Chapter 25
twenty-five
DANTE
I’m only vaguely aware of moving. It feels a little like the pain is actually going to kill me this time. When the flares first started, they used to cause surges of adrenaline that would turn into panic attacks.
My heart would race, and I’d sweat, and for a while, I truly believed I was going to die. But then I got used to it. I acclimated myself to the agony, knowing that it would pass.
And it always did.
But this feels like it’s going to be my constant. My forever. That somehow, I’ve made all the wrong choices and have broken myself for good.
I don’t remember much about traveling through the portal. The pain is eclipsing my awareness so that I only noticed I was being literally cradled by the ground when I could no longer see Cielo in the distance.
For a while, it was comforting, but the farther away he walked, the more afraid I became. I trusted him when he said nothing could hurt me, but I couldn’t stand the distance.
I walked on autopilot, following what I swear was the scent of him in the air, and that’s when I saw the two other Vyastil. The moment looked tense, and I felt real fear, but then I was in his arms again, and the fog settled over my brain.
I know we’re moving, but all I can think about is the way my nerves are on fire.
I want to throw up, but I don’t have the strength to do anything except flop against his chest as he runs.
We pass by gorgeous trees and glowing mushrooms, strange bird-looking things startling from the branches as Cielo’s massive body disturbs them.
And then…then it’s dark again. And cool.
It smells like earth and damp and something else I can’t quite name. And it’s only as we venture further that I realize I’m hearing a soft, trilling melody, and it’s coming from the walls.
It’s the cave Cielo showed me in his head.
The singing cave.
He sets me down on the moving mossy floor once more, but before I can find the strength to protest, there’s the telltale sound of a flame erupting, and though I’m not sure how much time is passing, it’s not long before the glow illuminates the cave.
Through the fog in my vision, I can see things that are definitely unnatural—a workbench along the far wall, a table, remnants of an old meal, and something like a bed.
Cloths are hanging on natural pegs, and something smells medicinal.
“Cielo,” I rasp.
He turns and comes to me, kneeling beside me. His palm is velvet soft and oddly cool as he brushes my hair off my forehead.
“My Dante. Waaait,” he says.
I’ve been waiting. But I know he’s doing this for me. He’s shattered every rule he was terrified to break because of me. And I don’t know if being here is actually going to help. It could all be for naught.
But I am willing to be patient and quiet as he works.
I watch as he stands up, moving over to the workbench. He hunches over it and begins speaking, which is odd. I can’t understand anything coming out of his mouth, but eventually he moves away from it with a handful of massive leaves and kneels by the fire.
His body blocks out most of what he’s doing, and the stress from my pain overwhelms me back into a near unconsciousness. I don’t realize I’m drifting until I open my eyes again and find Cielo in a different part of the cave.
I blink, then he’s gone.
I blink again, and he’s returned.
I attempt to roll over onto my side, but my strength is gone. I can’t believe how badly I fucked up. I can’t believe I thought that those herbs had healed me.
Instead, putting myself through the strain of being so desperate and so full of cum ruined me.
“Cielo,” I whisper.
A hand touches my forehead, then something cool, like polished wood, touches my lips.
“My Dante,” Cielo murmurs. His hand moves to the back of my head, and he urges me up before a warm, bitter liquid passes over my tongue.
I cough, choking so much that half of the mixture dribbles past my lips, but he forces another mouthful down, and then another. And as I swallow, I feel a sort of heat coursing through my limbs.
And, between one breath and the next, relief. It’s almost like a punch to the gut how powerful it is. I lose my breath in one second, and then regain it in the next.
Opening my mouth, I attempt to say his name, but all that comes out is a shattered sob. Cielo stiffens, then feeds me several more gulps of the mixture before the cup is empty, and by the time it’s flowing into my stomach, the pain is nothing but a quiet hum under my skin.
I can think for the first time in what feels like hours. I can see clearly. I’m beyond exhausted, but I no longer feel like I’m dying.
“Cielo,” I manage through my tears. His hands move to cradle my face as I settle against the strange, moving moss. “Cielo. You…what did you give me?”
He says a word my brain can’t process right then, and my tongue definitely couldn’t make those sounds. “Stronnnnger,” he adds in English.
Stronger? Than the zitha, I assume.
He nods and leans in, warm lips pressing to my forehead before replacing them with his own. His breath coasts over my cheeks, and I realize then he’s shaking.
