by Octavia Kore
My fingers dig into the fabric of my skirts as I try to gently pry myself away, but he takes this moment to spin me around and press himself as close as he can get. A vibration rolls through the room as his quills rattle, his hands grasping at my sides. I only just met this alien yesterday and yet the thought of not stopping him flitters briefly through my mind. If I were to let this continue there wouldn’t be anyone here to judge me like there would be back home. But again, I stop myself from following through because I can’t even properly communicate with him to make sure we’re compatible in this department. Ettrian presses his hips against my stomach, grinding against me and I feel heat rush through my entire body. Abort! Abort!
His tongue slides from between his lips as he licks up my neck, pulling a whimper from my throat as I push against his body. I need to get away and yet I only want to be closer. What is wrong with me? Fire lights up everywhere he touches, making my nipples harden against the thin cloth that separates us. It’s like he can sense my arousal because he takes in a deep breath and then begins to renew his efforts with vigor. A hand wraps around my thigh, pulling me off the ground until our hips are level and he grinds himself into my pelvis, his quills trembling excitedly.
A small gasp from the doorway has my eyes shooting open and locking onto the six-year-old that stands in the hallway. Her little hands fly up to cover her face and she turns quickly away from the scene we’re making. Ettrian seems to be too far gone to realize that someone has walked in as he noses at my breasts. My hands fly to the back of his head and I pull on his quills hard, accidentally yanking one out in the process. This is what finally gets his attention. He looks up at me, seeing the panic on my face, and lowers me to my feet. Ettrian glances around, eyes falling on Kareen. His quills seem to turn an even brighter red and I watch as his jaw clenches just before he turns on his heels, exiting the tree. The wall of bark shuts behind him and I realize they have effectively just trapped us inside.
“Are you okay, miss Xia?” Kareen peeks out from between her fingers, making sure that Ettrian is gone.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I pant as I right myself. “Let’s figure out how to get you something to drink.”
Chapter 5
Aquilian
A surge of rage spikes through me, halting my feet midstep. I could feel Ettrian through the bond, broadcasting his arousal as flashes of what he was experiencing with our mate rolled through me. In a normal mating, this would not be cause for anger or jealousy, but for me, it was infuriating. Ettrian always seemed to have it so easy. There was never a struggle for him like there was for me. He never had to face being turned away just because the color of his skin wasn’t what a female wanted or because he was seen as a plague that might one day consume all in its path. He might be a twin, but he wasn’t a Darkborn.
When I had attempted to touch our mate she had pulled away from me, and yet she so willingly went to Ettrian. I try to remind myself that she is alien, that she doesn’t understand our culture. It’s a small blessing when Kareen, the little kit, interrupts them. Never have I felt such a sense of fondness for a kit before in my life. Lifting up the bottom branch of the bush in front of me, I look underneath and find exactly what I am hunting for. An ojoo curls up into a protective ball as if it can hide from me. Pulling a quill from the back of my head, I use it on each ojoo to kill my meal and collect all four of the insects that are about as big as my forearm, carrying them back toward the tree. Ettrian is standing outside, obviously waiting for me to return. Without a second thought, I drop my bounty onto the forest floor and lash out at my twin, slamming my foot hard into his chest.
“What in the Sun Father’s good name, Aquilian!” He roars as he stumbles backward.
Without answering him I pound my fist into the side of his face, pushing him further back. I send all of my rage through the bond to him and storm across the space I have created between us. I know that he is not fighting back because he thinks that he can get through to me by just talking, but I don’t care anymore. Instead, I grab his crest and yank several quills from where they bunch on the back of his head and continue to rip at my brother.
“Why?” I crash my fist against his chest. “Why is it always this way with you?”
A vibration rumbles through my throat as my quills rattle in frustration. Ettrian attempts to hold my hands at my side as he sends calming thoughts through the bond, but I just can’t do it anymore. I cannot continue living like this. My own mate has rejected me and she is the only female I’ve actually ever needed to accept me. I have held out hope my whole life that just one being other than my brother would be able to look past my coloring and see me. “I only wish for acceptance, Ettrian.”
“She has not accepted me yet either, Aquilian. We are all strangers to one another.” He squeezes my hands. “The Sun Father has seen fit to bless us. We are in this together, brother. If we give her time, surely she will accept us.”
I could feel the song of sadness welling up and rattling through my quills, my eyes surely glowing blue with my displeasure. My brother wraps his arms around me, soothing his hand down my back as he vibrates his quills in response.
“You don’t know that, Ettrian.”
“You are worthy of any female. If she cannot accept one of us, then she cannot accept either of us. We were born together and we will do all things in life together.” His hand moves up to my crest to gently slide along the length of my antenna in the same soothing manner he has done our whole lives.
I shrug his hand off and snort derisively. I am not so gullible to believe that it works that easily. It is a comforting thought, but such thoughts do not warm one on a cold night.
My brother sighs wearily. “Come, the kit is probably hungry.”
