This Broken Wondrous World by Jon Skovron Page B

turned back to me. “Soooo, yeah. That might be a little bit of a shock for you.”
    â€œUh . . .” I said. “Yeah.”
    â€œI figured,” said Liel. “Take your time.”
    â€œTwo vodka tonics,” said Sequoia brightly. As she placed them on the table, we all kind of sat there in an uncomfortable silence.
    When Sequoia finally left, Claire said, “Right. Let’s fucking drink.”

    I DRANK MORE that night than I’d ever drank before. Maybe more than I’d ever drunk cumulatively in my life up to that night. I don’t remember any of us asking for more than that first round, but they just kept coming. After a while, I lost count.
    At one point, I was talking to Henri. He was going on and on about how much he respected me and how glad he was we were not only cousins, but friends. I happened to look over and noticed Liel and Claire talking, both of them looking about as foggy as I felt. Little alarm bells went off in my drunken brain, and I decided I should listen in, just in case things were getting ugly.
    â€œSo,” Liel was saying. “Truce? Or did you want to take some time to tell me what a bitch I was to Boy first?”
    â€œYou
were
a bitch to him.”
    â€œAt times, yes. But in my defense, at times he was an idiot.”
    â€œHe can be an idiot sometimes,” admitted Claire. “A few weeks ago he tried to make friends with a lake monster.”
    â€œHow’d that go?” asked Liel.
    â€œHow’d you think? He nearly got eaten, then drowned. If I hadn’t come along right then, he’d be at the bottom of Lake Geneva. Sometimes he just doesn’t think things through. Like he’s got no common sense.”
    â€œYeah, but sometimes that’s exactly what needs to happen. What he did, coming after Vi like that all on his own when she took over the theater? Talk about an idiot move. But if he hadn’t, just about everyone in this room would be dead.”
    â€œI had to save his arse then, too,” said Claire.
    â€œAnd that,” said Liel, patting Claire’s shoulder, “is why I’m so glad he has you.”
    I turned back to Henri. “What’s going on over there?”
    â€œWhere,” asked Henri, squinting his eyes.
    â€œLiel and Claire. They’re like buddies now.”
    â€œAh, you see, most of Claire’s hostility toward Liel was that she viewed her as a threat. As competition. Ex-girlfriends can be dangerous like that. But now she knows there’s no way in hell you two will ever get back together again. So they can be friends.”
    â€œThat makes no sense,” I said.
    â€œIt could be that I am drunk,” said Henri.
    And so the evening went. At one point, I looked around and realized we were the last ones in the bar. Claire and Bakru were sitting over in the corner talking. There was some cheesy club music playing and Henri was dancing in the aisle with a couple of dryads. I’d never seen them actually hang out with people in the bar before. It was interesting to see them cut loose a little, drinking wine, laughing at Henri as he tried to woo them with what he clearly thought was some sexy dancing.
    Liel sat down next to me.
    â€œHey,” she said.
    â€œHey.”
    â€œYou okay?”
    â€œSure. No. I don’t know.”
    She smiled. “Been there.”
    â€œOkay, I have to ask.”
    â€œYeah?”
    â€œSo when we were together . . . was all of it just . . . fake?”
    â€œNo, Boy. I’ve always cared about you. Just . . . not in the way you wanted. I tried for a little while, but . . .” She shook her head. “I didn’t really know what I was doing back then. And I know I hurt you while I was trying to figure it out. I’m not going to apologize for that, though.”
    I sighed. “Of course not. Because you never apologize to anyone.”
    â€œNo, because it