“Freedom of movement between realms and within them,” Declan reminded him, equally quiet.Leather, there at his fingertips, offered from the hide of a rabbit cornered, with only the rock to hide behind and a hard place at its back.“With status no lesser than my own.”
Reluctantly, Declan turned to face the three fae.
Aisling, her huge dark eyes carefully neutral, watching the whole scene play out.Nearly human to look at, if not for the split of her too-wide mouth on that plump cheeked face and her deep-set black eyes taking up the majority of the rest.
Tsuri, a riot of brilliant, iridescent feathers all down their arms and mixed with their dark hair, their wings curled comfortably around their waist like a feathered, rainbow skirt, setting off the sheen of their pearlescent skin.Most fae had their wings near the shoulders.Not kinnara.
And Nae, dryad.Patterned dark brown skin and red-gold-brown leaves that tumbled like curls down her shoulders and back set her off finely against Tsuri.As tall as her bond, and soft where they were lean.
Both of them smiled.Nae’s curled to further amusement with Declan’s quick glamour of extra fabric for Antonio’s briefs, giving it the appearance of Faerie-weave, more billowing.More privacy, for all that Antonio couldn’tseeit.Though he’d felt it, judging by the surge of acid in the bond.By all the stars–
Antonio leaned into him, just enough that their arms touched.Acid washed cool by blood.(And blood beingcool, the copper sting something reassuring, that was new.)
“If there’s a ‘fad’ at hand, all credit goes to Everil,” Declan said with a smile.Faint and twisting, his usual public amusement.Declan leaned just enough to press back against Antonio in turn.I’m here.“Have you met his bond?Bo’s charming.”
“The little foul-mouthed human?”Nae asked, sounding delighted.“We’ve not had the pleasure.Saliese and Fiadh haven’t left their estate since that whole nasty trial business.”
“Declan stood as a judge,” Aisling said, somewhere between smug and defensive.“As did your cousins, Tsuri?From what I’ve heard.”
The smile on Tsuri’s beautiful face faltered, their eyes dropping to the floor in a way Declan knew well.“Family,”was likely to be the next thing from their mouth, quiet and resigned.
“Aunt Zenar wasn’t overly pleased,” is what they actually said, voice quiet, but not defeated.When they glanced up, their smile, small as it was, looked very nearly genuine.“We weren’t told the details.”
“Darling Kesk attempted to recruit the man for Zenar’s attentions.”Declan refrained from repeating what Bo told him was said in return.Not withAislingthere.He settled for, “Everil is quite protective of his bond, however.And Bo is nothing if not vehemently expressive in his opinions, especially when one is disrespectful.I find I sympathize.”
Antonio snickered quietly.Strained, thready, but it was there.Good.
Nae snorted, though she hid it with a delicate cough.She paused halfway through the pretense, eyes widening, green as grass after a rain.Declan waited, watching his words sink in.She always had been quick.
“Do you mean…Declan.” Her words a breath, and Tsuri, their slender brows furrowed, glanced at her.
“Allow me to introduce Antonio.My bond, as I am his.”Not a pet, Declan didn’t say.But his smile showed teeth.His proper, real teeth that drew the dryad’s attention away from his bond.“Antonio, this is Tsuri,” a nod to the kinnari, whose eyes went wide, then to the staring dryad, “and Nae.You’ve met Mother, I believe.”
“So good to see you again, Antonio,” Aisling said in the sparkling way she had when making a point of how pleasant she could be.
Declan felt the tug of Antonio’s fingers, twisting in one of the straps of his jeans.He’d let him hold on for as long as he needed, grateful that the human had not yet run away to his bedroom, where Declan couldn’t reassure him that he was safe.That Declan wouldkeephim safe.
“Hey,” Antonio gritted out.“Any friend of Declan’s…”
“Oh,” Tsuri breathed.They lookedcrushed, wings drooping to reveal the dark satin of the sampot they wore.“But, surely– Are you certain?”
“Pretty damn certain, yeah.”Antonio’s words came fast and bitten out, set warmth to Declan’s chilled core, the opposite of the flat way he’d offered his initial acceptance.“The oaths were a bit of a tip off.”
“Oaths.Declan…” That pretty voice almost broke on Declan’s name.“I– You know this was never my intention.For you to– Can I do anything?”
Aisling shot Tsuri a furious, sharp sidelong glare.One thankfully kept from the kinnari by their own lack of attention to her and the leafy riot of Nae’s hair.It took that glare for Declan tofinallycatch on.
He pulled his wings in tight, glad for the glamour that hid them and his own practiced neutrality.This wasn’t what he’d thought would happen, standing still and alone before Tsuri’s devastated gaze, the raw wound of their past set on the table, however indirectly.
“Tsuri…” Declan raked a hand through his hair, searching for words to soothe or stab.He settled for honesty.“You’d have made the same call as the Monarchs if you had known there would be Nae.I’ve had the luck to have a bond offered by someone with the freedom to do so.Someone I also wanted.”
It wasn’t a lie.Not truly.Declan didn’t need to go into details about why Antonio would look to bond a creature of death, the desperation behind it.
“That wasn’t– Declan…”
Declan shook his head and tried to offer a smile.“You asked what you could do for me?You can congratulate us both, Tsuri, and stop feeling guilty.I refuse to believe youtrulyregret the path you walk now.I certainly don’t.”
“Yes.I mean– Nae and I– Congratulations,” Tsuri still sounded somewhere between heartbroken and confused.“To you both.”
