“Aye.” His grin was pure cocky bravado and made her toes curl. “That I am, pet, that I am.”
Snorting, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “As to my day. It was the same as any other. Though I did happen to spy a blond headed boy with the most startling pair of electric blue eyes come tearing down a hall screaming bloody murder, as a similar looking child raced after him with what appeared to be a garden snake.”
At first Robin frowned, but the moment she mentioned the snake, he burst out laughing and slapped his thigh. “Good God, I’d forgotten all about that.”
Sitting to her knees, knowing she was about to learn another one of his funny stories, she nodded.
Nixie had discovered as time went on, that not all of Robin’s memories with his family had been bad. Not even with Crispin. Though Crispin was an asshole of the highest order now, there’d been a time, way back in the beginning, that he’d been nothing more than a rascally little boy.
Rolling his eyes, Robin popped another handful of grapes in his mouth, before saying, “Argh, yes, well that was one of my least bright moments in life. So I was walking the gardens one fine spring day and happened upon a pig-snouted candy adder. Well, kids and sweets, how could I resist, you know.”
“Oh, of course.” She giggled. “But what exactly is a pig-snouted candy adder?”
“You’ve not got those on your world?” His eyes went wide when she shook her head. “You’re absolutely missing out. They’re only the most desirable of all reptiles in all the lands. A pig-snouted candy adder gives you treats.”
“Treats? How?” She shook her head, smiling as his hands began to twirl and dance about as he told his story.
“Every time it breathes, out pops a tiny little confectioner.”
“That’s gross, Robin.”
“What?” He frowned. “Gross?”
“You’re telling me you eat snake boogers. That’s gross.”
Tossing his head back, he laughed loud and hard, hanging onto his stomach with one hand as he knuckled the tears out of his eyes with the other.
“You’re really quite absurd, my pet. Boogies. Honestly.”
She tossed up her hands. “Yeah, where do I get these things.”
“Hm.” He nodded. “Anyway, I was so proud of myself for catching it that I raced into the castle to show my braether—”
Now, after all these years, Nixie finally understand why when Crispin had used the word Robin had turned white as a sheet. Braether had been their word for brother back when times had been happy, when Robin had been confident in Crispin’s love.
After much time and talking it out, Robin had finally gotten to a point where (if he hadn’t exactly forgiven his brother) he’d come to accept that he could laugh about the good without thinking about the bad.
“—the bounty I’d caught us. Of course, that was when Crispin snatched the snake out of my hand, and growled at me, ‘you idiotic ass, this is not a pig-snouted candy adder, but a hog-nosed adder’. Which is quite deadly.”
It was her turn to laugh. Laughing so hard she began wheezing. “How in the hell did you not realize the difference?”
Looking a little mortified, he shrugged. “They looked exactly the same to me back then. And maybe it tried to nibble on me a time or two, but truly, how could a seven year old be expected to know the difference?”
“Your brother did, and didn’t it strike you as odd that it didn’t give you snot candy?”
Flicking his wrist as if to dismiss her, but all done in good humor, he rolled his eyes. “It may have crossed my mind, but that was secondary to the find. I thought its nose was plugged up was all.”
Nixie covered her mouth with her hand, trying in vain not to laugh at him for that one. “Oh God, Robin, you are a mess.”
“Aye, well, that was the lesson that finally taught me to watch and listen and not just stumble into things blindly, so there was a silver lining in all of that after all.”
Heart warm and smile cramping her cheeks, she nodded. “Oh, honey, you do make me laugh.”
*
“Tomorrow,” he whispered with heart in his throat.
She nodded. “Tomorrow, Robin. Twenty years.”
“I will not come to you tomorrow.”
She frowned. “You won’t?”
“No.” He shook his head. “For I wish to make certain that when you step out of his prison, you will be greeted by the splendor that my Queen should have.”
She smiled.
Nixie couldn’t understand why she’d fought her parents for so long to come to Kingdom. Back then, she’d not wanted any part of immortality, any part of living a life without end, she couldn’t fathom it and the fear of the unknown had made her set her heart and mind against it.
But now…now everything had changed.