Her Purr-fect Christmas Mate by Zoe Chant

Author:Zoe Chant [Chant, Zoe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2022-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

11

Peony

Every idea Peony had was the worst, and yet she kept on having them.

Her heart was in her throat as she waited for Mordecai’s answer. Part of her wanted him to say no. She wanted his eyes to blaze and his voice to go frosty and for him to reject this new, idiot scheme that her new cat-brained self had decided on.

But please say yes, she said, careful to keep her voice silent inside her own head. Please, please say yes. I don’t think I can manage this conversation without any distractions.

“Ice-skating,” he said at last. His voice didn’t blaze, or crackle over with ice. Was that bad? “Very well.”

Peony loved ice-skating. She told Mordecai so, as they waited in line for tickets and skate rental, and tried not to feel as though she was babbling.

“We always skated at home in winter,” she said. “Whenever I tell people that now, they talk about how dangerous it sounds, skating on a pond in the middle of nowhere, and sure, it’s all very Little Women, but…” She switched to telepathy. *Beth didn’t have a flying deer babysitting her, or a kelpie cousin hanging out under the ice ready to boot her out if she fell in.* They both had their skates now; she sat down on a bench and began to take off her boots. “Really, the worst that could happen was being late for dinner. Which we always were. Dad hated that.”

“He’s the cook in your family?”

“Oh, yeah. Mom bakes, Dad cooks, the rest of us wash up. We all pitched in to try and buy them a dishwasher one year. Didn’t work. Washing up is a sacred task, apparently, not to be fobbed off on mere appliances. Anyway, ice-skating…”

They were rink-side, now.

She put one skate on the ice. It was nasty, scarred-up fairground rink ice, but it still sent a thrill through her. *It always felt like flying to me. It made me wonder if my inner animal would have wings, too.*

“And now you know it doesn’t?”

Why the hell wouldn’t he respond to her telepathically? If anyone was listening in, the two of them would sound mad, their conversation full of weird pauses and answers to questions nobody asked.

She sighed and pushed out onto the ice. *Well, it doesn’t matter, does it? Regardless, I’ll still have ice-skating, and if I ever want to know what it’s like to actually fly, I’ll OH GOD OH GOD I HATE THIS, WHAT IS HAPPENING??? MY FEET??? MY FEET ARE SLIPPERY???*

Mordecai moved across the ice like a striking snake, intercepting her before she flailed into the path of a group of small children. *What happened? Are you all right?*

*FEET??? SLIPPERY???* her cat wailed. She clamped one hand over her mouth. Which didn’t help, of course it didn’t help, because her cat had taken over her mind, not her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “It’s… not used to—”

“Of course.” Mordecai pulled her close against his side, his arm sure and strong around her waist. All the breath left her in a rush.

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