Page 24 of How to Woo the Undead

Hyacinth’s stitches are so neat. So tidy. So small and pretty. Like the hem of a skirt.

He didn’t want to be jealous. He’d been in actual pieces when Lord Rosemont put him together. Hyacinth’s chest was cracked open and her wings were ripped off. In the grand scheme of things, her wounds were easier to close. He shouldn’t compare the two. “But if I was as beautiful as her, they might not run away screaming.”

And that comment drove him into the shower.No! Nope! We’re not doing that. We’re focusing on making an animal companion! On reconnaissance.

He focused on scrubbing every inch of himself, of buffing his tusks, then his nails, then brushing his teeth. Once he was out, finding a fresh shirt and pants to pull on, he’d forgotten the hurtful comment he lobbed at his own head and headed out.Because if I can’t beat the dark thoughts, I can simply out run them.

Austin was so very tired of trying to escape his own misery.

The house was cold, unlike yesterday. Frosty, even the wallpaper seemed stiff. He followed the shadows around the manor, finding the spiderwebs dusty. Not a single arachnid in sight, nor a ghoul.Is the storm driving them underground or?He wondered if he checked the dungeon, if he’d find them shivering down there in a corner near the stone walls.

Austin pondered it the whole way down the stairs and into the kitchen doorway.He said a storm was rolling in from the south?If he wasn’t wrong, this was the first autumn where the weather was so…so…odd!

“Oh! Good morning!”

Austin jerked, twisting to find Hyacinth at the kitchen table.

She smiled at him and slapped the seat next to her. “Dahlia said she’d be back, she went to find something. I wasn’t really listening, so I don’t know exactly, but there’s breakfast!”

Austin sank down beside her as she returned to stabbing her eggs with her fork. There were cheese, peppers, and tomatoes scrambled within it along with chunks of sausage. Austin’s plate, however, had more pieces. Buttered toast with scrambled eggs and melted cheese over it like an open-faced sandwich, whole sausages, roasted tomatoes scenting the air. He stopped when he saw a collection of whole apples on the table. Last night flashed in his head. Her adorable excitement, the feeding of the opossum, the offering of her applesauce-covered palm. It was almost too much to bear how much it made the flutter in his chest kick back up.

Unbearable.

She was unbearably perfect.

He croaked, “Good morning, how did you sleep?”

“I am not sure, I laid down, then I awoke. I am functioning, so I think that means I did good?” She peeked up at him through her lashes.

“Better than me,” Austin sighed, taking up his breakfast in both hands. It oozed a little and that’s how he knew it was going to be the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted.

“What’s keeping you from sleep?” She cocked her head.

“Uh, well,” he trailed off with a grimace.Blood. The dead. Hungry mouths that tug on my flesh. My thread pulled till it snaps. They feast on me while everyone I care about is helpless. I hear their screams as they’re torn apart. I protect no one. I die over and over, useless and pulled apart while a vampire sucks Melody down to the bone, or an unforeseeable beast devours Dahlia whole…or some cleric stabs Sebastian’s soulstone with a purified blade, rendering our maker to dust.Austin cleared his throat, shaking his head. “Bad dreams.”

“Mmm, how do you usually get rid of them?” Her eyes were focused on her food, but she kept checking in between bites. It brought a smile to his lips as he worked through his toast and poured himself a massive glass of fruit juice mixture. Dahlia instilled in the house a healthy balance of fruit, vegetables, and carbs. While his stitches might need redoing, his hide was tough as stone due to her tender love and care. His gums had never been so healthy!

“Waking up,” he laughed as the words fell out of his mouth. “I’m not sure, really. Usually, I have Greggory read to me and by the time my brain stops, I don’t dream. But, sometimes it doesn’t work.”

“Hmm,” she hummed thoughtfully as they continued to eat in relative silence. Then she gasped, slapping a hand on the table. Austin jumped as she twisted to him and jabbed a finger at him. “You need a teddy bear.”

“You think?” An unguarded grin grew on his face behind his tusks.

“Yes! Teddy bears are meant to be comforting, correct? People use them to go to sleep. And I’ve had yours this whole time! Not a single bad dream, so that must mean they drive away bad dreams, right?”

Austin stared at her for a long moment, trying to come up with any reason that she wasn’t making complete sense right then.After he found nothing but compelling arguments in her statement, he nodded. “I think you’re right.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder, smugness oozing from her pores, and damn if it didn’t look good on her. Hyacinth went back to her plate, and Austin finally managed to tear his gaze away from her.

They continued to eat in easy silence, the pair lost in thought. While he drifted in and out of thoughts on how to solve his sleeplessness with a stuffed animal, and how to make one big enough for him, everything kept going back to Hyacinth. He finally stopped eating simply to watch her again. She swayed left to right as she ate, like she was listening to something in her head. When she caught him, she immediately flashed him a smile. “Did you say something?”

“No, I was just thinking…we should go outside today, during the day. Lord Sebastian says there’s going to be a storm so we should enjoy the sun while we can.” He deflected, trying not to confess that he was thinking how pretty she was when she smiled. Or that little, singular tendril of white hair bounced like a spring near her face. How her happy wiggles in her seat warmed him. Her smile, high on her cheeks even while eating, was infectious. The glow in her lavender eyes; all of it. Hyacinth was incredibly beautiful and she didn’t even realize how she made his insides twist up.

“Oooh! Do you think we’ll find more opossums to feed?” She rushed to stuff the last few bites in her mouth.

He lurched into action, throwing what was left on his plate back. After a cough to clear his throat, he answered, “I’m not sure, but there’s usually some deer and squirrels!”

She squealed, gulping down the last drops of her juice. Austin was frozen in his spot as she took up their empty plates, cups, and silverware then raced to the sink. She dunked all of it intothe suds before turning to him. Austin had only a moment to climb to his feet before she grabbed his arm. Hyacinth bounced like a bunny the whole way to the front yard.