32. Cvareh

The bocos were kept in stables below, where slaves tacked them and brought them up on command. But he didn’t want anyone but himself touching the seat in which Arianna would sit. He was doting upon a passion most tender and new. But love felt good, especially reciprocated love. Arianna had yet to say as much, but he’d felt it.

He had been with women before, never so intimately, just enough to cross exploratory lines. But that—that was what it felt like to mate. They sung the sweet chorus of passion in perfect harmony, a performance that could never be denied. He’d known hands on flesh before, but it was so vastly different when one had truly found the person he was to be with for the rest of his life.

Until she was ready, Cvareh would treat the blossom of their affections with delicacy. He would see it nurtured. He’d move forward, and wait until she removed one of his toes to let him know he’d crossed a line.

So long as she didn’t, he would relish every new and crisp feeling. He would do all she allowed for her, to her. He would memorize every crease and curve of her body and do it again should he ever find his memory lacking—which would be often.

He knew the feeling would eventually dull. But for now it was as sharp as a freshly forged blade and, for the first time, it was a weapon he was willing to allow Arianna to use to carve out his heart.

“Cvareh’Ryu, you stink.”

He stopped, his hands on the slightly longer saddle he’d been selecting. Cvareh’s fingers tensed, but he kept his claws sheathed. He would not draw them on a friend. But that tone would only be forgiven for so long, and the timer was counting down.

“Cain’Da.” Cvareh squared his hips and shoulders, the tacking of the boco forgotten. “Mind your tongue.”

“You coupled with her.” Cain scrunched his nose, marring the line of his scowl. “You reek of sex.”

“Who I choose to lie with is none of your concern.” Cvareh added a cautionary note to his words. “Watch your words, Cain. We may be friends, but I am still the Xin’Ryu.”

“Then act like it.” Cvareh had never seen this sort of boldness from Cain. “You are endangering not just our House and future, but all of Nova with this tryst.”

“Cain—”

“Cvareh, I am coming to you as your friend.”

It should have enraged Cvareh more, but he did give Cain some allowance. They had grown up together and Cain had always been a good man. He had good will to cash in as he saw fit. If this was how he wanted to do it, Cvareh would allow it.

“Speak your piece.” Cvareh folded his arms with a small sigh. “But know permissions like this will not be given regularly.”

“You know I love House Xin. You know I love Petra’Oji. You know you shall find no one more loyal than I.”

Cvareh couldn’t refute it so he didn’t.

“Cvareh, there is something dangerous about that woman.”

“I am aware of that much.” A smirk lined his mouth. “I think most of Nova is aware after her display in the pit today.”

“That is precisely why I am worried.” Cain’s scowl only deepened. “Her blood, Cvareh.”

Dread was a sobering potion that took effect instantly, dulling the lust and delight that had been filling his mouth and veins all afternoon.

“She has too many organs for a Chimera. She doesn’t smell of rot. She’s strong, like us. And she—her blood, I don’t think that was an illusion—”

“You speculate too much.” Cvareh tried to dismiss Cain from hunting Arianna’s scent. “She is strong, but that is all.”

“It is more than that.” Cain stepped forward and his voice dropped. Even though they were the only ones in the immediate vicinity, he looked as though the very walls and leather saddles would take offense to the whispered topic. “I have heard rumors from those who live on Lysip, rumors that the Riders were seeking you for something about a Perfect Chimera. Yveun has tried to keep them hush, but the quietest of whispers are often times the most true.”

“You would believe Rok bastards over your own House?” Even if the rumors were true—and damn that they were—Cvareh was still taken aback by the idea.

“Are they lying?” Cain knew him too well. When Cvareh didn’t immediately answer, he continued. “Cvareh, the Dono himself fears these monsters, these perfected killing machines. They would be mightier than us. We are born with our magic; they steal it. One creature who could possess all forms of magic, who would imbibe without shame as you know they do.”

Just the word exploded the flavor of honeysuckle in Cvareh’s mouth.

“If something scares Yveun’Dono, why would we not use that to our advantage?”

