“What are you doing? We haven’t discussed this yet and I wanted to be the one to tell them.”
“Wait a fucking minute. This is real? They, the two of them, are your boyfriends now? Since fucking when?”
“No. It’s—”
“No?” Kyzen and I ask, which causes the other two to start spouting more questions.
Thayla covers her ears with her hands and pinches her eyes shut. I seal my lips and stare at her as she regulates her breathing.
“Stop talking.”
My low voice travels through the whole house. Even the crackling of the non-heat-producing, pointless fireplace falls quiet. I wait until she lowers her hands before I speak again.
“Did I say something that upset you?”
Her eyes are as soft, tired almost, as the sigh that falls from her lips.
“It’s not what you said, Amick. It was how. You and Kyzen just brought this up to me, and we’ve had one thing after another come up ever since. We haven’t had time to think, much less talk about this proposed relationship. I also wanted to be the one to talk to Riven and Creed about it. Alone. I can’t accept this relationship if they’re not okay with it.”
“For now, let’s put this to the side—”
Riven waves Kyzen off as he cuts in. “So you’re saying if I tell you right now I’m not okay with them being yourboyfriends, you’ll end this relationship before it truly begins?”
“Can you not say boyfriends like that? Matter of fact, can we not use that term at all? It’s…weird and doesn’t fit us.”
“What would you have me call them then? Life givers, soul harbors, pillow partners? Any of those work?”
“Riven—”
“Don’t fucking Riven me, Kyzen.”
“Stop. This is why I wanted to have private conversations first.” Thayla holds her hands up between them and shakes her head. Her shoulders slump and defeat washes through every one of her features as she turns to Riven fully.
“Yes. If you tell me right now you’re not okay with this, then it stops before it starts. I don’t want to hurt you, Creed, or them.”
“Hurt me,” he barks out in a laugh, then scans her from head to toe before moving his gaze to Kyzen. When his eyes land on me, my blood rushes through my body.
Her words were firm and clear despite the disappointment I sensed. She’s not going to do anything that jeopardizes the foundation of our Valtrue. Which I appreciate, but I want a relationship with her more than I care about pleasing or displeasing my brother.
I’m well aware of Riven’s and my rocky relationship, but I’d never do anything to hurt him purposefully. Sometimes the words we say to one another come across differently than we mean, but our eyes, usually, never lie to one another.
I, against my better judgment, let him see that denying me this will hurt us no matter what. If he makes this decision out of spite or for the thrill of causing a commotion for me, I’m not going to forgive or forget it.
He leans down close to her, cupping her ear and his mouth so I can’t hear his words or read his lips.
When he pulls away, I observe the coloring of her face and the way she rubs her fingers together by her sides. She doesn’t move her focus from him the entire time she thinks, so she misses how Kyzen’s hands are shaking in his pockets and Creed’s shifting from side to side.
“I never said that,” she whispers.
He hums as he takes a step back from her and bows dramatically. “Do as you please, little burden. You have my blessing.”
Her body deflates as he disappears through a starshoot and Creed’s grunt draws her exhausted attention.
There’re no words shared between the two of them, just stares before Creed marches to his room.
I conclude that’s his blessing as well.
“One less thing off your plate, as you put it.”
