“I’m not afraid of Rathyn. Most Vyastil of his station with human consorts have issues with being…possessive.”
“I’m a companion,” I snap. “Not a consort.”
He rolls his eyes and flicks his ears. “Of course.”
I stare at him for a moment, taking him in. We’ve always been friendly, but we were never friends, and god, he’s so different from the others. He’s so…human, in a way that even some humans aren’t.
“Why aren’t you like them?”
“You mean the stuffy, uptight, pretentious pricks with superiority complexes?”
I burst into laughter. “I mean, way to be honest, but yeah.”
He passes a hand down his face and flicks out his pierced tongue, looking annoyed. “That life wasn’t for me. I couldn’t stand the hypocrisy. I’d been studying humans for decades, and I opposed the treaty, but no one wanted to listen to me.”
I blink at him. If he had the opportunity to be listened to, then he must be someone…I hate to say important, but…
“Please tell me you’re not related to that prince.”
Quilliyn sighs. “Do you mean Jyrion or Izar?” He stops, then shrugs. “Either way, yes. They’re my brothers.”
“No fucking way.”
The corner of his mouth quirks up. “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry you had the misfortune of meeting either of them.”
“Prince Jyrion,” I say. “He was a fucking dick.”
Quilliyn bursts into laughter. “I really hope you told him that to his face.”
I didn’t. I’m not a fool. Well, most of the time, anyway. I’ve been a giant fucking moron about letting myself fall for Rathyn, but that’s different. I look back over at Quilliyn. “How are you here if you’re literally royalty?”
“Because I threatened to oppose my parents when they decided they wanted to trade with humans. I knew they were going to lie. They were going to show your leaders the nice, tidy, quiet capital and pretend like the rest of Erethar doesn’t exist. They’re going to look down their noses at the way humans have treated each other and act like they’re not actively oppressing the Vyastil they consider lesser than us.”
I knew it. I fucking knew it. There was no such thing as a utopia of pure equality. And Cielo was part of that.
My chest aches, and I hold his coat a little tighter. “Cielo was arrested.”
Quilliyn lets out a sharp puff of air. “For what?”
“Helping me sneak into Erethar to find Rathyn. He was hurt and in this weird singing cave in the Outerlands. I…I don’t know. He was with a Tarek.”
Quilliyn’s ears flick, and his eyes go wide. “Did the Tarek hurt him?”
“No. It was a Seymosi attack. He upset one of their nests, and it clawed the fuck out of him.” I pass a hand down my face and try not to think of the soft, intimate moment we had before everything went to shit. I swallow past a lump in my throat. “Eissa was there when we got back to Earth. So was your dipshit brother.”
Quilliyn’s ears flicker downward. “So, Cielo was arrested for assisting a human in breaking boundary laws?”
“I guess. I couldn’t understand most of it, and when I asked Rathyn to help, he told me that Cielo broke the law and there was nothing he could do.”
“He’s right. He doesn’t have that kind of power,” Quilliyn says softly.
Well, fuck. “Who does then? Eissa? He was there. He…I don’t know. He looked like he was trying to help, but he did nothing to stop them from taking Cielo. I mean, it was my fault, and the poor guy has been through enough. Have you seen the way some of them live here?”
Quilliyn swallows thickly. “I have. And I know how you feel, but our laws are…strict. Eissa might be able to prevent a more severe punishment, but if my brother’s involved, he’s not going to go easy on him. He hates the Outerlandings.”
My chest burns with rage. I wish that fucker was in front of me now so I could punch him. I’d probably die for my effort, but it would be worth it to see his smug as fuck face.
“Let me see what I can do,” Quilliyn says softly.