“Yveun is a monster, you will find no objection from me on the fact. And I wish to see him dead as much as any other Xin, perhaps more for my love of you and Petra. But I do not know if it is best to slay a monster using an even more fearsome beast. A beast we are welcoming into House Xin with little consideration for what doing so could truly mean.” Cain cautioned, “What makes you think this new terror could be contained and controlled?”

Cvareh kept his answer to himself, but not well enough.

“Her fondness for you?” Cain snorted, outright laughter churning up through his stomach. “Cvareh, thinking something like love can contain a woman like that is akin to thinking you can funnel the winds in a particular direction with a cup of your hands.”

“I know her.” Cvareh felt an ugly emotion brew like storm clouds in his chest. He did not want to hate Cain. But he also did not want a woman, a Fenthri, to make him hate Cain on her behalf.

“As do I.”

“You do not.” Cvareh wouldn’t hear it.

“How much time did I spend with her because ‘you cannot trust yourself to be in her presence’?” Cain threw Cvareh’s past words from when he arrived on Nova back at him. “You never said why, but clearly it’s because you can’t handle her for longer than a few days before you would force yourself on her.”

Cvareh lunged. Cain side-stepped and Cvareh twisted to meet him. He kept his fists balled, claws contained. He wanted to pummel Cain, but he wouldn’t make his fellow Xin bleed. Not yet at least.

His fist connected with Cain’s face. The other man reeled. Claws jutted from sea foam hands. Cvareh pushed forward and slammed Cain against the tack wall, pressing him into the shelves and leathers, one hand on his wrist.

“Do not challenge me, Cain,” Cvareh snarled, his mouth wide and teeth bared.

“If I do, will you fight me in the pit, Xin’Ryu?” Cain gnashed his teeth back at Cvareh as he spoke. “Or will you send your Chimera? Will you have a woman from the land below do your fighting?”

He wanted to peel Cain’s skin off one strip at a time. He wanted to throw the man on the floor and cut down through muscle and sinew to bone. He would gnaw on his innards and feast on his heart. Cvareh had never bested Cain before in a fight, practice or otherwise. But he knew in that moment he could. Fighting for Arianna somehow made him more vicious than he’d ever been. It gave him a reason to be more dangerous than he’d ever thought possible. Dangerous enough to kill even a Xin. For her.

Cvareh threw Cain away. The man stumbled but spun, ready for a continued attack. None came.

“You have made a fool of yourself with this, Cain’Da. Abandon this folly, and return to the obliging man this House needs.” Cvareh straightened.

“You know the depth of my loyalty to our House.” Cain waited for Cvareh to challenge. He didn’t. “Do you think I would question you or Petra if I didn’t think it was in our best interest?”

His heart sang the truth of Cain’s words. Despite his means, the man worked toward an end he truly believed was best for their House. Cvareh sighed heavily. The fact would keep him alive. “I will keep this from Petra for now, for our friendship. For she would flay you for your disobedience.”

Cain had no objection. The man might think he could handle Cvareh in a row, but Petra was another force altogether. The only Dragon foolish enough to challenge the Xin’Oji was the Dono himself. They were titans among men and women.

And they both fear Arianna. Cvareh’s mind betrayed him. He snarled at the echo of Cain’s words twisting in his mind. Petra feared nothing. Petra only needed an ally.

“Return to the Xin Manor, and pray to Lord To for wisdom in this.” Cvareh threw a saddle on the boco at random, tightening it for punctuation. “And pray to every Lord and Lady you have breath for that I do not reconsider letting Petra know of your misgivings.”

A darkness lurked over Cain’s features that Cvareh had never seen before, least of all directed at him. The man had been his friend, his brother, and he was determined to dig a chasm between them so wide that Cvareh could not jump across. Cain saw one possible future, a bleak place where Cvareh would be forced to choose between his House and the woman he had come to love. He gripped the boco’s reins, leading it from the stable with a flutter of wings.

“Cvareh’Ryu,” Cain called. Cvareh should have never stopped. He should have not allowed any more of Cain’s poison words through his ears and into his mind. “That woman will be your undoing. If you wish to damn yourself with her, fine. But for the love of Xin, do not damn the rest of us by taking her into the House’s bed, too.”

Cvareh did not dignify the statement with a response.