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“Neil and I are two pieces of a whole,” Peter argued, “but I don’t feel like I need to enslave him or he me, and Magnus doesn’t keep either of us as his pups.”
“Their relationship is not like ours,” I warned him. “Not everyone has the same sort of relationship.”
“I know that,” Peter said, still angry and struggling, though I felt like his energy was starting to become unfocused. “But if they want to have a dominant and submissive relationship, why does it have to mean Avenel is a pup? Why can’t they just be like Jace and Gennadi?”
“Actually,” Gennadi said slowly, startling the rest of us into rapt attention by the very fact of his speech.
He must have felt the intensity of six other sets of eyes suddenly on him—even Avenel’s as he lifted his head from Sebald’s shoulders—because he stopped and snuggled tighter against Jace for a moment.
“You can speak freely, Genny,” Jace said, his voice soft with affection. He rubbed Gennadi’s arm as well. “In spite of how it might look at the moment, we’re all friends here.”
Gennadi swallowed, then glanced up at Jace for a moment. I hadn’t seen him look that uncertain since shortly after Katrina rescued him from Yuri and brought him back to Gravlock.
“I…I haven’t had a chance to speak to you about this,” he said so quietly I could barely hear him from a few feet away, “but…but I…I want to be your pup.”
I was even more stunned. Peter bristled beside me. I could feel the maelstrom of emotions within him, even if he was temporarily incapable of speaking. His breath started to come in shallow, panicked pants.
Jace and Gennadi were immediately lost in their own world, ignoring the rest of us.
“Are you certain?” Jace asked, staring seriously at Gennadi. “I’m happy with us the way we are if you are. I’m not even certain what this would mean, at least not officially, if it would mean any sort of change at all.”
“It would mean—” Peter started.
I slapped a hand over his mouth and muscled him across my lap at last, hissing, “You are not a part of this conversation. This is a private moment between the two of them. Shut. Up.”
I held him clamped against me just to be certain he would stay silent. Peter struggled for a moment, then went still. Profoundly still. I could feel his struggle continue in a major way on the inside, though.
“I’m not sure what it means either,” Gennadi continued, looking only at Jace. “I feel…I feel like it’s more than what we have now. Like, the status of pup means something…more. Pups are considered very precious.”
“You are precious to me right now,” Jace said, sliding his fingers through Gennadi’s hair, then cradling the side of his face. “You are everything to me.”
“I know,” Gennadi whispered. “And you are everything to me. But I just feel…just feel like being a pup says something, tells the world something. It just feels right on the inside, to be that for you.”
Peter’s mouth moved under my hand, making me glad I’d kept my hand right where it was instead of letting go. I pulled my focus away from Jace and Gennadi to frown at him…but saw that Peter was on the verge of helpless, tormented tears. His emotions were strong enough to make me deeply uneasy. I hugged him closer, tempted to rest my hand on his head so that he could drop it against my shoulder.
“I will do whatever you want,” Jace said quietly to Gennadi, leaning in to kiss his lips gently. “I love you. If this is what you want, then I want it too.”
I barely heard the tender exchange. My attention turned completely to Peter, and my heart pounded against my ribs. Something was very, very wrong with my Peter, my love. Something that went beyond the terms our friends wanted to use for their lovers and the kinds of relationships they wanted to have with each other. I knew when something was eating Peter from the inside, and that was exactly what was happening now.
“So if Genadi is your pup now, and if that somehow officially changes his status,” Lefric said in confusion, “is he still a Son of the Cities?”
“Yes,” Sebald answered right away. “I don’t think it changes anything. Gennadi has been one of us from the beginning.”
“Alright,” Lefric said slowly with a nod. “Then does that mean Avenel is a Son of the Cities now too?”
No one had a quick answer for that. Avenel hadn’t been born a nobleman like the rest of us, but neither had Orel.
“I suppose he could be,” Jace said.
I could only pay attention to the fringes of the discussion that followed. I was too deeply aware that Peter was in some sort of crisis. He could barely draw breath, even when I took my hand away from his mouth, and instead of fighting and squirming to get away from me, his body grew heavier by the moment as he sank into me.
“What exactly is the legal status of a pup in the whole of the Wolf River Kingdom,” Lefric asked on. “I mean, I know what it was in Marushka. Do pups actually have a status at all in the kingdom as a whole?”
It was a question Peter would have jumped at…if he wasn’t falling into some sort of breakdown.
“Peter,” I spoke softly against his ear. “Peter, are you alright? What is it?”
“I’m not clear on whether pups actually have an official status,” Jace said, carrying on the conversation without us. “But clearly there are some rules about pups. Unspoken ones.”
