Why, by all the stars and black pitch of the voids, was Tsuri so distraught by his bond to Antonio?At least Aisling’s earlier bristling made a sort of twisted sense.Tsuri had never appeared so concerned about Declan’s well being before, when rejections by word or silence sounded.Not even after their family vetoed the match with Declan when they were well into negotiations.
So lost in his own confusion, Declan didn’t immediately clock Antonio’s sunbright indignation.There was heat in the back of his mind, a lessening of pressure on the strap of his jeans, then Antonio’s solid presencebesidehim.His arm a heavy weight over Declan’s shoulders.
The comforting taste of leather, desert sun along his skin, bright on his back.
Nae froze mid-congratulatory murmur, the words dissolving on her lips in shock.With Antonio holding on to him as if hewantedto do so, Declan understood why.He, too, was unsure of how to respond.
“Thanks,” he heard Antonio say, with blood, there, in his smile.The promise of it, even if not in violence.“You must be one of the potentials he mentioned.I guess some of them were afraid of the whole ‘deathsight’ thing.Unbelievable, right?But that’s fae, I guess.Immortality and all that.We humans, we’re used to death.Can see the value in it.”
Tsuri opened their mouth and said nothing.
Antonio’s words hurt the way his kindness had, back in the garage.A sweet blow, knife dug in slow and kind.A rush and need that had nothing to do with lust nor the bond.Antonio talking as if he wantedhim, Declan the sluagh.Wanted, even though the same magic Antonio hated and feared made Declan, too.
Value in death, Antonio said.That much was true.And perhaps one day, Declan could be to Antonio what the human pretended he was now.A sought-after companion, worthy of wanting around.
“As I said, Antonio initiated the bond,” Declan said, once he had his voice under control.Once he wasn’t melting into Antonio, but merely leaning some, arm curled hesitantly around the man’s waist.“And I am more than content with what we’ve forged.”
Silence hung heavy in the room.Even Aisling, known for disrupting tense moments, remained quiet.It was Nae who stepped in at last.
“Congratulations, Declan, truly.And you, Antonio,” she said in her gentle, rustling way.Practiced and placating.“Unfortunately, Tsuri and I have a standing obligation later that we need to attend to.I’m afraid we’re not able to stay long.”
Aisling smiled.It was a little warmer than the conversation strictly called for.“Would you like to return another time?I have no intention of sending the piece you wanted elsewhere.”
“Perhaps.Tsuri?What do you think?”
Tsuri didn’t answer right away.They watched Antonio and Declan, their gaze lingering where Antonio’s bronze, tattooed arm draped over the skinny, partially covered expanse of Declan’s shoulders.
“I think that I’ve made a fool of myself.”They took a single tentative step closer.
Declan settled his hand on Antonio’s side in return, held the human as the human held him.“Oh?”
“I– Yes.Antonio,” a shift of their lovely gaze to the human in question, “I’ve met barely a handful of humans in my lifetime.I made … assumptions.It won’t happen again.And Declan…” Another pause.The same pause that’d been there every time they spoke to Declan after the negotiations failed.“I feared you had … sold yourself short.I should have known better.And Iamhappy for you.”
Tsuri was a terrible seelie, a trulywretchedexample of an uptight, static fae stuck too hard to their pride and tradition.Their step up.Their stepcloser.Addressing Antonio by name and in apology.Declan, too.Having worried for him.
Declan did so like his worst seelies.Kinnara, sidhe, pooka, he’d take the bunch.
“Less of a fool you may have been a moment ago.”Declan’s smile no longer bore teeth.“Have you been concerned all this time?”
If his hand settled a little more on Antonio’s waist, cautiously familiar, one couldn’t fault him for finding comfort where offered.Voids bless it, but Antonio relaxed, his partial embrace turned companionable rather than protective.And he feltsovery good like that, with or without the dizzying high of need.
“Ofcourse,I’ve been concerned.You’re– I was planning to bind my soul to yours.Despite … the complications,” they said, a touch of embarrassment to their musical tones.Antonio stroked Declan’s arm.The world warmed.“I didn’t speak to them for a decade after they interfered.”
“You didn’t speak to theMonarchs?”Declan asked, startled.“For a decade.”
“It wasn’tfair,” Tsuri said, a flush decorating the topmost curves of their cheeks.“But I told myself you’d find someone better suited.Like I did.Another sluagh or,” they glanced toward Antonio, then lowered their gaze, “someone braver than me.”
Just like that, Tsuri all but rewrote a vast chapter of Declan’s early life.Added footnotes, context, and citations.The existence of it shifted, tucked the knowledge close where it may one day silence the dull thudding hurt of centuries.
Nae threaded her fingers through Tsuri’s.She didn’t speak up, just as Antonio didn’t.Each of themthere, however, Antonio’s arm all the more solid with the further settling against Declan’s bony frame.
Tsuri and Declan, with their braver bonds.
“I didn’t know,” Declan said after a beat.“We were simply sent the refusal.”
“I wasn’t informed until after.If I had known they were going to, I would have told you.”
Declan had always known the family interfered.Tsuri’s strong reaction to the change in plans, however, was new information.He wouldn’t think about it.He needed his breathingsteady, not a void-cursed existential crisis.
