“It’s not—” they tried again.
“Where’s Hemersyn?” their mother interrupted. “I need a Xanax. My poor nerves can’t take it.”
“He’s my boyfriend,” Cya insisted, voice rising in volume. “We’ve been dating for over a month, and I care for him a great deal.”
Their mother pressed the back of her hand to her brow like a bad soap opera actress. “Deities have mercy, I’m feeling faint.”
With an exhausted sigh, Mr. Vysov patted her hand in a mockery of comfort. “Calm yourself, my jewel.” To Cya, he said, “Your cry for attention has been noted. There’s no need to carry on like this. Dismiss the… boy, and we’ll talk more in private.”
“Yeah. that’s not gonna work for me,” Dex said, and Cya nearly strangled his hand in a bid to quiet him.
“The insolence,” their mother spat, the flustered-victim-act cracking. “Such a beastly boy.”
Cya bared their fangs, tail shaking menacingly. “Stop talking about him like that!”
“Enough, Cylene.” Their father slithered forward, porcelain crunching under the weight of his tail. “Your antics are tiresome. We’ve had a long journey, and I have no patience for your rebellious dramatics.”
“We came home early because we missed you, and this is how you show your thanks? You’re being so selfish,” Mrs. Vysov whimpered.
Gaping at their audacity, Cya scoffed. “I’mbeing selfish? Are you fucking serious?”
“There’s no need for vulgarity, darling,” their mother sniffed. “We didn’t raise you to—”
“You’re right; you didn’t raise me,” they said stiffly as another tear trickled down their cheek. “Hemersyn did.”
“Oh, poppet, do something.” She shook her husband’s arm as rich-women-tears swam in her eyes. “She’s entirely out of control.”
Dex’s temper burned hotter, and this time, he couldn’t swallow it down. “Oh my gods, stop misgendering them! That’s super shitty.”
Lunging forward, Cya’s father rose high on his tail, looming over them both. “I will not be disrespected in my own home, especially from the likes of you, you impertinent littlepito!”
Dex snarled, baring his canines, but Cya shoved him back and took a protective stance in front of him. They faced down their father, rising on their tail to make themself bigger. Almost on eye-level with him, they shooktheir tail loudly, fangs descending until they were nearly too long to fit in their mouth.
“You will not speak to him like that,” they hissed furiously. “You act like respect is owed to you, yet you’ve done nothing to deserve it.”
Swelling with rage, his nostrils flared. “You contemptuous child.”
“Yourchild, for which I have never been more ashamed,” they seethed in his face, and his hand twitched, then balled into a shaking fist, like it was taking every ounce of his self-control not to strike.
Tension vibrated in the air between them. Mr. Vysov glowered at Cya. Cya glared defiantly back. Mrs. Vysov hovered low to the ground, tail coiled protectively around herself. Dex was frozen with indecision. He wanted to yank Cya out of harm’s way, in case their dad really did lose his cool, but he didn’t want to rob them of this.
His phone was vibrating constantly now, someone calling over and over, but he didn’t dare check it. He didn’t dare take his eyes off that shaking fist. If their father hit them, Dex would prove exactly how much of a pito he could be.
The battle of wills seemed to last forever but could only have been a minute or two. In Dex’s opinion, Cya was winning, especially when their father blinked, the fire in his eyes cooling to hardened metal once more. He exhaled, face returning to its cool detachment.
Tilting his chin minutely, he looked down on Cya, and when he spoke, it was almost businesslike. “I see. How”—his volume lowered even more as he enunciated every syllable so they couldn’t miss a single one—“disappointing.”
One little word, but it cracked Cya right down the middle. They lowered, tail curling beneath them until they were nearly sitting on the tile.Chest hitching, they hugged themself as fresh tears poured down their cheeks, and Dex dropped to his knees behind them.
He slipped an arm around their waist as the other banded across their chest, and he glared up at the triumphant lift to Mr. Vysov’s cheek. The Sypent straightened his tunic as he looked down his nose at Dex, and Dex peeled back his lips to bare his teeth again.
“Once you’ve finished with your childish temper tantrum, your mother and I shall await your apology. As for you, mutt,” he said to Dex with a cruel twist to his mouth, “consider yourself lucky that I haven’t notified the authorities. I expect you to vacate my property before I change my mind.”
Dex growled, low and dangerous, but Cya’s father gave them both his back and casually slithered away. “Come, Cadynce. Leave the girl to clean up the mess she’s made.”
“I only ever wanted you to love me,” Cya said, words choked and broken, and their parents stopped. “I tried so hard to be what you wanted, but I’ll never be good enough for you, will I, Father?”
There was a flash of something in their father’s eyes, the briefest show of emotion. Regret, maybe. Or uncertainty. Before it had a chance to truly form, his pride chased it away, and he cocked his head in vague curiosity.
