Epilogue
Rory
Nokim had taught the cooks how to make simple raspberry ice cream with berries he had collected in Canada and brought to Dublin using Vergis’s magic. I was both relieved and disappointed that it wasn’t potato ice cream. I’d ask him to give that a try when we got back to Canada. Back home.
“Rory, what is your verdict?” Nokim asked anxiously as we walked down the stairs of the Buttery—all of us except for Hove.
“You want me to tell you how good the ice cream was? Because the answer is, very.”
Inkiri clicked. “We’ll try to get you more of that, sweet thing.”
Fellisse made a thoughtful noise. “But he looked very in pain with that brain freeze sickness. Maybe Rory shouldn’t have ice cream at all.”
Vergis broke into villainous giggles. “Thwarted by your frail human body yet again, Princess.”
“Muffin, you were scared of ice cream when you were a baby. You hid for a whole year when we said ‘ice cream’ at the table.” Kinnek cocked his head. “It’s so nice not to see you hiding under the table at the mere mention.”
“That’s not—I wasn’t afraid of ice cream! I thought you were saying ‘isekim’ and you know it.”
I leaned over to Inkiri. “What’s ise…”
“Isekim. It means monster.”
I elbowed Vergis in the side. “Aww, Vergis, you were scared of something when you were a kid.”
“So many things,” Kinnek said.
“I was not afraid of monsters.” Vergis crossed his arms.
“Logically, that means you were afraid of ice cream, then,” Lissir said. “It has to be one or the other, Vergis.”
I hummed. “Well, technically, it could be both.”
Lissir and Kinnek exchanged a look. Lissir nodded. “Yes. Could have been both.”
Fellisse pretend-whispered in Nokim’s ear. “They’re being very humorous again.”
“No other sentenmen has as many humorous hangua as ours.” Inkiri put his arm around my middle and clicked approvingly.
“You’re all weird, and it was bad enough to have those two dads at home I couldn’t introduce to anyone.”
Kinnek sighed. “But, Muffin, Daddy got that flamethrower hoping you’d finally introduce some suitors to him.”
Lissir leaned forward. “I can find you some of those.”
Vergis rolled his eyes. “Fuck my life.”
The next thing I knew, we’d all started laughing, and he joined in quickly enough.
I remembered something when Inkiri pulled me close to him. I hadn’t carried my phone on me much lately, but the weight of it in my pocket triggered something else I hadn’t done in a long time.
I stopped. “Hey, everyone, can we all just, like, gather around? I want to do a group selfie with everyone.”
Lissir tilted his head. “Group selfie?”
“He wants to take a picture with us all,” Vergis said.
My guys, Kinnek, and Sonyo huddled close around me, the lawn of blooming flowers in the background, everyone’s horns shimmering in the sunshine. I took a few photos. Vergis wasn’t smiling in all of them, but I decided the best one was the one where he was glaring anyway. That was just so him.
Inkiri was at my side, his indigo eyes bright in the sunlight, and the shot where his hand rested on my scarf, that was the one. I posted it on all the social media that still survived.
The tag was pretty straightforward. My family. It said everything that needed to be said, and I wanted all the world to know.
Inkiri
Rory seemed relieved when we got back to Canada, or perhaps it was my own relief I saw mirrored in him.
By that time, Zeddira was well enough to move around a little. He could have been moved back to Dublin, but I got the sense that he was lingering, maybe hoping he could get my mate to fuss over and take care of him.
But even when he picked a spot on the couch in the big living room, my mate did not seek Zeddira out.
I was not surprised. Of course, I had to pay my brother a visit.
Two of his servants were with him near constantly, making sure he had food and drink and anything else he might want.
It was just them in the living room the day after we’d returned from Dublin.
“You look so much better, Brother,” I said.
I didn’t pull out a seating cushion from the pile at first, but then thought better of it. This was my mate’s House too now, and I could do as I pleased unless my mate or Kinnek told me otherwise. It would do Zeddira well to see that.
“I’m feeling so much better.” Zeddira’s eyes narrowed when he saw insolence and watched me sit without invitation. “Your sentenmen’s healer tells me I should have died.”
