Chapter 194

The days that followed were the longest of my life.

I moved through my routines like a ghost, tending to the Pearlings in the morning, sitting with the serpent children through their recovery, watching the cheetah cubs race along the shore. I laughed when appropriate, spoke when spoken to, and held my mates when they reached for me. But inside, I was screaming.

Eryx loved me.

He had always loved me.

And I had no idea what to do with that knowledge.

He avoided me now. Where before he had been my constant shadow, my silent guardian, now he was absent. He took patrols that kept him away from the village, helped with tasks on the far side of the island, and was gone before I woke and returned after I slept. When our paths did cross, he would not meet my eyes, his face flushed with shame, his shoulders hunched with embarrassment.

He had spoken his heart under the influence of the Veyrath, had laid himself bare in his moment of weakness, and now he could not bear to face me since I didn’t accept him when he confessed to me.

And I could not bear to face what I felt in return.

Because I did feel something. A warmth, a pull, a recognition that had been building since meeting, unacknowledged, unnamed. He was good to us. So good. He played with the children without being asked, brought me flowers he had picked from the forest, fixed things that were broken before I even noticed they needed repair. He was sweet, and kind, and patient, and brave, and he had taken poison meant for me without hesitation.

How could I not love him, at least a little? How could anyone not?

But six mates. I had six. Leon, Ravin, Veylan, Soryn, Aureon, Caelion. Six men who loved me, who shared me, who had built this life with me. Was I truly considering a seventh? Was I truly so greedy, so selfish, so unable to be satisfied?

And Veylan.

Sweet, caring Veylan. His brother.

Not long ago, Veylan and Eryx could not be in the same room without tension, without old wounds and unspoken resentments filling the space between them. They had mended that bridge, had found a way to be brothers again, to be family. But what would happen if I brought Eryx into our bed? Would that destroy them? Would Veylan see it as a betrayal, as me choosing his brother over him, as the ultimate insult?

I could not bear to hurt Veylan. I could not bear to lose what we had built.

But I could not bear to lose Eryx either. Not now. Not after knowing how he felt. Not after he had saved me, again, at such cost to himself.

And then there were the rumors.

They started quietly, whispers in the marketplace, glances across the fire. I heard them when I walked past, saw them in the way people looked at me, at Eryx, at us when we accidentally found ourselves in the same space.

"He took the Heatroot," they said. "The Fool’s Desire. You know what that means."

"It drives men mad with need. The only cure is... you know."

"She must have lain with him. How else could he have survived?"

"Seven mates now. Seven. The woman is lucky. All the men are so handsome."

I wanted to scream at them, to tell them the truth. That Eryx had taken the poison meant for me. That I had cured him through the healing tide. That we had not touched, not like that, not in the way they imagined.

But I could not tell them.

Because the truth was worse.

The truth was that I had cured him with a method that should not exist, at least one they know about. The power of the azure sovereign should have stay extinct. I should not have been able to use unless this god like powers.

And if I told them we had found another cure, they would ask how. They would ask where. The ingredients for the true antidote did not grow on this island according to Ravin. They grew on the mainland, three days journey by swimming, in the dark forests beneath the red flowers. We did not have them. We could not have obtained them in time.

So I said nothing. I let them believe what they wanted to believe. I let them think that Eryx and I had lain together, that I had taken him as a mate in the most primitive sense, that he was now mine in body as well as heart.

And the rumors grew, and the speculation mounted, and the pressure built like a storm on the horizon.

I needed to talk to my mates. I needed to tell them the truth, all of it, and face their reactions, their anger, their hurt, their potential rejection. I needed to know if they could accept Eryx, if they could forgive me for keeping secrets, if they could understand why I had let the rumors spread rather than expose the deeper truth.

But most of all, I needed to talk to Veylan.

I found him in the evening, as the sun bled into the sea, sitting on the shore enjoying the scenery. He looked up as I approached, his silver eyes soft, welcoming, and my heart broke all over again.

"Krys," he said, smiling. "I have been waiting for you. I knew you would come here eventually."

"You knew?" I asked, my voice small.

"I know you," he said simply. "I know when you are troubled. When you are carrying too much." He patted the sand beside him. "Sit. Tell me."

I sat, my body trembling, my hands clasped in my lap. "Veylan," I started, then stopped, the words sticking in my throat.

"Is it about Eryx?" he asked gently.

I stared at him, my mouth open. "You know?"

"I know my brother," he said, his voice soft, sad. "I know the way he looks at you. The way he has always looked at you. I know that he took the poison meant for you. I know that he is avoiding you now, and that you are troubled, and that the village is whispering." He turned to face me, his eyes searching mine. "What I do not know is what you feel. What you want. What you intend to do."

"I don’t know," I admitted, tears spilling down my cheeks. "Veylan, I don’t know what to do. He loves me. He told me he has always loved me. And he is good, and kind, and he saved my life, and I feel... I feel something, but I don’t know if it’s love or gratitude or obligation, and I don’t know if I can take another mate, and I don’t know if you could bear it, and I’m so afraid of hurting you, of losing you, of destroying what we have..."

I was babbling, crying, my words tumbling over each other in their rush to escape.

Veylan was quiet for a long moment, watching me, his expression unreadable. Then he reached out, his hand finding mine, his fingers intertwining with my trembling ones.

"Krys," he said, his voice steady, sure. "Do you love him?"

"I don’t know," I whispered. "I think... I think I could. I think I might already, a little. But I don’t know if that’s enough."

"Do you want him?" Veylan pressed. "Not because he saved you. Not because you feel obligated. But because you want him, as you want us? Because he makes your heart sing, your breath catch, your soul feel complete?"

I closed my eyes, seeing Eryx in my mind. His shy smile. His steady presence. His bravery, his kindness, his love that had waited so long, so patiently, without demand or expectation.

"Yes," I whispered. "I think... yes. I think I do."

Veylan nodded, his expression softening, his silver eyes warm with understanding. He reached out, his hand finding mine, his fingers squeezing gently.

"Then you must tell him," Veylan said, his voice steady, sure. "You must tell him, and you must tell the others. But Krys..." he pulled me closer, his forehead resting against mine, his breath warm against my lips. "Do not refuse him because of me. Do not turn away from love because you fear my jealousy. Those days are past. My brother and I, we have mended what was broken between us. We are family again. And now, if he loves you as I love you, how could I be anything but grateful?"

I stared at him, my tears falling freely, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You would accept this? You would accept him?"

"I would welcome it," Veylan said, his smile genuine, his eyes bright. "Krys, I have shared you with five other beast men. Sharing you with my brother, who knows you, who loves you, who would protect you with his life... that is not a burden. That is another layer of safety. Another heart devoted to your happiness. Another pair of hands to hold our family together."

He cupped my face, his thumbs wiping away my tears. "I want you to be loved, fully and completely. I want you to have everything your heart desires. And if your heart desires my brother, then I will gladly welcome him into our home, into our bed, into our family. Because it means our family grows stronger. It means you are surrounded by more love, not less."

I threw my arms around him, burying my face in his chest, sobbing with relief and gratitude. "Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you, my love. Thank you."

He held me tight, his chin resting on my head, his voice soft and sure. "Go to him, Krys. Tell him. And bring him home to us."

He kissed me then, soft and sweet and full of love and hope, and I knew that whatever came next, whatever the others said, whatever Eryx felt, I had been given a gift beyond measure.

The chance to love. The chance to be loved. The chance to build something even bigger, even more impossible, even more beautiful than what we had before.

And I would take it. I would take it, and I would hope, and I would pray that love, once again, would be enough.