Chapter 28 #2
“Yesss.” I wet my lips and tap my tail against my thigh. “Can you teeeech me how to kneeet?”
He furrows his brow and then gasps. “Knit? Of course. I mean, my mom can! Why? Do you want to make your brothers something?”
I nod and add, “Socks.”
“Oh my god. Yes. She would love that. I’ll text her right now.” He places his knee under the steering wheel and uses that to maneuver the car through traffic, his fingers flying over the phone screen. When he’s done, he grabs back onto the wheel and beams.
“She’s going to come over tonight, I bet. She’s going to be so fucking happy.”
I hope so. I wish to make her as happy as she and her family have made me.
Especially the one she birthed.
He has made me the happiest of all.
My only regret is not having Zynath and Alvayn here with me as the small apartment fills up with people. Dante’s family is big, and they are loud, but they are full of what humans call love. A sensation I am only just starting to understand, though I believe I have felt it for some time now.
But I know this would overwhelm them. Quilliyn has asked me to come by the gym tomorrow so we can discuss the portal key, and he promised he would ensure my brothers would have plenty of cum, nutrition, and rest so they may heal and adjust.
It comforts me now as I greet Dante’s mother, who has learned the Vyastil way. She is very small but stretches high on her feet in an attempt to press her forehead to mine.
When I greet her this way, she laughs and pats my cheek with a thin, soft hand. “Amore. You look better.”
I have not seen her for some time, and when she was here last, I was still consuming the white liquid from Dante’s nonna. I nod and greet the wise female before they are swept into the kitchen by Gia and Amara, and Dante curls an arm around my waist.
“I love that you love them,” he murmurs.
“Yes.” I press my nose to his temple and breathe deeply, taking in his scent. I wish to tell him what he means to me, but it must wait. There is too much we must do, and I fear it would make us both lose focus.
There’s another knock, and Dante answers, smiling when Everest and Rathyn appear. Luca’s close behind them, looking as tired as he did before, and more worried.
I do not understand why, but he greets me with a smile and a nod before walking into the kitchen and yanking the glass of wine from Gia that she was drinking from.
On Erethar, that would be just cause to lose an appendage, but Gia simply shouts in outrage though it does not stop Luca from consuming her red liquid.
“So, Cielo,” Dante’s mother says to me. I turn to look at her. “You wish to learn to knit?”
I very much love the way she speaks. Her accent is different from Dante’s, but very comforting. I nod my fist. Signing with her is easier. ‘Yes, thank you. I want to make my brothers socks.’
She grins and beckons me to follow her to the sofa. It is comfortable sitting beside her. It makes me feel like a youngling for a moment—my head still so empty, waiting to be filled with information and skill.
I watch with narrowed eyes as she shows me how to what she calls, “cast on,” and then she twists the needles in between the little lumps in the thread.
“You have a different shape to your feet. It took me a little while to get the pattern right, but I wrote it all down.” She sets the paper on the table. I will study it eventually. For now, I am content to watch her as she goes. “These will be for Rathyn.”
He is leaning against the wall with one shoulder, arms folded, his tail wrapped around Everest’s thigh. He was looking disinterested, but now he perks up and leans over toward her.
“I like orange,” he says.
“Ah, yes, cucciolo. I have several different shades of orange, just as you requested.” She opens her floral bag to show him, and he gives a low, happy trill.
“I will wear them often.”
Everest grins across the room at me. He looks happy, which is much different from the Everest I first set eyes on. He was afraid then, angry and confused.
But he was strong and stubborn, and those parts of him have not changed.
Dante eventually sits next to me with a massive plate of pasta and offers me a bite, though I decline. Human customs say it is rude to turn down food all the time, but Dante does not seem offended.
He seems to not only understand our differences but also embrace them. I lean over, rubbing my nose along his ear before finishing the first row that will fit one of my brothers’ heel claws.
I show it to Dante’s mother, who gives me an approving nod.
“Very good, amore. It’s going to be perfect. Your brothers? They will love it.”
My heart warms. Will she ever meet them? Will she like them as much as she seems to like me?
“Yes,” Dante murmurs, leaning into me. “She will. So will Luca, Gia, and Amara.”
Luca makes a loud noise, waving at Dante. ‘I saw my name. Talking about me?’
‘Yes. Telling Cielo how bad you smell, and leave socks everywhere. And wet towels.’
