Page 115 of A Light in the Dark
THIRTY-SIX
There’s nothing wrong with my adoration of luna moth silk.
I endured a lecture from Lois,who went into explicit detail about what luna moth women endured when off their birth control and in the presence of their partner. With the woman’s tirade about the unfairness of having to deal with guaranteed pregnancy, multi-hour sex binges, and insatiable sex drives still ringing in my ears, we went to the pharmacy to get my new prescription. Unfortunately for my sanity, only one place in the city carried the correct birth control. Worse, the place was owned by members of Joel’s flutter.
Fortunately, they bought into my claim that I wanted to have all forms of birth control available in case they were needed by other members of the flutter, especially women who didn’t want to impose on Joel. As such, I went home armed with enough condoms to protect an entire army.
To support the claim he did the same, Joel bought a huge stash as well.
Once behind the wheel of Joel’s SUV, safely buckled inand able to breathe without the risk of breaking out into helpless laughter, I said, “They really bought into that!”
“The only reason I don’t have a stash of condoms at my house is because I just handed out my stash to a new couple needing to wait for their birth control to be effective. They know it, and that’s why my purchases were ignored. As I don’t share who is getting the condoms or reminders to take care with their partner unless they’re planning on having a child, they aren’t going to think anything of it. Honestly, unless we get married, they’ll assume we’re dancing around each other.”
“Do luna moths like weddings?”
“We are beautiful and we know we’re beautiful. We live for weddings. That said, if we were to get married, we’d have flutters from all around the world wanting to attend. The ones that don’t get invitations will show up as luna moths.”
“No luna moth is getting an invitation to our wedding,” I informed him in a solemn tone. “Should there be one. I wantallthe luna moths in attendance, as luna moths. And the silk rules apply.”
“I’m sure you’d receive gifts of silk once people know you love crafting.” Joel laughed. “How about we issue invitations to our wedding but with a strong preference for all flutters to attend as moths, as you have an obsessive compulsive luna moth disorder.”
“It’s not a disorder. There’s nothing wrong with my adoration of luna moth silk, especially Shifter Five’s silk.”
I needed to talk to Yolana and keep teasing Joel for a while about his silk. Something about the way he bristled encouraged me to yank his chain a little harder.
“It could be worse. You could be trying to get moremundane luna moth silk. Sure, shifters have to be paid for their contribution to the silk, but the mundane stuff is ridiculously rare.”
“I should make a cross-stitch using every type of viable silk product. That would be such an excellent use of my free time.”
“Are you going to have free time?”
“I better.” I wrinkled my nose. “What time does City Hall open? I’m going to be unhappy leaving this mess to fester.”
“It’s open all day and night, but it has limited services at night. As the mayor, you can show up at any time.”
Hm. I pointed at his navigation panel. “Make that thing direct me to City Hall.”
Joel did as ordered, and ten minutes later, I parked in a no parking zone, grinned at Joel, and said, “I’ll look the other way, but go find somewhere to park this beast before joining me. No side trips, no adventures, and be careful with your head.”
“Shouldn’t you ask me if I can drive first?”
“Well, can you?”
“I feel fine, but you should have asked first.”
“Joel, you looked ready to cry in your garage when you had to get into the passenger seat. Be careful, and if you don’t tell anyone, I won’t.” I pointed at a nearby spot on the street. “I think you can handle going that far.”
“I’m sure I can. I see you are more benevolent than the other dictators. Didn’t you hear Lois?”
“I heard her. She enforced the Moonriver doctors solely on grounds of your tendency to misbehave. I’m taking that to mean you’re safe to drive, but as you cause your flutter problems, they’re punishing you.”
“That sounds pretty accurate,” he admitted.
I got out of the vehicle, and to my amusement, a security guard came down the steps, his expression promising a rebuke for my choice of parking. I engaged him in a staring contest while Joel got behind the wheel and moved the vehicle. Then I pointed at the sign indicating it was a drop-off zone and waited.
While the guard’s expression remained stern, he said, “We were not expecting you, Madam Mayor.”
How unfortunate. I had a title, and people were willing to use it. “I wasn’t expecting me until fifteen minutes ago, so don’t feel badly over my impulsive decision to add an errand to my evening. Are you someone I can talk to about some marching orders on things I need done?”