I scowl at him, but he’s right, of course the kit will be hungry, and I am being selfish. Instead of thinking about the little one I am worried about my own issues. I pick up our food and send out feelers to the tree to open up to me. Moving through the opening that is now cut into the bark, I walk into the most perplexing of situations. The little female is sitting at the bottom of the nozzle from which water is delivered directly from the tree itself and my mate is trying to coax the liquid from it.
It’s obvious she doesn’t understand that she needs to tell the tree that she would like water. Reaching my free hand out, I touch the stem and milk it while speaking to the tree with my bond. “You have to tell the tree you are thirsty, my light,” I tell her as I move my fingers to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. She bares her teeth at me and I step back quickly. I have obviously done something wrong. The little one begins to suckle from the water and once she is finished I speak to the tree to stop.
My hand runs along the inside of the bark and a pocket opens. I deposit my kill and watch as the tree closes on it. I’m not quite sure how it works, but when the tree opens again my meal is warm and ready to be consumed. Sitting on the floor, I use a leaf that I gathered before I caught the ojoo and place each one in separate spots. “Xia, Kareen.” I send along the bond, my hand waving them over to where I sit. The kit looks absolutely starving as she rushes to my side, sliding her tiny fingers over my quills. The vibrations she makes sends a shiver through them. Ettrian sends the sweet sound of her voice through the bond and I look at him questioningly. “How?”
Flashes of a horrific experience flow through my mind, pain lacing my head. I must have made a noise because the little one is tapping my shoulder as she says my name. I can only hear her through my brother so it takes a moment for me to realize what she is saying. “Quilian?” her head tilts, making the blonde strands brush against her shoulder.
“I am fine little one, eat,” I reply pointing to the food before me. The ojoo is still curled up in a ball, its body concealed within its shell. Xia reaches her hand forward and pulls the ojoo’s black shell open. The legs spasm even though it is long dead and it makes both females shoot to their feet and run from the insect as a vibration assaults my ilo.
“I do no
t think they eat ojoo, brother.” Ettrian’s quills vibrate with his laughter.
“What will they eat then?” Maybe they don’t know this is food? I dig one finger into the soft belly of one of the ojoo and pop the meat into my mouth, chewing slowly to show the females how you consume it. Only instead of coming back to eat, both put a hand to their mouth while their other clutches their stomach.
“I will go get some fruit. Maybe they are not meat-eaters.” Ettrian says, shaking his head.
Kareen takes a small step toward me and sits down. She watches as I eat and then, with a small hand, pushes into the stomach of her ojoo before bringing it to her mouth, hesitantly consuming her first bite. A smaller, more gentle vibration brushes against my ilo as she begins to tear into the ojoo like she has never eaten before. She beckons to Xia, but it is obvious my mate will not give the food a chance the way her kit has. Even if my mate never accepts me, I think I can live with it as long as I still hold the favor of her kit. Our kit. I take my clean hand and run it over the silken light yellow strands that fall from her head, mesmerized that someone so sweet and small is not scared of me. It doesn’t matter that she is not the kit of my blood, because she is the kit of my heart and she has chosen to accept me.
Chapter 6
Ettrian
My search for fruit close to the tree results in nothing edible for our mate and kit. It is obvious that I need to branch out further if I want to find enough to stock the home for at least a couple of days, but I’m worried about leaving Xia and Kareen alone for too long. Shaking my fear away, I decide to push on. Aquilian is more than capable of taking care of them while I find food. I am painfully aware that he has next to no experience with females or kits, but I know I can trust him with our own.
“What did you just say to me, Ettrian?” Safia flares her quills as she turns toward me, her eyes flashing red in irritation.
“I meant no offense Taenov, I only mean that you are Darkborn, like Aquilian.” I bow my head in respect for her position within the tribe.
“What does our coloring have to do with what you are asking me to do?” The opening in the tree closes behind me and she motions for me to come farther in.
“I thought you, of all people, would understand how he feels, the rejection and the fear he receives daily.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “I understand all too well, but what you are proposing is dangerous, even for someone in my position.”
“I am not asking that you mate us, only that you show him what being with a female can be like. To give him the opportunity to experience the pleasure he may never have again.”
“You are asking me to open myself up to a bringer of death, not just a Darkborn, but also a twin, to risk my soul to the Sun Father twice.” The red in her eyes deepens, her anger is palpable.
“Please, you are the only Darkborn Taenov I can trust to keep this secret. He wouldn’t forgive me for this, but he needs it. I watch him fall farther into despair every day that passes.”
Her lips flatten into a thin line and she growls along the bond, her quills rattling. “Fine, I will do this for you. For your twin.”
“Thank you, Safia.” I put my hand to my chest, the tension seeping from my body as relief courses through me.
She shakes her head, her eyes swirling from red to bright pink. “You will thank me by worshiping me,” she tells me huskily as she reclines back onto her mating sling, pulling up her skirts in obvious invitation. “Come, Ettrian.” She brings her long legs up and lets them fall open. I do not refuse her. How can I when I know what she will do for Aquilian?
