most indelicate laughter I’ve ever heard from her.

Despite the dismissal, I can’t help but feel as if eyes are on me, creeping across my skin in a slow wave of menace and curiosity. I shake it off. Scilla always makes me uneasy, so her bullshit deity being played up is just making my anxiety rear its ugly head.

Scilla shivers in delight, and her smile gets wider, her sigil glowing as bright as a flare in a dark sky.

“Thank you,Beatrice,” she emphasizes my name oddly as her eyes track to an empty corner of the room. “You’re such a delight and entertaining in yourimmunity. I’ll continue testing you accordingly.”

She closes her eyes, gives a deep nod after the strange comment, and straightens up.

The odd feeling of a penetrating stare fades from my back, but it feels reluctant, like a lingering, creepy touch you can’t wash away. I shudder and look to the corner, creeped out by the sensation, to find it empty.

“To get back to the point,” I turn back to see her watching me with narrowed eyes of speculation. “Why is my pet not with you?”

“He is with me.” I hope he can forgive my crazy train breakdown.

“But notwith you. Bond him. You are squandering my gift to you.”

“He is not your gift to me! He has thoughts and feelings of his own,” I grit my teeth to make an effort at being civil. “The bond is there, but it’s blocked. It isn’t like with Mitri.”

“Of course not. It’s a true mating,” she muses.

“I call bullshit. He doesn’t feel the same way about me.”

Scilla’s eyes narrow to slits as she hisses, “What?”