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He lifts his hands to answer, but then he freezes, almost like an animal sensing something. And then a second later, the large Vyastil with red hair appears several feet away. He eyes us both, then marches over, a clawed hand landing on Lucie’s shoulder.

Lucie stiffens, and his smile slips from his lips, his eyes shuttering. I can almost feel walls going up as his face transforms into something wary and almost cold.

I look up from Lucie’s face to Dhoryn’s. His dark rainbow eyes are watching me—intimidating, calculating. It’s almost like he’s waiting for some kind of fight. He doesn’t look down at Lucie at all, but he steps in closer, and his tail snakes around Lucie’s calf, wrapping around and around until he’s clenching his thigh.

He’s effectively trapped. Does he think I’m going to take Lucie and run? Should I take Lucie and run? I search the human’s face, and he gives me a barely-there shake of his head, then his hand moves, just enough to form the sign, ‘I’m fine.’

I swallow and allow myself to relax just a fraction. ‘I should go.’

I hear a rumble from Dhoryn, and I see his mouth move, but I don’t understand him. Lucie turns to say something, then holds up a finger for me to wait. I can’t make out much of what he’s saying, but I see him form the word Deaf, and then he taps his ear.

Dhoryn’s eyes go wide, and he stares at me for a long moment, ears flickering, tail going tight on Lucie’s leg. He says something else, and because his fangs are longer, I can’t read him the way I can read Eissa.

Lucie turns to me. ‘Sorry. He’s…curious about you being Deaf.’

‘I know he’s not curious,’ I fire back. ‘I know the Vyastil hate what they think are imperfections.’ I recall a little too vividly the way both Eissa and Rathyn spoke about me at Amara’s birthday party, and it still stings.

And I know what happens to Vyastil who become imperfect. I’ve seen the evidence—the pain—on Hepyn and Zinni’s faces when they think no one is looking.

Dhoryn says something else, and Lucie sighs, lifting his hands to interpret. ‘He wants to know why you are out here unattended.’

‘I live here.’ My fingers stumble over those words, and I point off in the direction I’m pretty sure I came from. ‘With my companion. Eissa.’

I make sure to fingerspell that slowly, so he understands.

Lucie speaks my signs aloud, and then Dhoryn stiffens and looks almost…frustrated. “Eissa,” he says. I recognize that word all too easily. His eyes fix on me, and I can see tension there. It’s clear he knows my Vyastil, and it’s clear Dhoryn doesn’t like him.

When he says something else, Lucie nods, his face still devoid of all expression as he turns to me to relay what his Vyastil said.

‘He didn’t know Eissa had a new companion.’

Something in me jolts. A new companion implies there was an old one. I suspected as much, but it’s a lot to have this stranger confirm it.

‘He apologizes for the inconvenience,’ Lucie continues to interpret. ‘We can’t be gone from the city too long, so we must go. But it was nice to meet you.’ I don’t think that last bit was from Dhoryn.

I nod. ‘Thank you for the conversation. And if you need anything, maybe you can stop in for a visit?’

Lucie nods and lifts his hands to answer, but Dhoryn doesn’t let him. He tugs with his tail, making Lucie stumble after him, and they walk a few steps before the human pauses and turns back. ‘If you’re in the city, find me? We can talk again.’

I nod quickly since Dhoryn isn’t looking, and before he does turn to see what his companion is doing, I hop up and hurry back the way I came.

It’s ridiculous that I’m disappointed to find the cottage empty apart from Gerald, who is busy rearranging the living room again. I can always feel when Eissa’s nearby, but I didn’t get that little rush up my spine as I made my way back through the woods and toward the place I’ll be calling home for who knows how long.

It’s lonely. My chest aches because I’m not used to being on my own like this. I’ve spent years avoiding my own thoughts like the plague, distracting myself by bothering Dante at the shop, or helping him with contracts and cookies, or hanging out at the gym.

Now it’s me…and only me. And I’m starting to wonder if maybe Eissa is doing this on purpose. Maybe I pushed too hard, went too far. I would lay off if I couldn’t feel how much he wants me, but his desire to pin me down and swallow my cock is overwhelming to the point I can’t be around him without getting hard.

It’s like inhaling a constant stream of pheromones, and it’s starting to make me feel like I’m losing my mind.

At least with him gone, I can think clearly.

Gerald nudges my leg, and I drop down to a knee, scratching over his shell. I feel a faint rumble coming off him. Is he purring? Do kradun do that? It seems to like it, though, so I drop down to my ass and let him rest against me.

I feel a few more rumbles, and it makes me wonder if they make noise. He looks a bit like a tortoise, but this is just a reminder that I’m not on Earth. I’m not even in my own universe anymore. I stepped through a rip between worlds, and everything I’ve ever known and everyone I’ve ever loved is so far away.

And I can’t go home.

All because I couldn’t keep my nose in my own business.