by Quil Carter
In response, I put my arm behind his head and rested my hand on his shoulder. I fell asleep soon afterwards.
And unfortunately… I didn’t wake up until morning.
Finn was hanging off of my arm the following day. Whenever I was busy with work or speaking on my remote phone to important elites and those in charge of the immigration, I would catch him out of the corner of my eye gazing lovingly at me. I even caught him bragging to Tyler and Kirrel just how amazing I was. He was respectful to not bring up what had happened last night, but you could easily tell that something had gone on just from his attitude change.
It was rather flattering to have such a devoted sengil. He treated me like a rock star. I suppose to the outsider looking in it was a great privilege to be the sengil for one of the royals, but I’d been a royal my entire life… it was just normal to me.
Whatever was Finn’s reason, I was just happy to have a companion throughout the day, not to mention he was a great help with my workload and my days with my little brothers. Life was still difficult but it was manageable now.
I was disappointed that I’d slept through my Julian time, but I’d see him tonight. He knew that I wouldn’t be able to visit him every night and he seemed alright with it, though he did pout like a five-year-old. I didn’t mind, just like Finn’s weird clingy quirks, Julian had his own.
Those two were alike in that; they actually were alike in a few other ways as well.
“Isn’t it nice?” Finn said late that afternoon. He was showing me his bedroom, now decorated with brand-new furniture, including his own king size bed which he would never use. There was fresh paint on the walls, lavender with grey trim which coincidentally was the exact same style of my walls as well, and he’d rooted through our storage floors and had come up with a few paintings, an antique bookshelf which was empty, and a dresser.
“Well, it looks a lot like my room,” I commented as I looked around. “So of course you did a good job on it.”
Finn laughed lightly, but I could see his ears going red. “I’m not as creative as Tyler. Perhaps I should’ve gotten him to give me advice. I like it though.”
I walked to the door and examined it. “There’s a normal bedroom lock on this door… I’m going to request a lock and key like mine. I can get it done while Silas is out; most likely he won’t notice and it’ll be a safe place for you while I go out.”
A look of nervousness crossed Finn’s face, something that happened every time I mentioned Silas. “T-thank you, Master,” he said quietly. He took in a deep breath and forced a smile. “I hope I’ll get to meet this mysterious man one day.” I hadn’t even told Finn what Julian’s name was. “He sounds like a wonderful person.”
He was so different from Julian in that sense. Sengils were raised with the knowledge that their masters would be dating, marrying, and having sex with anyone they want, and that over the course of their time with us, this may happen many times over. Finn had no issue with Julian; he was my sengil and the relationship between a sengil and his master was entirely different. Just like a relationship with a cicaro is different than both of those too. Relationships weren’t as cut and dry for us, and a chimera’s future partner either had to understand that, or they could leave.
I hadn’t been bringing up Finn to Julian, and the reason behind that was because it upset him whenever I did. Julian was, as I said previous, possessive. But I couldn’t help him with that. I wasn’t going to change, so only he could.
There was just nothing more to be said on the subject.
“He is quite wonderful,” I said, absentmindedly listening to my surroundings to make sure we were alone. It was near dinner time however, so the hungry teenagers had slowly gathered upstairs like cicadas on their seventeenth year. I could hear them and it sounded like all of them. “I’ll introduce you to him some time soon. He doesn’t like the idea of me having a sengil and I’d like for him to see you’re no threat to his claim on me.”
“His claim on you?” Finn repeated, amusement heavy in his tone. “I’d love to meet the man who thinks he can claim you.”
My mouth moved to answer him back when I realized that upstairs had gone silent. I scowled at this and motioned with my chin for Finn to follow me. The two of us walked up the stairs, and as we reached the top, Nero’s cheerful voice rang out.
“Hey guys!” he exclaimed. And even though I couldn’t see him yet… I fucking knew just by that tone, that he’d done something stupid.
And boy was I right.
I entered into the living room, the sengils and Garrett on one side of me near the dining table, and Ellis, Silas, and the children in the living room to my left.
And right in front of me and Finn?
Well, it was Nero…
But he wasn’t alone. No not at all. Underneath Nero’s arm… was a woman with a rather terrified look.
Nero gave us all a shiteater grin, most likely enjoying the shocked looks on our faces. But it was when his eyes focused on Silas, did I remember the worry I’d felt previous.
Worry that, in the end, was justified.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet my girlfriend.”
Oh, this was going to be a fucking shitshow.
The entire apartment in front of me fell to such a voided silence I could hear almost every individual racing heart. It was a thick silence, like molasses had been poured down on all of us, and perhaps that was why my legs felt glued to the spot.
“A Girlfriend?” Silas spat, and both of those spitted words were coated in ice. “How interesting.”
Nero’s smugfuck grin widened. “Yes. Are we too late for dinner?” He looked over at the dining room table, the plates and silverware set and food resting on a trolley beside it. “Oh, we aren’t. Come sit down, hun.”
Nero pulled the frightened woman over to the table. She shot us all a fake smile, and even, to her credit, muttered a polite greeting.
“Stop,” Silas’s voice boomed. I saw Garrett swallow hard, even Ellis beside Silas looked nervous about what was going on.
