CHP25

Seneya sat with her hands between her knees, on the edge of her seat. Her lips twisted in a pout. Then, daintily, she dragged her tongue over the edges of her teeth. She knew she would bite herself at some point.

“Is this what the Phoenix have to do?” Her tongue fiddled with the smoothed-down surface of her now-pointed teeth. He’d done the tooth before her canines and gone back to the tooth after on both sides and sharpened up her lower teeth the same way. It hadn’t hurt like she expected. She’d been told her entire life that it would. Kael’s eyes went wide, and the look he gave her, that sly smirk, told her just how proud he was.

Kael pulled free their evening meal and let her take hers while he shared his with Sael. She found it so much easier to eat.

“If I’d have known it’d be this easy, I’d have let you krissta her weeks ago to get this started,” Kael chuffed.

Sael choked over his food, coughing hard.

“Krissta?” Seneya swallowed and glanced between Sael and Kael. Sael’s cheeks went bright red, blushed from his temple down his neck.

Seneya thought of their word ‘kriss,’ which meant their fires and the sensations she felt when their fires touched. “Nevermind.” Her cheeks went pink as well, and she scooted back from Sael.

Sael turned his head and cleared his throat. “I hope you understand that it was not my intention to do that, little starling!”

“Maybe you should not call her pet names, then?” Kael chuckled as he reached over the two and snagged some fruit from the bag.

“Her name is little starling, is it not?” Sael raised a brow, glancing from her to him. “You called her little starling!”

“Because she squeaks. Her name is little star in Anael, so I call her little starling,’” Kael laughed.

Sael watched Kael, a hard-to-read expression on his face. “Father? What would you be doing to make her squeak?”

“Threw me off the roof a few times,” Seneya grumbled over her steak as she tore a bite free.

“You what?”

“It’s not like she can fly yet. It’s helping her!” Kael said incredulously and crossed his arms.

“She flew just fine; that’s how she knocked me down today!” Sael said, blinking with wide eyes.

“I glided.” The heat crept back up her cheeks.

“She can’t fly. Feathers, she can’t even tuck her wings yet!” Kael shrugged his shoulder as he did so.

“I understand she needed to heal, but why haven’t you at least taught her?” Sael stood and strolled past Seneya, around her wings, to carefully inspect her back.

“Deep breath,” He said as he put his hand in a fist with his thumb to the warm skin of her upper back. She tensed up and took a deep breath, waiting for something painful, but felt his thumb press down at the nape of her neck for a moment, acclimating her. She expected to feel something, her wings drawing up, anything. She let down her guard for just a moment and began to release her breath.

That was a mistake.

She gasped hard as his thumb ran down her back, pressing hard against her spine as it raked its way towards her tailbone. Her feet lifted off the ground, back arched, and head tossed back with an open-mouthed squeak of a silenced cry. A sudden shifting overcame her back, and she felt ‘full,’ for lack of a better word, too tight. Her world started spinning.

“Oh dear,” Sael said as she reached out and began falling.

“Too fast?” Kael chuckled hoarsely through fingers cupped over his mouth.

Sael held her shoulders gently, studying her markings. “What the hells are you, girl?”

She managed a short breath. “In a lot of pain.”

“Blah blah sneeze,” Sael mocked as Kael gave his line about letting her wings go.

Seneya laughed, the gesture catching her off guard as her wings exploded from her back in a rush of fallen feathers and sent Sael stumbling back from their force. “Ack!”

Kael laughed, then, as Sael steadied himself and shook his head. “I don’t know those markings, either. Her spirit said she was wild blood.”

Sael steadied himself and frowned in thought. “Maybe her father was a mixed-race or something? That’s the best I can piece together.”

“Is it really that bad?” Seneya lifted a hand to her mouth to chew on her knuckle nervously.

Kael shrugged. “Never bothered me any, but it’s not something people want to do, necessarily. Our Ikris marks us for what we’re strong in. The Acerrai, we are fast and fierce. We practice our magic with brute force and speed. The Anael, they are warriors and scholars. The Phoenix are versed in magic.”

“So, it just means I won’t be as good as others?”

“Nah, just means people don’t know where to put you, what you’re good at. We can figure that out, but your markings will always be different. I think it’s safe to say from the fact that you healed yourself that you’re going to be good with mana and magic, though.”

“I’m going to agree,” Sael remembered the flashes of fires over her wrist. He’d never seen or heard of someone with multiple fires. “Wait… She healed herself?” Alarm flashed over his face.

“Yeah, craziest sutsa I’ve seen.” Kael waved a hand a bit. Seneya had gotten so used to him having his wings and tail out that when they were in, his speech sounded different. It was like losing part of his face. She missed his expressive tail and shifting wings.

Sael took his seat once more, and Seneya wriggled her wings, trying to figure out how to draw them back in more slowly. She remembered that sensation, and a distant memory flashed in her mind, an idea, a thought that persisted, and they gently slid back into her ikris. They didn’t feel as tight then. Her tail swished eagerly, and with a little effort, that too slipped away. She felt a strange pressure and sighed with relief. She hadn’t felt ‘human’ since all this had happened, until now at least. “I can lay on my back again.” A delighted sigh escaped her lips.

Kael had that look like she’d done something too fast or too well again. Sael paused in thought.

“I can let them back out if it’s a problem?” She rounded her shoulders meekly. Her tail slipped free with a flourish.

“No, you just catch on quick, is all.” Sael let his own tail free, and Kael followed suit.

Seneya froze in her seat as she stared at her own tail, then the tails of the men around her, gently swishing. A memory came to her, a flash as her eyes flicked about in contemplation. There were a lot of them at one time. Now there weren’t that many. Profound loneliness embraced her. “We’re nine short.”

Kael lifted a brow. Sael tensed.

“Is she speaking Anael?” Sael whispered, and Kael shrugged.

“Nine short of what?” Kael said, raising his voice in Acerrai.

“Hmm?” She startled, drawn out of a reverie.

Kael walked over and patted her on the shoulder. “Sael brought you an actual bed in all that stuff. Go put it together. He’s got places to be, I’m sure.”

Seneya happily obeyed and ran off to the living room to work on setting up her bed.

“She’s been doing that since she healed herself.” Kael shrugged. “Hit her head hard.”

Sael nodded. “I’ll send for a healer to come by if she is still doing this the next time I come.”

Kael shrugged and smiled gratefully. “Thank you. You know I appreciate you.”

“Keep that in mind when I start negotiating her for favors.” Sael’s grin stretched wide and wicked.

Kael gave him a stern glare before Sael threw his arms around him for a hug. Kael tensed for a moment, stiff in posture, and softened.

“This is the happiest I’ve seen you in a while.” Sael tightened his grasp before pulling away.

“She’s just so curious all the time.” Kael smiled sadly.

“I’ll be back soon.” Sael waved and turned, eyes migrating towards where Seneya had moved off to.

“See you in another few months?” Kael asked, barely registering with him.

Sael glanced at his father and tilted his head as he thought. “No. I’ll be by sooner. Call me curious as well.”

Seneya worked on setting up the pieces of her bed, a simple canvas cot that she rearranged into the corner of the living room for some space. Privacy didn’t seem so important to her anymore. She hopped onto the frame to test it and lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.

Seneya smiled and closed her eyes, humming a soft song beneath her breath.

Sael peeked in through the doorway to the living room and heard the song she hummed. His upper lip twitched in the most brief of snarls. Something in his chest begged him to join her, and his longing aura spiked just a moment before he crushed it down and left through the back door.

A flash of light blinked through the windows and left hollowness in his wake.

“Gaff,” Kael said, closing his eyes to listen to her song.