Chapter 30 #3
I let out a puff of air. ‘Fine. We can tell everyone when you come home for your stuff—’
‘He cannot,’ Eissa signs stiffly. ‘We must leave for Erethar tonight, and your family cannot know where he’s gone.’
I swallow heavily and shoot pleading eyes at my brother as I lean into Cielo’s warm body. It’s a small comfort. ‘What am I supposed to tell them?’
He shrugs. ‘Tell them I moved to Vegas. I took a job go-go dancing.’
I smack his leg, making him laugh and groan at the same time. ‘Be serious!’
‘I am. You have to make it sound like I moved far away. Tell them we got into a huge fight and I’m taking some time for myself. Ask them to trust you. They will.’
I don’t know if that’s true, but what choice do I have? This is to save his life, and I have to believe that Eissa will take care of him. I glance up at the monster in question, and Eissa is staring at my brother with a look I can’t read.
There’s tension here. I don’t understand it, but I can feel it.
Eventually, Eissa’s ears flick, and he looks at me. ‘Is it settled?’
‘Don’t hurt him.’
I can feel the offense rolling off Eissa in waves. For a moment, he looks furious, and a moment after that, he looks resigned. ‘I understand your fear, but I will not harm him. He will be safe.’
‘I won’t be able to see you,’ I remind him. I look back at Everest and repeat myself aloud. “Promise me you’ll visit him whenever you can.”
Everest nods frantically. “I promise. And…” He turns to Luca. ‘I’m sorry. About…Zane.’
Luca sighs and waves him off. ‘It’s fine.’
Everyone in this room right now knows it isn’t fine, but for now, we’re all willing to accept the words we’re given. Eissa beckons Everest and Rathyn to follow him, and Cielo steps away from me, kneeling beside my brother as he knocks their foreheads together.
Luca gives him a hug as best he can with one arm, then Cielo stands and drags a touch over my jaw before leaving.
And then it’s just Luca and me again.
‘I hate this. I want to murder Zane.’ I don’t even want to use his name sign. He’s dead to me. Now his name is just fingerspelled.
Luca sits up a bit more with a grimace, and he takes a moment to answer. ‘There might be more to all of this than I understand. And if Eissa has his way, Zane will be in jail.’
I take a moment to form my next question carefully because if I don’t, Luca will refuse to answer. And I need something to go on. ‘Have you met Eissa before all of this? There’s something here. I can tell.’
Luca bites his lip and quickly remembers why that’s a bad idea, soothing the cut corner with his tongue. A full minute goes by before he answers. ‘We met in Vegas. He and I…’ he stops, but I know what he doesn’t tell me.
‘More than one night?’ I ask.
He shakes his head. ‘He pretended not to know me when I got home. It hurt. I thought…’ He shakes his head.
‘Not important. But I trust him. And I spoke with Everest a few weeks ago. He told me that Eissa had a human companion who died. He’s not looking for one again.
It was a night of fun, but he cares enough about all of us that he’ll protect me. That’s all this is.’
I can see the hurt in his face now, and I want to hug him, but I don’t think it’ll help. ‘I’ll handle the family, but I’m going to miss you. I don’t want to do all of this without you.’
He huffs a laugh. ‘You have Cielo now.’
I do. And that matters. But Luca isn’t just my brother. He’s my best friend. ‘I hope this is all over soon.’
‘Same-same.’ His eyes start to get heavy, so I help him settle back down against the pillows, then drop to my knees beside the bed so I can hug him.
He hugs back, his arm weak, but the embrace lingers until I know I have to let him sleep. His eyes are closed now, and I don’t bother trying to wake him as I stand up and head into the main room.
Everest is still there, but Cielo, Rathyn, and Eissa are missing.
“Is he asleep?” Everest whispers.
I smile. “Yeah, but you don’t have to be quiet. He can’t hear you.”
Everest flushes. “Right. Uh…look. About Zane—”
“I get it,” I tell him. “Trust me. If it were Luca, I don’t think I could just throw him to the wolves either.”
Everest lets out a puff of air. “No, but…I should have seen this coming. The bullshit his parents put into his head…” He trails off, and his eyes get wet again. “He’s so stubborn and thick-headed. I’m just sorry it came down to this.”
His heartbreak hurts me too, so I pull him into a hug, and we stay that way until I hear matching soft growls. Our respective Vyastil have arrived back in the room, and Cielo and Rathyn pull us away from each other.
Everest rolls his eyes, but I lean back into Cielo’s embrace, taking comfort from his possessiveness. He rocks me gently, and we sway there until the front door opens again and Eissa appears.
“It is currently safe for you to leave with Cielo,” he says. “But you must go soon.”
I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to say goodbye because I know I won’t get a chance to come back before Eissa and Luca are gone.
Eissa nods in understanding, clearly reading my expression. “I will do everything in my power to keep him safe and deliver any messages you two might want to send.”
That’s something. More than I should expect, but still, my heart breaks.
“And I really will check up on him,” Everest promises. “Eissa’s apartments are in the capital near Rath’s. I’ll have plenty of chances.”
I hate that it can’t be me, but at least it’s people I trust. “Thank you,” I whisper.
Everest hugs me again, then Rathyn touches my forehead with his, and Eissa does the same. Cielo says his own goodbyes, then he takes my hand and we slowly make our way back out to the car.
I wish I didn’t have to drive. I want to press my forehead against the cool windowpane and cry for a while, but I can’t. I need to get us home in once piece.
The moment we’re in the parking lot, Cielo turns to me and takes my hand in his. “Sad.”
It’s not really a question, but I nod anyway. “I’m going to miss him.”
“Yes.” Cielo lets out a short breath. “He weeel be safe.”
I know he will. It’s just hard to accept it has to be this way. I let out another slow breath, then say, “I need to tell my family.”
“I can go. Help,” Cielo says.
I shake my head. “No. I think I need to do this on my own. They’re not going to be happy.” Cielo looks upset, but he doesn’t argue, and I climb out of the car, waiting for him. When he meets me at the curb, I pull him against me, and we walk to the apartment together. But this time it feels weird.
Hollow.
Empty, because now Luca is gone.
Cielo presses me to the wall and kisses me, then takes me into his arms, lifting me mostly with his tail as he walks me back to the bedroom. I know this isn’t a moment of intimacy. At least, not one for sex.
When he strips me down and presses my naked body against his, he begins to purr, comforting me the same way he did that first night he saw me in pain.
It helps now, too. Not in the same way, but being able to press my face into his neck and feel him this way, it keeps me from feeling like I’m dying. Like my heart is being torn apart in strips.
It helps. In a small, significant way.
“I love you. Thank you,” I murmur into his rippling skin.
“My Dante,” he murmurs back.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I am completely yours.”