Page 127 of Noctis

“I thought you said you didn’t talk to them.”

He shrugged. “There’s usually no reason to, but I wanted their knowledge.”

“Their knowledge of…?”

“How to be convincingly human.”

He held his arms out to the side again. “And I am, right? Because you sat across from me in the coffee shop multiple times and you didn’t know.”

“You ate. You drank. I saw you.”

“I learned how to do that. I learned how to sleep as well. It’s like going dormant, but for a much shorter period. I can human with the best of them now.”

I grabbed his arm and dragged him inside. “I don’t think human can be used as a verb.” Once the door was closed, I steered him toward the living room, where there was enough space to take a proper look at him. I positioned him in the middle of it and circled him slowly. I couldn’t have said what I was looking for. Maybe some sort of flaw in his appearance. If so, there was none. Just a meaty arse and a broad back.

“If you don’t like this one,” Caligo said, “I can change it. I can go blond or redhead. If you want freckles, I can have them. Anything, really.”

I finished my circuit. “So let me get this straight… I told you to go, and rather than thinking screw you, you ungrateful git—which you had every right to do—you did this.” I waved a hand up and down his body.

“You presented a problem, and I did what I could to fix it.”

“So you were always coming back?”

Caligo’s expression went carefully neutral. “I don’t want you to think that I didn’t listen to you. If you ask me to leave, I’ll go.”

“No.” I automatically grabbed his wrist. “Don’t go.”

“Because I’ve solved the problem?”

“Because I’ve realized I didn’t want what I thought I wanted. I never should have asked you to leave.”

“Humans are contrary.”

“We are,” I admitted. “Add the fact that my life has basically been a car crash for the past few months, and no one should be listening to a word I say.”

Caligo looked down at my hand around his wrist. “I listened. I did exactly what you asked of me.”

“I know.” I swallowed. “And I hated it. I only lasted a couple of days before I started calling for you.”

“I heard you.”

My grip tightened. “You did?”

“I left a part of myself here.”

“You could have answered.”

“I wasn’t sure this would work yet. And I didn’t know if you wanted me back or if you just didn’t want to be alone.”

It was a fair point. I thought of all the things I’d said to an empty room. “I wanted you,” I said. “I still do.”

His eyes searched my face, as though he needed to be certain. He could probably hear my heart well enough to know I was telling the truth, but I let him look.

“How much effort does this take?” I asked. “You managed it every day in the coffee shop, but how long can you keep it up?”

“I can hold the form as long as I want. Eating, drinking, and breathing take more concentration because I have to remember to do them the way humans do.”

“You were doing a lot of eating.”