“Yes, my mate said the same thing. Which is why he healed you.”
Zeddira smiled. “He’s fond of me. I have wondered why he has not visited me, Brother.”
It was not an accusation, but it was close to one, the way he dropped the polite forms with his servants there to hear it.
“My mate is busy now that he has decided he wishes to live here permanently. He has become a part of House Kinnek.”
Zeddira’s lips pressed tight, and he didn’t blink for a whole minute, which was also how long he stared at me. It wasn’t much of an outburst, but it still satisfied me. Zeddira was always in control, but clearly not where my mate was concerned.
“Has he. Has he indeed. Since you are wearing black still, the new dena of the Dublin Raiken has done the responsible thing and sent his sentenmen to guard him. Isn’t it so.”
None of it was said as a question. Zeddira was seething, but there was nothing he could do, and he knew it.
“It’s what the dena has decided.”
“There will be patrols here to make sure that your sentenmen is enough of the protection your cherished mate deserves,” Zeddira finally added.
“It would be much appreciated.” I stood. “I apologize, Brother, but my mate is demanding. He’s expecting me.”
I stood and put the seating cushion back on the pile.
“We’re leaving here,” Zeddira snarled at one of his servants when he thought I was out of earshot.
I smiled to myself when I came into the kitchen where Kinnek and Charles were talking quietly, Kinnek with a glass of iced tea in front of him.
“I think my brother wishes to leave, Kinnek. Perhaps you can help him home?”
Kinnek smirked. “Didn’t like him being here, did you. Of course. I will see him and his servants safely to Dublin.” He drained his glass. “Back in a bit.”
He and Charles kissed. I wasn’t sure of how unusual it was for a human to so easily tolerate Aragis here, but Charles seemed to have no problem with it. Quite the contrary, actually.
Kinnek left, and I was about to head upstairs to the roof to see what Rory and Vergis were doing and whether they wanted a snack or something to drink when Charles spoke.
“Hey, Inki,” Charles said. “How would you guys feel about some construction work?”
“Construction?” I took the chair Kinnek had just vacated. “You mean building?”
Charles shrugged. “When I originally built this place, I thought it would be a generous home with my horned husband and kid and the odd horned houseguest, but Fellisse and Nokim are in Kinnek’s art room, and Lissir’s been bedding down with Vergis, which Vergis doesn’t like.
He’s weird about his space, you know? Very human of him. ”
“Not that human, Charles.”
Charles tapped his glass of iced tea with a finger.
“Well, yeah. But either way, it’s getting crammed, but we have the space.
We can expand. We could build an annex if you guys are up for it, and with our three mages, a lot of the things that need doing might get done faster.
It would also give Aragis some space too. ”
I nodded. This made sense. Vergis might at some point wish to take mates, and while Lissir was not the mating type, he liked a warm hangu-na in his bed every now and then. Tador, Zeddira’s tactician who was now also stationed in Dublin, had certainly shown interest in visiting Lissir soon.
And, of course, Aragis might wish a space where he could be alone and feel safe. He had been hiding in Charles and Kinnek’s bedroom, and I hadn’t seen him once since we’d gotten back. Charles had actually joined Nokim and Fellisse in the art room last night.
I nodded. “We’ll help. Nokim will love the opportunity to learn about construction, and in fact, I think there are several at the Dublin Raiken who will wish to help as well after Rory healed them.”
“That works for me. The more hands, the quicker this gets done, and everyone will be happier after.”
“I’ll text Hove from Rory’s phone. Or better, video chat with him.”
Hove had taken quickly to his own device after Vergis had found him one in Dublin. It was amazing that those things still worked, but humans were tenacious, like my sweet mate. Their technology reflected that.
Hove, while he’d sent a team back to check the bodies for evidence and make a count of them, knew just like we all did that some of the mages had escaped, not to mention the Koa Esher.
He was glad to have a way to quickly contact us here, especially in case anything developed that needed to be shared right away.
Charles nodded. “You do that. And welcome to the family, I guess. Glad to have you guys here.”
I bowed. “We’re honored to have become a part of your House.”