Pulling myself from the memory, I shake my head and hope that Aquilian hasn’t picked up on it through the bond. I need something to distract me from such thoughts. A hanging bloom, rarely seen on our side of the forest, peeks out from the spiraled trees, reminding me that I should see how far this dome actually goes. The alien never mentioned the size of it, but it seems important to know so that we don’t run into anything or anyone unexpectedly while we are stuck here. Aquilian and I reached out along the bond when we started looking for the tree, but we hadn’t found any of our tribemates near. It has been so long since I was captured that it is plausible someone may have come looking for us. Hours pass, the blue sun sinking lower in the purple sky as I reach the edge of the dome and rub my hands tentatively along the surface.
How did the aliens get in and out? There has to be some way we can escape. If we can figure out how the aliens come in and out then perhaps we can leave and I can be free of this burden the creatures have placed on me. Moving along the edge of the dome, I push forward searching for any sign of weakness that I might be able to exploit, but it seems solid.
My foot comes down on a branch, snapping it and sending a vibration racing over my ilo and through the holes in the sides of my head. I wince as a few small pagli take flight, their pretty orange and black wings taking them higher into the trees. Their colors remind me of the khali bloom Aquilian and I picked for our mama as kits. I could still see us running through the open fields full of them, disturbing the tiny prina bugs so that we could watch them scatter into the sky before us. Those early days before we had realized we were different from the other kits were some of my most treasured memories. Life hadn’t been kind after Aquilian’s color had darkened and people from the tribe had purposefully avoided us.
I watch as yet another one of our friends is tugged away from us, his mama’s voice echoing in my head, “What have I told you about those two, Ethmos?”
“But they are my friends, Mama!”
“Not anymore.” We watched in confusion as he turned to look at us one last time, his sad eyes a reflection of our own.
“Darkborn …”
“The Sun Father has cursed them…”
“Bad enough to have twins, but to have one so dark? What a shame…”
The voices of the village swirl through my mind as we walk back to our home. I look over at my brother and see Aquilian’s brows are furrowed as he stares down at our interlocked hands, my soft white skin in stark contrast to his deep black. I see nothing wrong with him, he is my brother, my twin and he is the most wonderful being in the whole wide world as far as I am concerned.
I squeeze his hand tightly and bump my shoulder against his, “Mama says not to listen to the gossip of others.” He shrugs and shakes his hand from mine, bringing it up to his quills where he begins tugging at them in his absent-minded way. Papa Eldav told Mama and Papa Ekaz a few nights ago that if they did not get this new habit under control soon, Aquilian was going to yank every quill out of his head. As I watch, one snaps off into his hand and he merely drops it to the ground. “Stop that!” I yank his arm down and he turns to me in shock. “You’ll have no quills left if you do not quit that.”
Aquilian shrugs and continues walking, his feet scraping along the ground. A female up ahead sees us coming and takes a detour, giving the two of us a wide berth. Although he pretends not to notice, I see the hurt in my brother’s eyes and it makes me furious.
There is an old legend in our culture, a story about the twin sons of the Sun Father himself. The brothers, Nebol and Semol, fell madly in love with a woman, Yssa, and brought her before their papa to receive his blessing. In order to gain this, she needed to drink the nectar from an Oya bloom to show that she was their fated mate. Alas, she was not and breathed her last breath while walking home to the mates of her heart. The elders say this was the curse of Nebol who was so dark that his mate needed to shine the way for future generations. Semol, who was Lightborn suffered from the same curse only because he was born with his Darkborn brother and their bond was forbidden. The twins wanted no other Dauur to ever suffer the same heartbreak and gifted our people with a physical sign upon finding a fated mate. Our quills change color, the very same way mine and Aquilian’s have.
As with all Dauur, Aquilian and I were born a dusky grey and the glowing patterns running over our skin had been the only way for our parents to tell us apart. We wer
e perfectly normal kits, with many friends among our tribe’s young, and we were happy. As we grew older we began to notice slight changes in our skin tones. Instead of becoming lighter like I had, Aquilian had started getting darker, turning from our original dusky grey to a deep, dark black like the burnt-out coals of the bonfire in the center of the village. That was when the talk had started. It was little things at first, fewer friends to play with, adults avoiding him, but then it had gotten worse. Members of our own tribe spoke harsh words to him, shooed him away from their homes or families as if he carried some sort of illness they would catch.
To them, his dark skin was a bad omen, a curse from the Sun Father. It had been bad enough we were twins, but now we had a Darkborn. Although Aquilian was not the only Darkborn among us, he had the misfortune of being the only Darkborn twin. Our parents had staunchly ignored the gossip. “They speak from places of fear. Do not let their worries into your hearts.”
While I had been on the receiving end of more than a few taunts, Aquilian was always their main target. A drop fruit tree towers over me, twisting and curling upward, glowing blue fruit hanging from its thorny limbs. My mind drifts back to Xia and the kit, and my heart races a little with the knowledge that they are ours. We have a mate who does not fear my twin, who seems to accept us. This is something Aquilain and I have hoped for our whole lives, something neither of us thought would ever happen.
