Chapter 30 #2
When he doesn’t move toward me, just continues to watch his fluid seep from me, I reach a leg out and pull him closer.
“Come here, Rath. I mean it. Don’t make me force you.”
His rainbow orbs meet mine. “You really think you can be a subservient companion in front of everyone? I do not think you are capable.”
I stare at him and then force my face to fall neutral. “Of course I can. Whatever you say. You know all.”
His ears flutter, and his fang pokes out. “Do not speak to me this way, my Everest. I dislike it.”
“Only for them,” I whisper.
He’s on me in seconds, his hands grabbing my arms and forcing them over my head. I inhale sharply, seeing the anger in his eyes.
“When we are here, you must be my Everest. And in Erethar, I will find us sanctuary where I will also be yours and no one will see.”
I nuzzle into his neck, and he hums happily, his fingers grazing a touch up and down my side. “I promise I can do this, Rath. I won’t let you down.”
“I know you won’t. You are…tenacious.”
I can’t help but grin. “I am.”
His hold on me softens, and he falls to my side, pulling me with him. “Please promise me you will only behave this way when in public.”
“Yeah, alright.”
“Promise,” he insists.
I hold up my fingers like a scout. “I promise. Sub in the courtroom, brat in the bedroom.”
He tugs on my hair and forces me to look at him, those eyes shining. “I love that part of you.”
I sigh and lean up slightly, brushing my lips against his. “I love all parts of you, even the annoying ones.”
His lips twitch, and then he pulls me onto him, my body wrapping around his. I feel that soft, scaly skin brush against mine, and I sink into it. I used to think it was odd, but now I can’t get enough.
I can’t get enough of him.
And I’ll do anything to keep this.
I have no idea what time it is when I wake up. The curtains are drawn tight, so I have no idea if it’s still dark out. It doesn’t really matter. Rathyn is with me, curled around me—arms lashed tightly around my waist, his tail curled around my thigh, clawed feet pinning mine to the mattress.
I feel sated. I feel wanted and safe and warm.
He seems to sense that I’m awake now, his tail pulsing a little, though it doesn’t let me go. I shift a little, turning toward him, and I can see his rainbow eyes glinting in the pale glow of the hallway light that sneaks under the door.
“Hi.” My voice is thick and raspy.
“My Everest.” He says that in my head.
It brings me back to the thing that the Tarek called me. The things Rathyn knows that I don’t.
“Explain to me about the VySytheh,” I murmur.
His eyes close for a long blink, and his sigh makes his broad chest rise and fall. It takes all of my self-control not to fall on him and ignore all these things that I need to know.
But I’m too stubborn to give up for long.
“It is a word that we have…an ancient word. One that I never heard spoken on any Vyastil tongue. It exists in old texts—songs, poetry, things that we no longer use.”
I frown and lift my fingers, grazing a touch over his jaw before twisting one of his long strands of hair around my fingers. “So, it’s taboo?”
His lips twitch, and his ears flick. “Mm, yes. Taboo. That is a good word for it.” He falls silent for a second.
“I knew the word, but it was meaningless to me. It was a mark of what Vyastil had been in the past—the pieces of our culture that the rulers of Erethar decided were keeping us from evolving.”
“That sounds…kind of fucked.”
He frowns. “Sex?”
“No. Like,” I hesitate, “wrong. But in a big way.”
He nods and pulls his hair out of my hand, then brings my palm to his lips and kisses me there. “When I first tasted you, do you remember?”
“Yeah. You called my dick small. Said my balls were like walnuts.”
He huffs, trying to hide his smile. “Do you recall what else?”
It takes me a second. “I…oh…I tasted different? You turned into a fiend.”
He hums, a little trill in the back of his throat. “Yes.”
“You were like one of those cum zombies at the clinic.”
His eyes flash at me, and he leans forward, grazing fangs along warm skin. “Only for you. You were different.”
“What did I taste like?”
I expect him to say like that mossy shit he eats, or maybe some kind of Eretharian sweet.
But he doesn’t.
“You tasted like mine.” My heart leaps in my chest as he rolls his body further against me and drags a single claw down the edge of my jaw.
“And that night, after you were gone, I could hear you in my mind. It…it was familiar. Like I’d heard you before.
Like I dreamt you,” he murmurs. I can understand his words, but he’s slipping close to his language, everything surrounded by his melodic voice.
“And then your thoughts became clearer. I could feel you in my head. And I tested it the night you were at work.”
I swallow heavily. This is obviously very significant.
“I was terrified. I spoke to Eissa about it after we had signed our contract—after I knew I could trust him. He used that word.”
“VySytheh,” I say. I still don’t totally understand it, but for now, what he’s told me is enough.
He hums again. “Yes. Mine.”
My entire body goes warm. “Rathyn…”
He cups my cheek. “Generations ago, we each had one. We would find the one that was perfect for us—the one who tasted like home. Like ours. And we would know they were ours. Just as I know you are mine.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. He has to stop, or I’m going to do something ridiculous, like start crying. “You’re sure it’s not just a fluke?”
“I am sure. Eissa confirmed it. We only hear the thoughts of the ones who belong to us.” He goes quiet for a moment.
“My Everest, my VySytheh, tomorrow when you face them, you cannot let them find out. Do you understand? No one can ever know we have this connection. If they know, they will take you from me.”
A cold chill creeps up my spine because I know what he’s implying. It won’t be for just a punishment. It’ll be forever. “Cielo knows. The Tarek knows.”
Rathyn is quiet for a moment, then says, “I trust them.”
I know that’s huge for him. Especially the Tarek. I roll fully into his arms and close my eyes. “I won’t say a word to anyone else. This will be ours. Our secret.”
He hums, the sound satisfied, and then the hum turns into a song. I start to drift on the notes as they take me to a quiet, dark, safe place. And he’s there, in my head with me.