Aureus has never really considered himself magical. At least, not in the way that his fathers are—or in the way that his sister is. He glows, but that feels natural. Like the stars at night or the way that the sun looks when it’s coming across the horizon. It doesn’t feel supernatural to carry that light in his chest and to be surrounded by the milky glow, even if he thinks that she looks ethereal with the very same glow.
He smiles as they walk along, listening to her explain her parents. “That’s so useful!” he enthuses, thinking about what it must be like to keep yourself from such aches and pains. That he has a sliver of that magic within him too, that he could shield himself, does not occur to him. He has had no reason to find it.
“My dads both kind of look like me,” he thinks. “One of them is the whitest white you’ve ever seen. He’s the one who glows, and he has these really big antlers. My other dad is white too, but also blue, and kind of an almost-white color. He has wings.” His voice grows warm as he talks about his parents—thinking about how beautiful they are, how kind. He desperately hopes he becomes anything like them.
At her question though, he comes back to himself.
“I don’t think so,” his voice is almost apologetic before he remembers and brightens. “Well, I mean, I don’t, but I have a friend who I think is magical.” There’s something like a secret that pulls at the edge of his serious mouth and makes just an edge of mischievousness lighten his amethyst eyes.
“You can’t meet her though—not yet at least. She only comes out at night.”