“Hey,” I tell him. My arms are weak, but I hold him as tightly as I can manage. “Hey. Baby. It’s okay.”
He shakes his head against mine and makes a soft, distressed noise. His ears flick and his tongue darts out, tasting my tears. “Dante,” he says. “I was…afrraaaid.”
“I know. Me too. And I’m so sorry.”
He pulls back and stares. “No. Sorry, you. No.”
Pushing up on my elbows as best I can with a moving floor beneath me, I glance around.
I can still hear the singing walls, though it’s faded into something like a quiet hum, almost like a lullaby.
My exhaustion is intense, and I feel a little terrified because I have no idea how long this Vyastil healing tea is going to last.
I can’t be in pain like that again. I won’t be able to take it.
“My Dante,” Cielo says. His hands rub along my shoulders, then my chest, then down to my thighs. Every muscle in my body is sore from being tense. “VySytheh.”
I’ve heard that word before. I’m a thousand percent sure I heard Rathyn whisper it to Everest as we were leaving the cinema. But right now, I don’t have it in me to ask what it means.
Cielo touches my face again, easing me back against the moss. “Sleep.”
“I—” My instinct is to protest, to tell him I’m not tired, but whatever he’s given me is also urging me to rest. My eyelids are heavy, and my breathing begins to even out without me being consciously aware of it.
“You,” he says very carefully, very slowly, “are safe.”
When I wake, the pain is nothing more than a dull ache in my joints. I groan, trying to sit up, but something warm is sucking lightly at my skin, pulling me back down. Something foreign. Something not of Earth.
My mind clears, and I blink my eyes open. I’m on Erethar with Cielo. He took me through the portal when the herbs no longer worked. When I was in so much pain, I truly felt like I might die.
“Dante,” a voice says above me, a gentle hand pushing against my shoulder.
“Cielo,” I say softly, my fingers gently touching his. “You’re here.”
He nods, squeezing me softly. “Alweez. You feel better?”
I nod and then wince when a sharp pain lances through me. Apparently, better doesn’t mean completely healed. But I can cope with not feeling like my bones are being slowly ripped from beneath my skin.
Whatever I was given, it worked, but I’m doubtful it will stay that way forever.
“Is he awake?” a deep voice says from behind Cielo, and I twist my head slightly to see who’s there.
It’s then that I see it, something other than a Vyastil.
My lips part as I take it in. It moves toward me on four muscular tentacles that coil beneath it, helping it glide across the dirt floor.
My eyes move up, seeing elongated fangs, much longer than those of the Vyastil, extended from its mouth, eyes that shine bright like obsidian, and horns that curl back on its head.
“Do not fear,” the creature says. “I am Sabik, a friend of Cielo. I am here to help you.”
“Thank you,” I say as Sabik comes to a stop near me, holding something in his hands. I glance at the almost primitive-looking thing, and he offers a small rumble of appreciation.
“You are curious, I see. I am not what you expected.”
I nod. “You’re not, but it doesn’t matter. Thank you for your help, and…you speak great English.”
“I am a connoisseur of language and science. I am always excited to learn new things. And Cielo says that you have a problem that the Vyastil cannot fix.”
“Yeah, a pain that won’t go away. I mean, the zitha helped for a while, but then it just stopped, so I don’t know…I don’t have a diagnosis. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“We will find out.”
He glances at Cielo, who hums something in his language, making Sabik furrow his brow and nod.
“I will take good care of him. I already have an idea of what this may be and how we may cure it. But first I must do an examination.” Cielo moves in closer, but Sabik reaches out a tentacle and touches him gently. “I will take good care of your VySytheh. You may stay nearby and watch.”
Cielo hesitates, but moves to the side, allowing Sabik to do his examination.
“What is that?” I ask as he holds some kind of bone object over me.
“You wish to know? I do enjoy curious souls.” When I nod, he adds, “I shall tell you. This is a lens of sorts; these crystals on the edges will hum softly in response to your biological rhythms.”
“Oh,” I say, watching as he places it over my skin.
I watch as the crystals flicker and vibrate in an almost musical tone as he drags it across my body.
Sabik makes small noises in the back of his throat as he does this, and when he’s done tracking it across my throat, shoulders, stomach, and groin, he pulls something out of the satchel at his side.
“Was everything okay?” I ask, and he nods.