“I guess that’s somewhere to start,” He snorted, crinkling his nose. “I celebrated my six hundred and twenty-sixth birthday last August.”
Six hundred and twenty-six? Kroven wassix hundred and twenty-six?My head swam at learning the truth, trying not to let it show on my face.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay,” I told him, meaning every word. “I don’t care how old you are. It’s just a lot to wrap my head around.”
I suddenly had a million questions to ask him. How were the 1800s? What was it like to watch the world advance from the outskirts of society? I didn’t want to overwhelm him though, or make him relive uncomfortable memories. So I decided to stay in a more neutral vein.
“What was that like? Being born back then, I mean.” I grinned.
“Weird, I suppose.” He tilted his head, really thinking about it. “Born in the shadows of human society, but I was universally celebrated in the sangamar community. My parents had tried for years to conceive before I finally made my way into the world, so I garnered a lot of attention as an infant.”
“You being the center of attention, even upon birth, somehow makes so much sense.”
“Now who’s teasing?” He mused, and I rolled my eyes at him playfully, willing him to continue. “We lived in a small village community in the mountains. Sangamar tend to dwell in the shadows of caves, which is why most of us are pale. Mycommunity was nice as a child, but turned anything but the older I got.”
I remembered Kroven mentioning that the places sangamar had to exist before creatures were known to the human population weren’t exactly the best. “What happened?”
“Competition between families, boring sangamar politics. It got so bad that my parents ended up relocating us to a different community farther north, over where Montana is. I stayed there for a long time, until the humans discovered us.”
“Were you part of the group that was discovered?”
“No,” he admitted. “But I knew every single one of them that was.” There was an inescapable sadness in his voice, one I couldn’t stop myself from exploring.
“What…happened to them?”
“They were all killed for exposing the community to humans during their excursion back to what we consider our homeland back in Romania.” Kroven dipped his head, a silent bow of respect for his fallen sangamar brethren. “It’s important for some sangamar to go back to Romania as a sort of rite of passage. I never really saw the point myself, but…” His eyes got glossy with the mention of the memory, a sort of pause happening on his face before he tilted his head and continued. “The council of sangamar that looked over us let the entire community vote on it, and it was an overwhelming amount of votes in favor of their deaths. I was vehemently against it. And then the rest of the creatures started making themselves aware, rendering their deaths completely pointless. I couldn’t stay in a community like that.”
“I’m sorry.” I reached out and grabbed one of his hands that rested on the table. “I’m sure that was hard.”
He squeezed my hand, a silent yes lingering between his fingers. “I was very vocal about my disdain over their deaths, and I made quite the commotion about it. I think even if I hadn’t decided to leave, they would have exiled me anyway.”
“Did your parents come with you?”
Kroven shook his head, his nostrils flaring. “No, they did not. They sided with the council.”
Rage imbedded itself between my eyebrows. “What? Your parents voted in favor of killing the uncovered sangamar?”
He nodded. “They did. I haven’t spoken to them since I left.”
Going that long without speaking to your family must’ve been hard, not that I had much to compare it too. Most of my family had died before I’d really found out who the hell I was. I wondered if Kroven felt that way, in a sense.
“One of the sangamar that got discovered,” Kroven cleared his throat, and his red eyes were bubbling with emotion, only causing me to squeeze his hand harder for support. “Jargenne,” He cleared his throat again. “He and I were…together.” He took his free hand and wiped at his eyes, fresh moisture hanging on the skin of his thumb. “We’d only just starting seeing each other a few months prior…until the council voted to have him killed, before the eyes of every sangamar within the community.”
“Oh god, Kroven.” Shaking my head, I held his gaze tightly as I cradled his hands with my own. “I’m so sorry.”
Sighing, he nodded. “So, I abandoned the community and decided to try my luck amongst the humans, after failing to settle in one of the bigger cities.” When he paused, I could tell it was because something bigger bubbled on his tongue, daring him to speak it. He didn’t, and I wasn’t going to pry. I wanted him to feel comfortable enough to tell me anything without me pestering him for further details. He rippled a reset across his face and went on. “It took a few years, but I heard that Piper was one of the more tolerant cities, I met Grey, as you already know, and I’ve been here ever since.”
“That’s awful. I mean, everything up until you came here, of course. I’m sorry about Jargenne.”
“It was a long time ago,” Kroven admitted, but he unfurled our hands and tapped at his heart. “But my heart still hurts forthe life that was so unjustly taken from him.” Grunting, he tried to make light of the situation. “Perhaps now you can see why it’s been so long before I felt something for someone.”
Not knowing what else to do but agree with him, I stayed silent. Kroven had been in love with Jargenne. I couldn’t imagine the pain of being forced to witness his execution…just thinking about being put in that position made my stomach whirl.
“But that was then,” He assured me, reaching out until I gave him my hand back, his fingers tickling at the lines etched into my palm. “And this,” He paused to lift our conjoined hands to his mouth, the too-red lips softly placing a single kiss on my knuckles. “Is now.”
Blushing at the implication, I looked away. In an instant I wish I hadn’t. I managed to see the look of disgust scrawling across the face of an older couple across the restaurant, both of them leaning in to one another as they shared a hushed commentary, their eyes drilling imaginary holes into my face.