Nero stopped and gave Silas a casual look. “Yes?”
“You’re not going to properly introduce me, love?” Silas said, and on his face appeared a relaxed smile. “If she’s important enough to bring into my home, I deserve a name, hm?”
The sengils all visibly relaxed, and no more than now did the difference between sengil and chimera become clear. They saw this calm attitude from Silas has a sign that everything was going to be okay, yet Garrett and Ellis looked like they were about to pass out.
And I as well.
Because we knew that tone from Silas; we knew that look from Silas.
We knew that you were the safest when the Mad King was screaming and throwing shit at you… and that you were fucked beyond reason when he smiled at your defiance.
The nervous flicker across Nero’s face said a lot; he knew it too. But my brother was a fifteen-year-old brute chimera and we had known since he was little just what that meant. Not only was my brother stronger than all of us, he’d had abs since he was seven, but he was also thick-headed, hot-tempered, and every inch of him was wired to test every man above him to see if he could dominate them.
And occasionally, Nero got it into his head that he could overpower Silas. Like the beta wolves in a wolf pack, or perhaps a male lion encroaching on another lion’s territory, Nero had to test the leader to see if he could beat him.
This will be interesting.
“This is Janelle,” Nero said. He put a hand on her head and patted it roughly. Nero really didn’t know how to act around women. I’d bet a lot of money that he’d already punched her in the shoulder and called her champ at least twice.
“And where did you meet Janelle?” Silas asked coolly. ‘Janelle’ rubbed her head, remaining quiet which was the wisest thing. It looked like she was trained in the art of chimeras, which was basically: shut up, keep quiet, and wait for them to leave.
“I went to the mall to pick up some bullets f
or my carbine,” Nero responded, not missing a beat. “We got to talking and we’ve continued talking for the last couple of days. I like her a lot. I might just marry her and have lots of little Neros running around.”
“Really?” Silas said. His eyes, practically glowing green right now, focused on the unfortunate woman, and he began to walk towards her. “And what makes this one so special, lovely boy?”
Janelle swallowed hard and forced a smile when Silas approached her. She seemed frozen on the spot but her eye contact was on point at least.
“She’s nice and likes the same things I do.”
“Really?” Silas said again. “She also likes raping greywasters and fashioning sex toys out of artillery weapons? You really do know how to choose them, Nero. What else?”
And that’s where Janelle lost her nerve. “I… I really need to get going,” she said with a nervous, almost shrill laugh. “Nice meeting all of you.” She turned, but only made it one step towards the door.
“Stop right there and turn around. I haven’t dismissed you yet,” Silas said, his tone plunging like it had just dropped off of a tidal shelf.
Janelle slowly turned around, her smile gone and her face turning a fascinating colour of green. She walked back to Nero and stood beside him, but when Silas raised a finger and curled it, beckoning both of them over to him, she took in a deep breath and approached. Nero did too.
“So you two are very much in love are you?” Silas asked. He put his hands behind his back and started walking a circle around the two of them. The king had always been a predator like that, sizing up his prey and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
I had to admit, I was enjoying that his attention wasn’t on me. However, him implying that Nero had been raping greywasters and… doing whatever unholy things he’d been doing to artillery weapons, told me Silas may have been having more of a problem with my brother than I’d previously thought.
“Yep,” Nero said happily. “Head over heels.”
Janelle remained silent. I think she was imagining herself somewhere else.
“So you’ll have no problem proving it then?”
And just like that, Nero’s eyes shot up and focused on Silas’s. However, my brother attempted not to miss a beat, even though Silas was already several ahead of him. “Yeah, no problem,” he said slowly.
Silas, now in front of Nero and Janelle, crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin up high. “Kiss her,” he said simply.
Nero paused, and on the inside I had to laugh. I don’t believe Nero thought Silas would ever tell him to do something like that. Even the thought made our stomachs turn. Nothing against the female race of course, we just held our own preference and that visceral reaction was one shared by any sex when approached with the notion of doing such things with the gender they were not attracted to.
Nero stared at Silas for a moment, then his indigo eyes lifted when the sound of choking could be heard. All our attention went to Garrett and Ellis, who seemed to be stifling their own laughter, to the point where their faces were red, tears were in their eyes, and it looked like they were both in physical pain.
Nero’s eyes became small slits at this, he glared his brother and sister down before saying casually to Silas, “I’m saving it for my wedding day.” His grin became forcefully wide. “Who’s hungry. Let’s–”
Silas raised a hand, and as if he’d erected an invisible forcefield, Nero’s voice was cut off. “I gave you a command, Nero Sebastian. If she is indeed your girlfriend, and not just a stupidly devised ruse to get back at me for forbidding you to date the ass kisser’s son, you’ll kiss her.”
I watched as Nero’s lips pursed, before disappearing into his mouth as if they were independent of his mind and attempting to flee the situation. His eyes shifted over to Janelle, before he turned to her and took in a deep breath.
Janelle sighed too and turned to Nero. She looked up at him with an unimpressed look, wondering like all of us if he would actually do it.
