I see a range of emotions cross his face—intrigue, relief, and happiness followed by annoyance, anger, and guilt.
“Please, Cas, don’t do me any favors, okay?”
“Ah, there you are.” John Adams pushes into the dressing room, followed by his brothers. Shit, I hope they didn’t hear what we were talking about, but I can tell by the looks on both William’s and Eric’s faces that they did. Both are frowning, but thankfully neither of them says anything, though that’s not to say they won’t later.
John carries on, oblivious to the tension in the room. “Today’s show was magnificent, and I can’t thank you all enough.” He looks around and then frowns. “Where’s Tirrian?”
“The others took him somewhere to cool off after he attacked Lila,” I answer.
“Good, he’s on thin ice already and he’s only performed once. See to it that he doesn’t fuck up again,” William tells us both with a heavy sigh.
“Anyway, we want the show to be like that every time. Involving Lila in the act was perfect. We’re going to keep incorporating her into more and more, hopefully,” John continues.
“Really?” I ask, sounding a little skeptical, even to myself. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle her hanging from high wires or anything. I’d be constantly stressed about her falling.
“Yes. Lila has a background in gymnastics, so we’re hoping once she becomes Saxon’s blood rose, she may want to be involved in their act too. But for now, we will leave her with yours and the Aquilians’.”
Eric chuckles. “She’s going to be pissed, so how about you let her know about that, Caspian?” he says, and the brothers make a quick exit, not waiting to hear our opinion on any of it. Chicken shits.
Silac sighs and drapes himself across the couch, not looking at me.
“Look, man, I’m happy for you and all, but I kind of feel like you’re pimping me out to your wife and… isn’t that kind of weird? Why isn’t your beast furious about it?”
I sit down on the couch, leaving enough distance between us so it doesn’t look like I’m getting too cozy with him. “Lila is carrying our eggs,” I tell him gently, unable to hide how thrilled I am, and his eyes widen before they soften with sadness.
“Ah, man, that’s awesome. I’m so happy for you.” He leans in and gives me a hug and a slap on the back. It’s not like he would have touched me when we were lovers, more like a bro hug.
“My beast is so secure in our mating he now wants to play. He has already started propositioning Link, Lila’s cyborg boyfriend, and he perked right up when I suggested you to the Adams as a replacement for Dylan.”
“Dylan was the dragon Tirrian replaced? He attacked your mate?” he asks carefully, and I nod.
“Yup.” I don’t go any further. Telling Silac it was for the same reason that he’s now upset about would not go over well.
Again, Silac sighs. “Look, man, I don’t want to get caught between you and your wife. It sounds like she has enough males on her hands without throwing me in her path, but I would be honest with her if I were you.”
I frown and sit back. I think Silac has gotten the wrong idea. Fucking hell.
“I didn’t bring you here for me so I could have an illicit affair with you on the side. I brought you here because I thought you’d get a kick out of being in the circus. Your attraction to Lila, while not unexpected, has nothing to do with it, nor does our previous relationship. I didn’t bring you here so I could have a side piece. I’m completely faithful to my mate, as is my beast, but he’s also not opposed to having some fun with Lila’s other mates, especially if she’s sandwiched between us.”
He’s still frowning, his confusion evident.
“Look, all I’m saying is don’t be afraid to explore your attraction to Lila. She’s feisty and fun and a little crazy, and I think she’s the perfect balance to your careful, trust nobody, let nobody in nature. If something does happen between the two of you, then that’s amazing, but if nothing comes of it, that’s okay too. I missed my best friend and am glad you’re here.”
I stand up, leaving my friend to think about what I just said.
“Okay, I’ll see you later. Link and I are going to stay with Lila in her hotel room tonight.”
He scrunches up his face and shudders. “With your human glamour?” he asks, sounding disgusted, and I shrug, changing into it.
“I want to clear something up. There’s nothing Lila can ask of me that I won’t do for her. This has all been a steep learning curve, and if she needs to touch base with what she is most familiar with, well, I’m certainly not going to get in her way. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say and leave my friend with his thoughts on the couch. There’s an air of sadness to him that wasn’t there before, and I feel a little guilty for not telling him about Lila all week, but I really wanted to surprise him and thought he would be happy for me. Clearly not.
I hope he thinks about what I said, because I think Lila would be perfect for him, and I just want to see him as happy as I am.
“There you are.” I finally find Link in his clinic after checking his pod quarters and the dining room. It had taken me a while because the crew was having dinner, and quite a few people stopped me to talk about the new act, complimenting me on it.
I saw Tirrian brooding in the corner, and he glared at me the whole time. He’s been a complete asshole since he got onto the ship, but he knows he couldn’t sabotage the show, otherwise he would have been in big trouble with both the Adams brothers and his father, who is trying to make up for Dylan’s mistakes. I think he feels the circus is beneath him and he is being punished by being here. I will confront him about everything tomorrow. It can’t go on like this.
“Ah, yeah, I was just checking over Saxon’s vitals.” Link sounds a little worried, and I can see why when I step up and have a look at the unconscious Vilaxian. He is normally pale, like fine Masovian china, but right now, he has a gray tinge to his skin, and his cheekbones look sunken in. His fingers are starting to curl into his palms, making them look like claws.