Luca puts up his middle finger, which I know is a rude gesture, but Dante merely laughs. Luca grins back at him, but his expression shifts, and he bites his lip before he signs, ‘I want to talk.’ Dante points to himself, and Luca nods. ‘Please.’
‘Go,’ I urge Dante in his head. ‘It is obvious your brother needs you.’
“I,” Dante starts, then stops. He meets my gaze. “I have something I want to tell you when we’re done. Something important. Something good,” he clarifies as though he sensed my immediate worry. He kisses me for good measure before slapping his hands on his thighs and pushing up with a grunt.
The brothers disappear into my room, and I can tell Dante is going to use Niaus to soothe whatever is bothering Luca. As he should.
I get back to my knitting, and it isn’t long before Rathyn takes Dante’s abandoned seat.
“Your brothers are safe?” he asks in Eretharian.
I nod. “They are with Quilliyn now.”
“And the portal key?”
“Quilliyn is keeping it,” I tell him. He looks concerned, but I trust Quilliyn entirely. “He will aid me in destroying it.”
Rathyn is quiet for a long moment, and while I do not ever wish to know his deepest, most personal thoughts, I wish he were easier to read.
“Everest believes that more Vyastil are unsatisfied than satisfied. He believes it is the majority.”
I’m afraid to respond. The truth is, I know this.
I can confirm it. We have been taught all our lives to accept our station and to live as comfortably as we are allowed.
There was no point in wishing for more. More was a luxury—it was a passion, and passion went against the very nature of the Vyastil.
Only, many of us know that is not true. Many of us know the ancient songs written on the walls of the singing caves. We know the Vyastil that came long before the capital was built. We know that each had a VySytheh. That they raised their hatchlings.
That there was family, and peace, and something like love.
But most of us also did not believe any of us would ever find it again. But Rathyn did, and I do not believe he was the first.
And I have found it for myself, and I wish to believe my brothers will, and Quilliyn.
“You agree with him,” Rathyn eventually says. When I glance away, he lets out a small hum and flicks his ears. “Do not be afraid to be honest with me, Cielo. I understand that our stations make it difficult, but I am…trying to be better.”
I bow my head, then eventually nod.
“You are more of an expert than I am. I was taken from my eggshell and put into Eissa’s home. I was raised in the capital and bred for command. It was all I had ever known. It was all I believed. But Everest has destroyed that.”
“Was it painful?” I can’t help but ask.
He does not hesitate in his answer. “Yes. It was agony. But it was glorious agony, and I would not change a moment of it, except perhaps when my unwillingness to bend hurt my Everest. I would go back and remove the pain I caused him.”
I have never hurt Dante. At least, I do not believe I have, but I can imagine it. And I would feel the same.
“Everest believes there can be a change made with the Vyastil. If more discover bonds with each other and with humans—if more find VySytheh—then it will be impossible for the royal house and the council to ignore.” He sounds worried, and I suppose he should be.
I do not have Rathyn’s education, but I know enough of our history to know this could be the start of a war. Vyastil against Vyastil. It was how we came to be as we are now.
And violence terrifies me, but perhaps it is the only way to change.
“I want to help.”
Rathyn nods his head deep with respect. “It will take a long time to make this change. It might require sacrifice. And there is the matter of the human rebellion to deal with as well. Eissa has told me recently that there have been more attempts to breach our portal locations.”
“They cannot use portal keys. Not as humans,” I say.
“No. But all they will need to do is convince one Vyastil of their cause.” He lets out a soft, frustrated hum.
“And knowing what I know now—seeing what they have done to you, and the humiliation they have made me cause my Everest simply to satisfy their own sadistic needs—I do not believe they would have a difficult time finding someone to assist.”
He is likely right. And I do not know what that will mean for the treaty between our worlds. The humans’ weapons are dangerous. They cause widespread destruction. They built them, not caring that they would kill not only their enemies, but themselves.
They would sacrifice innocent lives for power.
And the Vyastil would fight them off. They would have every being in our realm to destroy them, but what would happen when that war was over?
“We must find a way to stop them without giving the Vyastil capital more power,” Rathyn says.
That is far above what I am capable of understanding. It would take me several moon cycles of study to grasp it. But he is a commander. He was trained for these tactics.
“I am your ally,” I tell him.