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“Apologies. I’m acting this way because I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“The risks I take with my body are mine alone to determine,” I say. “That’s not just about intimacy. I have always loved the way you respect my boundaries, so why should this be any different?”
“Because I cannot lose you! The only thing I demand of your life is that you live it. Is that so much to ask?”
“Mak, this will not kill me. I know what you’re afraid of, but you’ll be right there when it happens. The reason I’m considering this is for you, for your reign, all the work you’ve done until now. I won’t let someone threaten it because I happen to be human.”
“And if it triggers your panic attacks? More nightmares? What if it sets back the progress you’ve made? Have you considered that? After all that we’ve done together…You and I have been a team in this up until now, with the goal of protecting your peace. But you would risk it for this?”
I’m speechless, having not considered that angle at all. Worst of all, I feel the unspoken question that he doesn’t ask—You would risk it in the volcanic pool, but not in the bedroom? Not in his arms?
With that statement hanging in the air, the doors to our quarters slide open. A whistling Viro strides over the threshold, but when he gets a good look at us, he freezes. The whistled tune cuts off.
“Uh, it’s on my schedule to send you off to your next meeting?” He hesitates, and then starts back-pedaling. “Actually, I’ll see myself ou—”
“No, I’ll handle it. Keep Frankie company if you could,” Mak says, shaking off his pained expression in the blink of an eye. He turns to me and adds, “I’ll be in my office late. There’s much to attend to. Sleep well tonight and come to me if you need anything.”
I nod, softening under his gaze.
I slap the door command on my room and find Nisina standing there waiting. Her ears stand straight up and she’s ready to pounce. She must’ve been listening and feeling the tension in Mak through the bond.
“It’s alright, girl,” I coo at her. I crouch to scratch her ears and pet her thoroughly. “Were Mommy and Daddy fighting? Yes, I know. So stressful.”
“I swear you wouldn’t baby her like that if you saw the beast in battle,” Viro mutters, following me inside. He throws himself into the lounge chair like he owns the place. “Well? Spill it. I’m in the mood for all the details.”
I roll my eyes at him, but start explaining the day’s events, nonetheless.
“You wanna know my unsubstantiated conspiracy theory?” Viro asks when my summary is complete. He wiggles his brows at me.
“Maybe. How unsubstantiated is it?”
“All the widows love me; you know this,” he begins. There’s a wealth of Kar’Kali widows, sadly. And Viro’s told me before how once he gained a reputation for easiness, he became a target of seduction by lonely widows. At least, that’s what he told me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did some seducing of his own.
“Your source is… widows?”
“Indeed. They are the pillar of all good gossip in this community,” he says. “Anyways, they’ve told me that they’re being fed rumors by Kannita and some of her underlings about your relationship with the Ka’lakka. But Kannita has a daughter who they’ve known has lusted after Mak since we became of mating age. They asked me directly what my thoughts were because I am the most trusted source with an insider position at your side. They wanted to know the truth.”
“You didn’t think it was important for me to know this before?” I snap, glaring at him.
He pouts. “Why should I hurt your feelings over rutting gossip? Until this meeting, it was all idle nonsense.”
“And what did you tell the widows?”
“Only that like any normal Kar’Kali matebond, Mak worships your every word and action,” he says. “And that I mind my business and stay out of your bedroom. That’s all I said.”
“Suggesting that we share a bedroom,” I point out.
“You often do. But let me get back to the conspiracy theory. Which is that Kannita has created the very problem she hopes to solve by hosting The Proving. All of this is in service of her daughter’s ambitions to become the Ka’lakkori. They must believe that if they can get you out of the way, Mak will choose her, all because he once rutted with her a few times.”
“Get me out of the way… via death?” I ask, wincing at the mention of Mak rutting other people. It shouldn’t bother me, but it does. The ulterior motives Mak referenced become clear, as well as the reason he hesitated to explain them to me.
“No! No, that’s extreme. They probably think you’ll leave if they sow enough discord between you and Mak. They think humans are fickle and that you’ll divorce him.”
“Oh,” I sigh in relief. “So long as no one wants to kill me.”
He shrugs. “She probably wants to. But she won’t.”
“How are you so sure?”
