“Does she?” I asked, curling my tail around Seth’s wrist to calm him. Sometimes sudden noises or people grabbing himwould scare my friend; no doubt something left over from his past.
“She does. I bested a cenitaagg and maalux in her presence. I presented the still beating heart of a ventuaa to her when I asked to be her mate. I could snap you with no trouble,” they shouted.
“I don’t believe it,” I said with a slight smirk, and Urgg sputtered.
Seth rested his hands on our arms, interrupting the play fight. “I’m starving. I promised Wyn noodles.”
Urgg grunted. “You need to eat too. Keep up with that little rock in your quarters. He’s a cute thing. Not as cute as Talvax. She’s the cutest.”
“Naturally,” Seth replied, and I smiled. This same conversation had been enacted between us before, but it comforted me. We were friends, siblings, and family; I loved them both. “Come on, Wyn has to get back soon,” he added.
Those words were enough to sour my mood.
“How is it with Monqilcolnen?” Urgg asked, scratching their bulging bicep.
“He gave me complete access to his system,” I said, my tail curling around my ankle before I forced it away.
“He did?” Urgg asked, their thick brows furrowed.
“Yes.”
“That’s odd,” they remarked.
Seth glanced between us. “I don’t understand.”
While Seth had been among the drakcol for over three years now, there were some things he didn’t understand. He’d been dropped into our world, and little cultural things escaped his grasp.
“It’s very personal,” I said.
Urgg commented, “You would’ve been added to Kalvoxrencol’s system since the moment you came, as I was when I mated Talvax, but normally people don’t allow otherpeople into their systems. It holds their work, personal logs, finances, everything. It’s odd for Monqilcolnen to allow you.”
“Fyn uses Kal’s system, and so does Mindy. They all like talking to Edith, and she’s in his system,” Seth said.
“Not just his system, though,” I remarked. Edith had planted roots in several systems, spreading further than ever intended.
Red rushed to his cheeks as his eyes darted every which way, and I smiled. Seth enabled Edith, and together they would break the rules more than they should, but I could hardly fault him. I had kept her link to theAdmiral Vena secret as well.
“Families sometimes share access, I think, but having a link to someone's system is not the same as full access,” Urgg said. “Besides, the royal brothers and their cousin are very close.”
That they were.
Seth glanced at me. “You can tell him no, right? If you don’t like it, I could talk to him. If you need me to.” He worried at the hem of his sweater, not looking at me as he wiggled on the metal stool. I didn’t need him to fight my battles. Not that this was a battle.
“No, he gave me the option to have my access removed, but he was right. It’s more convenient to work in his system.”
“You are trustworthy,” Seth said as we entered Mistress Kel’yeena’s. “You would never take advantage of him.”
“That’s quite a compliment,” I remarked.
He lifted and lowered his shoulders, shrugging—humans did that frequently. “It’s the truth.”
Urgg snagged a table near the corner so Seth would be away from the crowd. “Maybe you two are closer than you think.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’re friends. You puked on him, right?”
If I’d known what would’ve happened that one time I’d gotten drunk, I never would’ve done it. Though, with a quick peek atSeth, I knew that was a lie. We’d become friends that night. The three of us had bonded in a way I’d never experienced before.
