Hemersyn crest rose as he released a gentle cooing sound, then his mouth curved up in a smile. “Thank you for sharing that with me. Cya is… Well, I care about them a great deal.”
“I know,” Dex said, patting the Avia’s back before he left the kitchen.
Before he got too far, Hemersyn said, “Dex?”
“Yeah?” he asked over his shoulder.
“I’m not the only one.”
“The only one what?”
“The only one Cya cares about. That look they get?” Hemersyn’s smile was rather mischievous as he said, “They get that look when they talk about you too.”
Chapter nineteen
Playing Dirty
Cya
Sittingontheedgeof the pool, Cya let their tail drift through the water with the current created by all the bodies swimming around as they enjoyed the sun baking their skin. Summer was their favorite time of year, and for years, they’d spent their July break with their old friends at the country clubs or boating in the Dark Sea as they snuck liquor from the cabinets in the yacht kitchens. Lying out on the deck or in the shallow, heated pools or on the sand of one of Envy’s many exclusive beaches had been one of their favorite pastimes.
In recent years, they’d settled for sunning themself alone on the veranda as they listened to music or read smutty books about burly men and the women they yearned for. Still enjoyable, but lonely. It was so nice to share the sunshine and warm weather with friends again.
A furry body settled beside them, and Cya straightened automatically as Dex’s mother sat and dangled her legs in the water. She had blue eyes, shortly groomed white fur, and a thin tail. Her face was weary from a life hard-lived, but her smile was kind.
“Lovely day for it,” she said, gesturing at the sun, and they nodded.
“It is quite beautiful.”
Unsure what else to say, they looked around for Dex in hopes he could rescue them from their own social ineptitude, but he was nowhere to be found. To be honest, they hadn’t seen him since he’d called Rusty over to join his conversation with Jude, and that had to have been over half an hour ago.
It looked like Cya was on their own.
They folded the corner of their sarong, smoothed it out, then folded it again. “So, Mrs. Triever—”
“Please, call me Ellyn,” she interrupted with a soft touch to the bend of their tail.
“Ellyn,” they echoed. “Dex said you’re a nurse.”
It wasn’t a question, but she nodded anyway. “I am. I’m the charge nurse for the emergency department at Gluttony hospital. It’s intense, but I like being a source of support and comfort on the worst day of many people’s lives.”
“Dex likes helping people too; he must have learned that from you,” Cya said, and his mother’s tail gave a gentle swish against the tile. “He always speaks so highly of you, of how hard you work to take care of them and others. It’s admirable.”
Ellyn’s ear twitched. “I wish I could have done more, so he didn’t have to carry so much on his shoulders.”
“He doesn’t resent you,” they said, and they’d never believed anything more thoroughly. “I think he understands exactly why things happened as they did, why you made the choices you had to make. He’s very good at seeing people, at seeing situations for what they are, without all the bullshit.”
They winced at their curse, and she chuckled. “He is. He’s not always the smartest boy in some areas, but he is so wise in others. I’m so proud of him.”
“Do you tell him that?” The skin around Ellyn’s eyes tightened, and panic seized Cya’s chest. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not my place—”
“No, it’s… I probably don’t tell him enough.” She reached out and tucked a strand of their hair behind their ear. “I should prioritize it more.”
“It means a lot, knowing your parents are proud of you,” Cya said, ducking their head.
And perhaps Dex had inherited his ability to see people from his mother as well, because her gaze softened with uncanny understanding. She didn’t offer false sureties or comfort. Instead, she wrapped her arms around their shoulders and hugged them. She was practically a stranger, yet there was something so achingly comforting about it.
The embrace of a mother. There was a safety here Cya hadn’t known in a long time, maybe never. It was nice. It was warm and lovely and nice. Which meant they could barely stand it.
