“That was his duty.”
“Including killing someone for hurting me?”
He’s silent for a long moment.
“If humans are so unimportant—if my cum is technically replaceable—should he have protected me?”
He gives me a reluctant,“No.”
“But he did. He saved me because he cares about me and you. He took me to Erethar to help you, knowing what was probably going to happen to him. And you can’t even call him a friend.”
“Vyastil do not have friends.”
“Well, maybe you fucking should,”I snap. I roll onto my side again. “Maybe if you did, you wouldn’t all be so sexually and emotionally repressed.”
He says nothing. The silence is heavy, but so is his presence in my head.“If I could change things,”he finally says,“I would. But I cannot. I will face the tribunal tomorrow?—”
“Wait.”
He’s silent again.
“Tomorrow?”
“I was summoned.”
Panic races through me, and I sit up again, my heart pounding in my chest.“I’m on my way.”
“Everest—”
“Shut up,”I snap. “I’m on my fucking way.”
twenty-eight
EVEREST
It’s two in the morning by the time I make it back to The Foundry. The guard at the entrance gives me a flat look but ultimately ignores me, and I do my best not to stare across the courtyard at the place where Cielo was once staying.
My chest still aches with missing him. With not knowing if he’s going to be okay or not. But I won’t focus on that. Right now, I need to see Rathyn,beforethe worst happens.
I have no idea what kind of punishment he’s facing. I don’t know if the Vyastil have, like, the death penalty or anything, but considering he was going to tear one of Cielo’s arms off just for touching me, I think it’s a safe guess they do.
Or if not death, dismemberment.
I make it up to the apartment and find the door cracked open. I can feel Rathyn waiting for me just behind it, and I take a moment to center myself before pushing inside.
The moment the door is shut, he’s on me. His claws are out, and they tear at my shirt as he wraps himself around me—arms, legs, tail. He shoves me against the wall, and I turn my face up, offering him my mouth.
His long tongue dives inside, tasting me, wrapping around mine, his sucking kisses overwhelming all my senses. I finallyshove him back to catch my breath, and I can see his eyes are wild and frantic.
“I’m here,” I say uselessly.
“Yes.”
He touches me more softly this time, reverent. A starving man staring at a buffet. His fingers are gentle as they pass down my neck and rougher when they get to my piercings. He tugs on my nipples, making me gasp, a reminder that I really do belong to him.
“My Everest,” he murmurs. “I am sor?—”
“No.”
