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68 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2025
Benny looked around once more, feeling a little better now that his eyes had adjusted to the brightness. God, it was gorgeous. “This is your private island, right?” he guessed, proud of himself for remembering. “You were talking about it last night.”
“And you’re not…shocked?” Helio asked, looking at Benny like he was some sort of strange creature. Maybe he was, compared to someone as fancy as Helio. “Shocked to find yourself here? Perhaps…enraged? Overcome with despair?”
“I don’t sparkle,” Helio argued, his offense briefly winning over his panic. “I glimmer. Sparkling would be undignified. I’m not some sort of fictional vampire.”
Helio’s enchanted villa should have been aiding him in his dastardly pursuits. Instead, it was serving as Benny’s lapdog—giving him everything his heart desired at the drop of a hat. Benny had only to ask for something, and it would materialize. (...) And when Helio had brought it up to the villa—when he’d thrown, perhaps, a bit of a tantrum—he’d been punished for it. Helio’s bedchamber was now an icebox every night, cold in a way even extra blankets couldn’t remedy.