Page 13 of Dark's Savior

When he finally found the strength to look over the edge and see her, his Drega moved quickly and almost violently, making him shake. He stilled himself in time, enough to will himself to remain calm, though his receptors hummed, and his stomach clenched, hardening him between his thighs.

He should have left then. He had completed his little test, and he should just go, knowing now that these human females (and not the males) affected him in a way he still didn't understand but they affected him all the same. A mystery still with few answers.

Yes, he should have gone. But he found too soon that he couldn't bring himself to move, couldn't bring himself to look away from the woman down below. She wasn't nillium. She wasn't even a silion. Yet, he sat there all the same, staring down at her, wanting...

Wanting something he shouldn't. This was wrong. nillium didn't entangle with others.

Yet his body was telling him otherwise. He couldn't fathom the reason and it bothered him.

The woman fixed the bot and set it aside and looked around again with uneasiness. She hurried away, and, without even a logical thought in his head, Ryziel followed her.

He made his way up without being seen and found her again on the twenty-second level. He slipped into a shadowed corner just above the cave face where she had entered and peered down to see her walking toward another human man. His eyes narrowed on them as they talked, but he couldn't make out their words, not because he couldn't hear them clearly but because they spoke in a non-Xolien language that he couldn't understand. Likely their own common tongue. He watched them move together to sit on a rock almost directly above him. They sat close and Ryziel wondered if they were mates. They smiled at each other and talked without restraint, but they did not embrace in their meeting. But that could mean very little as he did not know human customs.

A breeze picked up, catching in the woman's hair, spilling it over her shoulders. Ryziel thought about the night on the bridge, and even now, he wanted to touch the silky strands once more, letting them fall through his sharp fingers. He shut his eyes tight and rubbed his temples.

This was foolish and ridiculous and what the hell was he even doing here, watching them, thinking these thoughts?

As he opened his eyes, he caught the pair taking hands. Entwining their fingers. Ryziel's brow tightened at the gesture. Yes, they must be mates.

A strange feeling welled up in him, but he couldn't quite identify it. His Drega moved, stirring slightly, and he forced it down. What did it matter? He shouldn't care. Didn't care. Yet, he found his body growing tense as if ready to strike.

Foolish.

He was about to turn away when he saw the woman lean forward and place her mouth on to the man's. The sudden show of affection made Ryziel stop and grow still.

The gesture was intimate to say the least, though not to a point where Ryziel thought the man would claim her there on the rock (thank Nihl). It was a tender thing, something Ryziel knew little about, but something he suddenly very much desired to understand and even experience himself. And with this human woman no less.

His body trembled again at the thought of her lips touching him as she touched this man, and once more, his Drega moved. He caught the growl in his throat but couldn't stop a low hiss. He shoved the forbidden thought aside.

No, forget it. He didn't need to know what it felt like to be touched by one of them. Why should he? He was just confused, that was all. And in shock by the sudden change of his Drega. That was it. It didn't matter what it wanted. It was wrong because nillium didn't entangle with others.

Or weren't supposed to.

Ryziel let out a long, deep breath and couldn't help in that moment thinking of his brother. Korzien, who believed nillium were without any fault. That their desires and needs were always rational and acceptable. Unlike their father, who believed nillium had to be in control of themselves and their urges at all times. He could imagine what Korzien would think of him now, how he would laugh and say he was being dramatic.

A memory came to him then of a time in the First House. He remembered walking the halls, always so silent that people missed him, and turning a corner to see his brother just about to enter one of the spare bedrooms down the way. His brother had looked around and saw him and smiled. There had been someone behind him, a figure Ryziel had seen many times in the House before. Usually serving his family in silence. Ryziel saw their face, and he understood.

"It's okay, Ryziel. We are nillium and we do what we please. And take what we wish," his brother had said before closing the door.

They take what they wish.

He could hear his brother's reply even now. His voice still drumming in his brain.

It doesn't matter, Ryz. You are nillium, born of the First House. You can have whatever you want.

And, as if to reply to him in his very mind, Ryziel said, 'It is immoral to take someone else, mated or no. To take by force is to let your Drega have control.'

He could hear his brother's low laugh.

You are son of the First. You have the right to all. You could take her and make her yours.

'She is not nillium.'

So?

Ryziel frowned, thinking again about the times he had caught his brother taking a silion or a servant to bed. That first time had only been the beginning. Many in the House knew he indulged in more than nillium women and had kept silent. Perhaps even his father knew. But he would not condemn his prized son. Not for that.

The human pair had separated now and were checking their techbands as if nothing between them had just happened. A few words were spoken, and the woman left.

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