Charles took Kinnek’s glass to the dishwasher, and I went upstairs.
Vergis and my mate were listening to music on the roof. Rory was lying in the shade of one of the solar panels, and Vergis was stretched out on the Astroturf.
“Oooh, Ink,” my mate said. His voice sounded funny, and I knew what they had done even before he found the strength to lift his head and look at me with blown pupils. “Ink, you’re so handsome. Look, Vergis, do you see how his horns gleam in the sunlight?”
Vergis groaned. “Honestly, you had half a fucking brownie. And I swear Nokim barely put any in.”
I nodded in understanding. “Ah. Nokim experimented with brownies and kaminni.”
“Fun brownies!” Rory crooked his finger at me. “Come here. Kiss me. Kiss me like Romeo kisses his Juliet.”
I smiled at him. “Romeo?”
Vergis groaned. “Some Shakespeare play. Balcony scene, lots of drama, lots of speeches. Some death.”
My mate giggled. “Only one of his greatest works of all time. Vergis, you’d be such a good Juliet. On a balcony! With Nokim below.”
Vergis hissed and turned the music up louder. “Go make out with your mate, Inkiri. That’ll shut him up.”
I could get them some snacks later, and my mate was holding out his arms to me, so I lay down next to him on the thin mattress he’d brought out, reveling in the sensation of him running his hands over my horns.
I kissed him too, like he had asked. I tasted the kaminni on him, but mostly he tasted sweet and perfect and like mine.
The kiss was long, and his grip on my horns made me want to do more, but this was not the place, and he’d grow tired when the kaminni wore off.
I ended the kiss when I sensed him getting tired. “Are you happy, sadir?” Rory was quite breathless and had one leg slung over me, seeking to be close. I held his leg in place and rolled us so that he could lie on top of me and cuddle all he liked.
“Super happy. Super-duper happy. Happy as a pie. Are pies happy? Vergis, what’s happy?”
“A twink on drugs.”
“Yes! Happy as a twink on drugs.”
With a lot of energy for someone who felt the effects of kaminni so acutely, Rory pushed himself up so that he was straddling me.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I love you. I know lots of romantic speeches from all the plays, but that’s the bottom line. I love you, horns and all. And the cock! Especially the cock.”
Vergis moaned. “Look, the first rule of roof club is that you do not fuck on the fucking roof.”
My cheeky mate looked over his shoulder. “Is a handjob fucking?”
Vergis sat up, looking like he wanted to argue, but then he headed for the hatch. “You clean up after yourselves, and no sex in the hammock, for fuck’s sake.”
He went down the ladder fast, and it made me feel guilty to see him leave his spot.
But then I looked at Rory, and he was all I could see. “You want a handjob, sweet thing?”
“Nah, just wanted to have you to myself. Vergis gets so jealous.” He bit his lip and looked at me for a long time.
I was beginning to think the kaminni had taken full effect, but then he said, “Thank you. For saving me at the department store, of course. But also, you came here. To Earth. Right when the veils fused, and you left everything behind just for me. You followed me here to Kinnek’s House, and I don’t…
That’s huge. You’re the absolute best. Thank you for being so good in every way. ”
My heart thundered in my chest. My perfect mate, so easily pleased and so caring, thought me precious and desirable beyond all else. That could make any hangu-na vein, but all it did was make me as happy as I wanted to make him.
I sat up and hugged him close to me, then ran a hand through his unusual red hair; a color I’d come to love.
“I receive your thanks with humility. And I love you too, sweet thing, my beautiful mate. You are my light in darkness, Rory. Your brightness honors me.”
“Yeah, you’re very shiny too.” He started to giggle. “Sorry, you really are, I just feel kind of funny.”
Well, my sweet mate was a little bit high after all.
“That’s all right, Rory. I have you.”
I kissed him while he enjoyed his high, the handjob he had proposed forgotten, especially when I tickled him and his bright laughter rang out, carried by the wind for everyone to hear.
My love for him lived in my mind, in my skin, and under my tongue. He was everything, and he was mine. It was the greatest joy to know that he wanted me to be his. On Earth, on Aer, anywhere and always.