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‘Don’t,’ Luca signs between us as I settle back onto my side. He meets my gaze and shakes his head. ‘Not now.’

I bow my head and nod. I need to let this moment be soft and kind. We have earned it. I draw my fingers up his thigh, up his ribs, watching him twitch as I bring my touch higher to his chest where his single heart beats.

He watches the path my hand makes, then looks over and meets my gaze again. ‘Regret?’

‘Never.’

His mouth softens at the corners. ‘What happens now?’

My head tilts, and my ears flick with confusion. ‘Mean what?’

‘Secrets,’ Luca signs. ‘You have so many. I want to understand why you wanted to break the bond.’

The information I’d given him while heading deep into the rut was incomplete and full of terror. But I suppose there’s no point in hiding it all now. Pushing myself back up, I settle against the headboard beside him and rest one shoulder against it so I can face him better.

His gaze is on me, intense and ready, and I take a breath before I begin.

‘Vyastil history is…complicated. We were once more like humans.’ Luca’s eyes go wide at that confession. ‘We would mate for life, breed, raise our hatchlings. We studied philosophy and religion.’ My hands hesitate a moment. ‘We loved.’

Luca’s tongue darts out and wets his lips. ‘What changed?’

‘Leaders. Kings. Ideas. The current royal family began with one Vyastil general who killed the king and took his place. He fed the people lies about the Tarek poisoning our people. He said it was why we were losing strength and lifespan.’

‘Cum,’ Luca signs. ‘Why you need cum.’

I bow my head. The history is fractured, and so much has been lost. I don’t know all the details. I’m not sure a single creature on Erethar knows any longer. ‘The Vyastil were afraid. It was easy to blame the Tarek. They are peaceful, but they are stronger than we are. They cultivated the herbs, occupied the Outerlands. Greed took over. The king appointed leaders who taught our children that being like the Tarek was wrong. Mates were wrong. VySytheh was a weakness.’

He watches me spell VySytheh and his brow furrows. ‘You call me this. Means what?’

‘Mate. Bonded. Forever.’

His eyes go soft, and his fingers reach up, tracing the place I bit him, and I nod.

‘Yes. Mine.’

‘Mine,’ he signs back.

I fight the urge to abandon his question and go back to kissing him. ‘Each generation, more and more Vyastil forgot. More and more Tarek died. More lands were taken. Then the Vorthex had a solution to our problem.’

Luca frowns and mouths, ‘Vorthex?’

‘Wings. Lives in the sky,’ I explain. He nods.

‘Hepyn.’

‘Yes. He is one. They invented the portals when their need for…’ I hesitate. I don’t know how much about the Vorthex I want to explain to Luca. So many people are horrified by how we use the humans—how we have presented their participation in the clinics as a choice when so many of us know that there is no real choice at all.

But the Vorthex have used them in different ways.

Ways that might terrify Luca.

‘Tell me,’ he insists.

I swallow heavily. ‘They have different needs…but their scientists believed that human cum might aid the Vyastil and make up for what we had lost when we developed an immunity to the Tarek herbs.’

Luca’s brow furrows. ‘The Tarek did not poison the Vyastil?’

I let out a heavy breath. ‘No. I have told myself yes, they did, but it’s time to embrace the truth. It was an illness that spread. No one understands the origin. It altered our biology. It made us weaker. Human cum has filled in that gap, but that may not last forever.’