Chapter 27 #2
He nods. “I’m thinking of expanding my business. Not just sex toys for humans either.”
“Oh?” I say, and he nods.
“There has to be a market for it, right?”
“I mean, the Vyastil are…interesting creatures.” Even as I say this, I’m not sure I believe it. “I don’t know if most of them really experience pleasure like we do. Or if they even want it.”
“Well, maybe they need to, so they get those sticks out of their asses.”
I snort and take a bite of the cookie. It’s soft and sweet. “Fuck, these are good.”
“They are. My brother actually bakes them. I think I’m going to have him start making more. Sell them to people in need.”
“In need?” I ask, shoving the rest into my mouth and reaching for another.
“Yeah, like bachelorette parties. Shit like that. Luca’s been marketing them at different expos, and they always do really well.”
“Do you sell these anywhere else?” I ask as I pick another one up and stare down at the pink frosting with the white tip. Cum.
It makes me think of Rathyn.
“Luca bakes for the coffee shop—the one that Vyastil couple owns. All his shit is really good.”
I finish the rest. “Why doesn’t he do a bakery thing on his own?”
Dante shrugs. “He’s Deaf—I told you that, right?” I have a vague memory of that, and I nod. “Dealing with the public for him kind of sucks. There’s no real Deaf community here, and hardly anyone signs besides my family. I think he likes being in someone else’s kitchen.”
“That makes sense. But they’re amazing, so I hope this whole thing takes off. Maybe an online bakery,” I muse.
Dante’s eyes sparkle. “Actually, that’s an amazing idea. I just need to figure out how to make that happen.”
“You’ll find a way. We all find a way eventually,” I say as I lean back in my chair and stroke the white frosting, my mind shifting to Rathyn.
Where is he? What’s he doing?
Does he miss me?
Does he regret any of it?
I don’t know if he does, but I sure as fuck do.
“Everest.”
It still stings when he calls me that. Simple.
Too careful. Rolling onto my side, I try to ignore him.
After leaving Dante’s, I headed to The Foundry.
I let him suck me off several times before telling him I was sleeping at Zane’s.
He didn’t put up a fight. Which was somehow worse than him trying to control me.
But here I am, in my old bedroom, surrounded by what was left of my old life before I stumbled into the clinic and everything turned upside down.
“Please.”
I curl up into a tighter ball, trying to shield myself against the pain of hearing him say the word please. Before this, he would have told me that Vyastil never beg.
“I do not understand what changed.”
“Are you serious?” I sit up, my expression incredulous, though he can’t see it. There’s a spot on the wall where a poster used to be. Now it’s a bright spot where the paper shielded the paint from being faded by the sun. I don’t even remember what used to be there.
My heart hurts.
“I am serious. I don’t understand what changed.”
“You changed,” I say aloud, knowing he can hear me. “You made me feel like I mattered, and then suddenly I didn’t. Suddenly, I was nothing more than your personal cum bank.”
“You know this is not true. You are mine. Your body. Your cum. Your mind.”
“My heart?”
“I have no need for a heart. I have need for you.”
He doesn’t get it, and that’s not entirely his fault. I don’t think Vyastil even acknowledge love, and the type of creatures they are, I doubt they believe in something like a soul or that there’s more to the heart than pumping blood.
I can’t hate him for that.
But I can hate him for making me feel the way I do and then snatching it all away.
“You made me believe you cared about me, Rathyn. You let me think this was special.”
“It is. What I feel terrifies me. You are my weakness.”
Falling back, I throw my arm over my eyes and squeeze them shut.
“I don’t even know what that means, Rath.”
I feel a shudder of pleasure, and I realize that without thinking, I’ve gone back to his nickname. I kind of want to take it back, but also, I don’t.
“My Everest.”
Fuck.
“Our connection is, as you said, special. And my superiors are starting to suspect that there is something amiss about our contract. I was unaware, but they put me under surveillance after your interaction with Prince Jyrion.”
My stomach clenches.
“Fuck that asshole. Why? What did we do that was in any way weird?”
“The way you spoke to him was not the way human companions are meant to speak to other Vyastil.”
Well. That was just fucking wonderful. “So, I fucked up Cielo’s life, and now yours?”
“None of that is your fault. You were simply being yourself. But there was no way for me to protect you without pulling away.”
I sit up. That pisses me off even more because fuck that!
“No one was watching us at home, Rath. You didn’t need to be that way when we left Erethar.”
“I was afraid if I allowed myself any more liberties with you, I would make another mistake when I brought you back.”
That…makes sense. Annoyingly, it makes total fucking sense.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of that instead of acting like a giant dick? And it doesn’t change the fact that you didn’t help Cielo when he was taken away after helping you!”
Okay, I know that’s unfair. If even Quilliyn, a fucking prince, can’t guarantee Cielo’s release, Rath wouldn’t have been able to do anything. But I’m still upset.
“Also, you lied to me about the Tarek. And you don’t seem to give a shit about the way Cielo and the others are living.”
I feel a small pulse coming from him, and I immediately recognize it as guilt.
“Most Vyastil do not know about the Tarek. The rift between our species occurred eons ago.”
“But you know,” I press.
I feel him sigh. “It is easier. To keep the peace.”
“Fuck peace when it means killing people who aren’t trying to hurt you. And what about Cielo? Why don’t you give a shit that my friend—your friend—is living like that?”
“He is not my friend.”
“Oh, fuck that. He is. He’s done everything you asked of him.”
“That was his duty.”
“Including killing someone for hurting me?”
He’s silent for a long moment.
“If humans are so unimportant—if my cum is technically replaceable—should he have protected me?”
He gives me a reluctant, “No.”
“But he did. He saved me because he cares about me and you. He took me to Erethar to help you, knowing what was probably going to happen to him. And you can’t even call him a friend.”
“Vyastil do not have friends.”
“Well, maybe you fucking should,” I snap. I roll onto my side again. “Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t all be so sexually and emotionally repressed.”
He says nothing. The silence is heavy, but so is his presence in my head. “If I could change things,” he finally says, “I would. But I cannot. I will face the tribunal tomorrow—”
“Wait.”
He’s silent again.
“Tomorrow?”
“I was summoned.”
Panic races through me, and I sit up again, my heart pounding in my chest. “I’m on my way.”
“Everest—”
“Shut up,” I snap. “I’m on my fucking way.”