“Don’t keep the girl waiting, Nero,” Silas said casually, almost bored. “Dinner is getting cold.”
“I’m doing it!” Nero snapped. He shifted his weight before slowly leaning in, his bottom lip now quivering and twitching.
All eyes were on Nero and Janelle. But I was thankful to see that the attitude in the room had completely changed. None of us had any fear inside of them anymore. Well, besides maybe the woman. We were all watching this interaction with smiles either hidden or bared freely, every one of us wondering guilefully if Nero would actually kiss a woman to show up Silas.
The beta wolf was testing the alpha, but unfortunately the alpha wolf was a lot smarter, and wits against brawn would always win.
And we all were once again reminded of that, when, with his face only inches away from Janelle’s and his twitchy lips pursed forward like they’d just been shoved out into the battlefield, Nero recoiled away with a disgusted noise and wiped his lips. Even though they had remained three inches away from the woman.
“I can’t… fuck, I can’t,” Nero spat. His hand scrubbing his mouth. “It’s just too gross.”
Janelle raised her hands in a ‘what gives’ sort of gesture, but it was Ellis whose voice rang out. “We’re not that fucking bad, Nero,” she snapped. “We’re not repulsive.”
“Yeah, yeah, you are. Sorry, sissy,” Nero said with a look of repulsion. “I knew I should’ve brought home that scabby homeless guy.”
The sengils, holding it back as much as they could, began laughing. Ellis it seems was none too pleased at being called repulsive, she let out an exasperated noise and turned and left the living room in a huff.
“You,” Silas said to the woman. He pointed to the door. “Get out of my skyscraper and tell no one about this.”
Janelle, if that even was her name, nodded, an expression of relief clear on her face. She mumbled a goodbye to all of us before exiting the apartment, never to be seen again.
But the light, rather teasing atmosphere brought on by Nero’s rather pathetically amusing attempts to stick it to Silas evaporated when our king and master stalked up to Nero… and backhanded him right across the face.
And dead silence found its way back to the top floor of Alegria.
“If you ever try to pull shit like that on me again the consequences will be one you remember until your millionth birthday. Do you understand me, Nero?” Silas said lowly, his barbed voice echoing throughout the apartment and embedding itself into each of our previously content moods.
Nero, his hand on his cheek, glared down at Silas. There was fire in his eyes, an inferno just ready to burst from his body to burn the king alive. “Yeah,” he said curtly. “I got it.”
“Good,” Silas said. He slowly started circling Nero again. It looked like he wasn’t done with my little brother. “It seems to me trying to protect you from heartbreak isn’t working, is it? My stubborn, ox of a chimera is using the several brain cells I gave him to try and pull a fast one on me. You do think you’re a smart one, don’t you, Nero?”
“I really like him,” Nero said dully, his eyes on the ground but his shoulders bunched up and tight.
“Then date him, love.”
I almost had to do a double take. What did he just say?
“R-really?” Nero stammered. The fire dripped away from his eyes like heated wax, but there was heavy suspicion in it. “Why…?”
“Because you’re too stupid to listen to reason,” Silas said. He turned around and began walking towards the dinner table, Nero giving him, or his back anyway, a confused look. “If you don’t wish to listen to a man who has almost two hundred years of experience on you, who knew that man’s ancestors, then don’t. Date him, see how it ends. I look forward to your apology.”
Nero didn’t look happy. He looked at his shoes, his eyes downcast. “I’m not stupid…” he said sadly.
“You’re a teenager, love. You’re going to be stupid until you turn twenty.”
“So the
others are stupid too?”
“Extremely.”
Nero seemed okay with that confirmation.
Dinner was uneventful which was surprising. Nero was in a great mood since his permission to date that boy he’d been fawning over, and eventually Ellis got over being called repulsive. We all ate together, chimera, king, and sengils, and spent an hour around the dinner table talking until the family and sengils moved to the living room for tea and dessert.
As usual, I was always watching the clock, waiting for it to be time to retire to my bedroom so I could catch my several hours until going to Julian’s. I was debating going over early however, I missed seeing him last night due to Finn and it would be nice to surprise him.
I was going to be bringing him some money as well. Since he was living at the apartment full time now he had no way of providing for himself. I had access to Silas’s bank account and as long as I didn’t go off and buy an apartment or a sports car he didn’t care how much we spent. I wanted Julian to be comfortable and happy, and eventually I was hoping to smuggle enough money to buy him his own house.
This seemed strange considering he technically should inherit his parents house, but that had, admittedly, been a strange subject. See… I never really got around to telling Julian that I had murdered his mother, and though I kept expecting for him to bring it up, get mad at me or something… he, well, hadn’t. The murders had been on the news, and Julian got Skyfall TV, but every time I hung out with him, nothing about his mother had been mentioned.
It was confusing, and I didn’t really understand it. I’d braced myself for the anger, I even had my rebuttal planned out in my head, but Julian seemed to either be ignoring the fact that I killed his mother… or maybe he still didn’t know.
I really had no clue. I was leaving well-enough alone, even though my mind was exploding with questions as to how this was something he could ignore.
I mean… I’d killed his mother. Don’t normal people frown upon that?
