Page 34 of Mated By Twilight

“Leah.”

Sollit’s voice was soft, but it was Tillos that reached for her. He picked her up and set her in his lap while Sollit took hold of her feet, holding them in his hands so they both had her. She was surprised by the motion, but only in that she didn’t expect it. She wasn’t at all surprised to find them both comforting her. That’s just what they did. It was very much who they had shown her they were.

And how nice it was to be between them.

That realization made her laugh. Something that earned confused looks from both of them.

She smiled. “I’m sorry for freaking out like I did. I think Corvidair just yelling kind of reminded me of what it was like at the end there, when dad would get mad whenever I would sing. It kind of freaked me out. I know he didn’t mean anything bad by it, but…”

“You’ve no reason to apologize,” Tillos assured her, running his fingers through her hair. Massaging her scalp. “Corvidair is just very… loud. He doesn’t really have a filter. Or an idea of subtlety. He was excited because he heard a beautiful voice.”

“And youdohave a beautiful voice,” Sollit added.

“Thanks,” she licked her lips nervously. “Erm, if I’m just confessing stuff, I should probably also mention… I’m a virgin.”

Sollit and Tillos both cocked their heads – she saw the former and felt the latter. It made her laugh, though it was probably mostly nerves that brought forth the sound.

“In our religion, you didn’t even really spend time with the opposite sex. Girls were expected to maintain their purity and be untouched by anyone but their husbands. I wasn’t even allowed to have a boyfriend.”

The twins shared a look. Judging by their faces, they were sharing more than a look. They told her that their ability to feel each other was just that – feelings, no thoughts. But they seemed to have developed a whole language around it.

“I think that’s why I freaked out so hard,” she continued. “When I first met you two, I mean. Even at the women’s shelter, I was never alone with a guy. And my roommates were all girls too. Part of me kind of felt it was normal to have a guy chosen for me. I bet if it wasn’t for being forbidden to sing, I might have just gone ahead with the wedding. But to go from never being around men alone to being told I havetwomates. It was a lot. And I think I’m still coming to terms with it.”

“Were we your first kiss?” Tillos asked, his voice neutral, but wonderfully rumbly behind her.

She shook her head. “The guy my dad picked for me, we had some dates before our wedding. They were all chaperoned, but it was by my mom or dad. They didn’t care if he kissed me.” Her face heated up as she smiled. “It was nothing like kissing you two though.”

“Will you sing for us,aevea?” Tillos asked, whispering in her ear.

“Erm… I haven’t really sung for anyone since my last show…”

A moment she could still feel burned into her memories. So crisp and clear, it almost seemed unfair. Of course, her brain would committhatto crystal clear perfection, but never anything useful. Instead, she could always remember how it felt to open her mouth, to start her solo, and to be immediately drowned out by people she’d known and loved and looked up to all her life. They’d been in the front row, all looking directly at her. Some threw balled up pieces of paper, others threw little holy books, one guy actually brought a tomato that hit her right in the belly. She remembered how confused the rest of the choir had been, the incredulous, baffled look on the director’s face, the gaping mouths of the rest of the audience. All of them too flabbergasted to try to intervene.

And Leah herself. Standing at the front of the choir. Bathed in their derision. Tears burning in her eyes as she struggled to sing around the knot in her throat, unable to even hear herself, as she stared at her parents. Her mother looking away as though ashamed of her. But her father never breaking eye contact, his gaze fierce and confident as though to say – look here at what you have done! You bring this upon yourself. Now suffer and realize your mistakes.

She’d run from the stage then too. Straight out of the school, into the parking lot. It had already been dark. The night sky seemedlike the blind eye of the heavens, refusing to even look at her as she sobbed there until her family came out to join her. They hadn’t even pretended to comfort her as they forced her to the car and took her back home. To her prison for the next year.

The few times she was caught humming or singing while locked in the house, even if it was just to bring comfort to herself, came with immediate retribution. Something her family had allowed before was now sinful because the man chosen to be her husband declared it to be so. The humiliation followed by the pain stole her voice for a long time.

She never sang at the shelter. Never hummed along to a song. Didn’t even really seek out music. It wasn’t until she moved in with her roommates that she confessed about being in the choir. But when her roommates asked her to sing, she had immediately become nauseated.

It was like opening her mouth, taking that breath, transported back to that moment on stage. Her father glaring her down in disapproval, the wetness of a splattered tomato on her dress, tears in her eyes. Leah hadn’t even been able to breathe, much less sing.

And now, her guys were asking her for the same…

“I don’t know,” she confessed, looking down at her hands. “I didn’t even realize I had been singing earlier. Not until you guys came. I think that was the first time I really sang anything since I left my parents’ house.”

“Who better to be your audience then?” Sollit smiled, his hands starting to move. He was giving her feet a massage. Something she’d never had before and therefore surprised her. But not as much as when Tillos parted her hair.

“Leah, what is this scar from?” He asked suddenly, gently touching the back of her head.

“A cup,” she said softly.

“A cup?” Sollit cocked his head.

“My dad… he threw a cup at my head.” She licked her lips nervously. “He was mad at me. He threw this big glass cup at me. It cut me when it broke on my head.”

Sollit and Tillos stilled. She saw them share a look over her shoulder. They didn’t say anything, but they quickly redoubled their efforts. Massaging her. Tending to her. Caring for her. They didn’t make threats or get angry, though she definitely saw and felt a new tension to their bodies.

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