The pooka snickered but said nothing.
“I’m sure we all intend to be very well behaved, Declan.”The brownie sounded like every pastor who’d ever come to the prison, selling Jesus to the desperate souls.That confident, self-righteous loudness.“Everyone wants the issue settled amicably.”
This was the part where Antonio was supposed to talk.Because that was him.He was ‘the issue.’
All he managed was a choked “Calloway.”
There was a beat of quiet, and Antonio could feel the weight of everyone’s eyes on him.Everyone but Declan, who watched them back, standing between Antonio and the end of the world.The end of his world, anyway.
“Well, I guess that takes care of introductions,” said the pooka.“Let’s get right to it.Anyone being held against their will, raise your hand.”
That was … a weird thing to say.Antonio frowned, shooting a glance at the pooka, who stared back with wide, guileless eyes.The innocent expression was ruined by the way he smiled.
“How nice to have that settled,” Declan said, after a long stretch of silence.“May I show you out?”
“That’s not right,” Calloway whined, wringing his hands.“Of course, Antonio wouldn’t raise his hand.You’re right beside him.Who’s going to say they’re being held against their will in front of the person doing it while on their lands?”
Declan glanced in his direction, and there was a bitter twist to his emotion that Antonio couldn’t read through his own panic.
“Antonio,” he said, still sounding all fae, the rough-edged Murderpunk who’d joked easily about punk music and coke hidden away.“If you are being held without consent, or if I coerced you in any fashion, now is the time to speak.I’ll in no way retaliate on you or yours.I swear it on my name.”
The bastard had to be kidding.
“Antonio,” Calloway’s voice was pleading.“He can’t hurt you.I can keep you safe like I always did.”
The words surprised a bitter laugh from Antonio, all the sharper because he really had believed them once.
Keep him safe.Christ.
And yeah.They’d been kids.So maybe Calloway wasn’t really to blame.But he’d played with Antonio like a toy.And when the other ‘kids’ had played too rough, he’d tossed him aside like one.
Fuck everyone in this whole damn world but Declan.“I’m not–”
“Now, now,” said the brownie, cutting Antonio off like he wasn’t even there.“Let’s not put too much pressure on the poor human.Minds are so easy to change.This is a matter of claim.And, forgive me, Declan, but it’s my understanding that Calloway’s association with the human predates your own.”
“He’s not a popsicle,” the pooka objected.“It’s not a matter of who got the first lick.”
“I see no reason why it wouldn’t be.”The brownie offered Declan a patronizing smile.“Come now, I know the search has been long, but this is beneath you.Just give the boy his toy back.”
Antonio could feel Declan’s fury.Not a bonfire.A burning forest, the sort that turned the sky orange for hundreds of miles in every direction.And still, there was a chill precision to it.A needle inking bells over his collarbones.Painful and safe, all at once.
“His name is Antonio,” Declan rumbled, sounding dangerously calm.“We are bonded.He is not a toy.You, of all people, should know how difficult it is to change the mind of someone who doesn’t wish it to be.”
Calloway took a step back at the first echoing scratch of Declan’s voice.The brownie stayed put but didn’t speak, and Antonio could almost feel the fear radiating off him.Only the pooka seemed unaffected, still smirking like this was the best show he’d seen all week.
And Antonio?He felt Declan’s anger like a promise kept and shifted closer to the sluagh.
“Antonio?If you’d like to speak, please do so.”Declan’s gaze stayed locked on the brownie.“Nimai will not interrupt you again.”
Declan would hold space for as long as Antonio needed him to.Declan was like that.
But still–
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, talking only to Declan.Because fuck the rest of them.“I’m here with you.You know that.And they’re not gonna hear it.”
“It matters,” Declan replied, turning to face Antonio and Antonio alone.“Your voice matters.You need not speak further if you don’t wish to.I am here with you as you are with me.I do know that.”
Sharp nails and soft touch, that was Declan.Fresh tattoos and flower petals.The only good thing in a world that felt like it was shaking apart.
