Firefox

Chloe sat on a stool, watching him.

This can’t be real. I’m having one hell of hallucination.

She’d never had a dream quite like this.

He sat next to her and pushed a plate of orange wedges in her direction. “For my lady.”

Chloe eyed him, and almost said he wasn’t her anything, but instead she popped a piece of orange into her mouth and closed her eyes at how sweet and fresh it tasted.

“Thanks,” she said automatically. She opened her eyes, really looked at the man, the stranger whom she’d slept next to and was dreaming about. He was beautiful, with the brightest, clearest eyes. Were they really like that, or a trick of her dream?

If she was going to be stuck here, being rude to him would go against her nature, even if it wasn’t real. Why does it feel so real?

“What did you do, in the bathroom?”

“I healed you.”

“Apparently so. But how?”

“I’m a kitsune. Well, half-kitsune. My father was a full-blooded demon.”

“That so?” She smiled, humoring him, and chewed another piece of orange before pushing the plate toward him to offer him some. “And a kitsune is…”

“A fox spirit.” He said it slowly, as if talking to a child, or surprised she didn’t know these things. He ate a piece of orange.

“So you’re a demon fox mix?”

He spread his hands. “Essentially.”

“And you said something about protecting me?”

He beamed. “Yes, you remember! I won the Selection and have been knighted your royal consort. I’ve come for you.”

“And I am…”

His voice took that careful tone again. “You are the goddess Gaia, reincarnated once again on earth.”

“I’m a reincarnated goddess, and you’re a fox demon who’s come here to be my boyfriend. Well, that makes sense. And here I thought you were going to say something crazy.” She brushed her hands together and leaned her elbows on the countertop.

“Gaia, perhaps I can explain—”

She put a hand up. “Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop calling me that. I’m Chloe.”

“Hmm.” He tapped his finger on his chin, contemplating. “It would presumptuous of me to recklessly utter your divine name.”

“Call me Chloe. It’s an order.”

He froze a moment as if he was seized with an invisible bond “Very well.”

“You can explain all day long about goddesses and spirits and demons, and I’m still going to wake up pretty soon probably not even remembering any of this.”

“Wake up? No, Chloe. You’re awake now, I assure you.”

The thing was, she felt awake. She had always been a vivid dreamer, but her dreams had an ethereal quality about them that distinguished them from reality, almost as if anything she wasn’t looking at directly was behind a thin, white gauze.

And usually there were creatures in her dreams.