There was still a raging inferno of angry reds, worried oranges, and stressed blacks radiating from Xylo’s connection. His own connection with Selena was the opposite direction with her excited greens and peaceful blues. There was only a hint of worried oranges coming from her, and Odelm couldn’t stop thinking he’d caused it.
Odelm took off after his nestbrother, needing to catch up with him before he made it back to the group. He needed to fix this now before things got progressively worse. Today was supposed to be all about Selena and showing her a good time, not wasting time arguing with Xylo over his own issues causing problems.
Familiar violet petals turned the corner. “Xylo! Please!”
Odelm shoved his way through the crowd, not caring about the window shoppers he pushed along the way. His tentacles squeezed the sling filled with the precious gifts for Selena, securing them tightly against his body.
Right before Odelm was about to grab his shoulder, Xylo turned, facing him with annoyance clear on his face.
“Are you going to waste any more of my time away from our nestqueen? Or have you realized your error in judgment?” Xylo asked, crossing his arms.
“I am sorry, nestbrother.” Odelm breathed, glancing at the angry stares passing by. “I just… want to prove to Selena, to prove to everyone who said I wasn’t good enough—that no one wanted a pretty, severed musician for a nestmate—I am good enough. I want to say I am not someone who was shunned, and my nestqueen chose me to sire her offspring. That is the ultimate proof to the universe, I amnormal.”
Xylo stepped forward and touched Selena’s mark on his neck, sending a shiver down Odelm’s body. Teal eyes met his and stared deeply at him, refusing to break contact.
“This mark? Remember it,” Xylo said, voice hard. “The universe can see it clearly. There is no reason why you need to sire offspring, not when you have this.” He tapped lightly on the mark, shocking him each time. “It is proof you have been claimed by another, and no one can take that away from you.”
“If Selena offered you a chance to sire her offspring, would you?”
“As I said, I don’t need to be a sire to be content.” Xylo pursed his lips and dropped his hand. “What if she decides taking care of the three cubs is enough? Am I going to hold it against her for the rest of our lives because she didn’t want more? Because there would be no option for her to offer me a chance?” He stepped back and peered over his shoulder, shuffling his petal wings. “Odelm, I am content. I am not you, but you have to ask yourself—in the end, if Selena gives the princes a chance to sire the next future leaders ofDestima, are you going to be able to live with yourself?” He sighed and looked at him apologetically.
“I know what happened in the shower and heard what you begged her. She will give us both a chance to sire offspring—even though I don’t need it,” he gritted out. “If she ends up not being able to produce Circuli offspring or changes her mind about becoming pregnant once again, please don’t make her feel guilty. She has been through enough and doesn’t need one of her own nestmates to resent her over something that shouldn’t matter.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Selena
Too much time had passed since we’d left Odelm and Xylo to barter with the strange old shopkeeper. I kept stealing glances over my shoulder at my bond threads as distance kept growing between us. Haggling over two goods shouldn’t take that long.
Stars, I didn’t know.
I was glad to have Odelm on this adventure. Being raised with two merchant fathers gave him the skills to pick out quality over the mundane and work to receive a fair price.
The princes knew I was aimlessly traveling along with the market as we made our way to the entertainment establishments. They kept their distance, always on guard as they trailed behind me, making comments about certain things that caught my eye, offering to buy whatever I stopped to pick up and examine.
I was more interested in what kind of places there would be. Would there be multiple bars? Performances? Had anyone of my clan been to such places? I wondered what was holding up my nestmates.
No matter how hard I tried to think about somethingelse, the last words the shopkeeper had said to me kept repeating in my mind.
“If it were me, I would never take it off.”
What did she mean about the necklace bringing its wearer great fortune?
It was just a necklace—a trinket Zirene gave me to try to buy my affections, especially now knowing he knew what I had been about to walk into. Was it a way to get in my good graces before sending me off to the slaughter?
I reached beneath my hooded cloak into my bodysuit and grabbed the necklace, bringing it to my face.
How was this special? It was just a neat stone that reacted with something in the air to make the colors and speckles change constantly. There was no other explanation, other than it was an expensive, newly discovered jewel that had neat effects which appealed to people.
The great fortune must be the number of credits it was worth.
If I continued to walk around with the necklace in full view, others would either treat me like I was something I was not or try to steal it to pawn.
Zirene didn’t mention what it was and played it off like it was something completely normal to give someone—not that anyone would pawn their life’s fortune for one.
Something didn’t add up.
“About time they showed up,” Z’fir murmured, bringing me to the present.
