Page 18 of Rifted Hearts
He made a valiant attempt at a forlorn look in Kaveh’s direction, but the attempt at puppy-dog eyes was so out of character that Kaveh burst into laughter. Remi stiffened fora moment, as if expecting to be mocked. Then he beamed back, the first genuine smile Kaveh had seen on him. It lit up his face, beautiful and wicked at the same time.
“I’m doing my best to get sympathy here.” Remi stretched out his long and lean body in the mid-century modern leather chair Kaveh had found at a vintage shop in Tucson. “I’m not used to this much honest work taking care of little flying monsters.”
“Let me bandage that properly.” Kaveh opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a scroll wrapped in scaly leather and tied with an elaborately knotted string. He untied and unrolled it, lifting off one of the many strips of cloth marked with red sigils. Kaveh was not a born healer—his drakone birth clan were known for the awful poisonous fire of summ, not saving lives—but he could use Riftworld medical supplies.
A wary look flickered across Remi’s face as he spotted the bandage, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Kaveh gathered a few more items and pulled his chair around the desk so he could sit closer.
Remi held out his hand, and Kaveh unwrapped the mess of Band-Aids, cleaned the wound with alcohol, and inspected the wound. It was a solid bite, enough to cause some bleeding. Snow was up to his old tricks again.
“This is a Riftworld healing cloth.” Kaveh found that he liked the brush of his fingers against Remi’s cool skin. This close to him, the faint scent of mown grass and fresh hay was more pronounced, as if the cologne the man wore had worn off with the passage of time and sweat from cleaning out the cages. “Snow’s bite isn’t poisonous like those of some Riftworld birds, but this material will work better than a regular bandage on a wound from his beak. Are you okay with me using it?”
“I can’t pass up a chance to see alien medicine.”
Remi lied well, but Kaveh was beginning to distinguish between the streamer putting on a front and a genuine response.
“At the zoo, you said Snow was half cockatoo and half mon.” Remi’s eyes flickered down to his bandaged hand resting in Kaveh’s and made no move to pull away. “Is he in your care because neither side accepted him?”
Kaveh wondered if he could ease this conversation with Remi into a discussion of the man’s Riftworld ancestry. Normally, he would feel it was rude to delve into another person’s background out of mere curiosity. But these were not normal times, and Kaveh needed to know who Remi was and if he was a threat to the clan or the monstertown.
“Having a mixed background is a challenge quite a few of my patients face.” Kaveh chose his next words with care. “But they have much to teach us as well. We all have to learn to work together, now that there are two worlds on one planet.”
“That’s a nice sentiment.” Remi didn’t have to spell out how little he thought of this optimistic view of Earth-Riftworld relations. “But there are plenty of people who won’t accept anyone who came out of the rifts and mons who feel the same about humans.”
“That’s why I have Riftworld ambassadors like Snow, Flutterberry, and even Amanita’s colt.” Kaveh had to believe that his work trying to demystify the Riftworld would make a difference in the long run, even if there would always be some on both sides who wanted to reject peaceful interaction and embrace conflict. “Granted, Snow’s little love nips don’t help the cause for coexistence.”
The last words were out of Kaveh’s mouth before he realized how that sentence must sound. Remi raised hiseyebrows. In what must have been a heroic show of restraint, he refrained from any sexual jokes.
A knock resounded through the office. Kaveh straightened, his senses on alert. He realized he had held onto Remi’s hand longer than was strictly necessary.
“Come in,” he said, but even as the door opened, he knew one of his kind was on the other side. His parents and their clan had once hunted down and killed other drakones, and his ability to track others of his kind was an innate, if disturbing, skill.
A tall drakone in his humanoid alter form walked in, iron-gray scales covering his skin, with a proud gaze and slit-pupil eyes. Over six meters in height, he was dressed in a linen tunic over patterned trousers and wore a woolen cloak bright with red, blue, and yellow stripes. A gold torc hung around his neck. The only thing missing from his traditional Welsh clothing was the spear he carried around at formal clan events.
Kaveh sucked in a breath. Rhys was here.
It was never easy seeing his former lover. The memories of their relationship—Kaveh’s only romantic relationship, in fact—were conflicted. Kaveh had been hurt and angry when Xiang Jao had told him that the Matchmaker had intervened, and Rhys would become her second husband. Of course, no one could defy the Matchmaker, but he had wanted his lover to at least be upset by the sudden end to their romance. Instead, Rhys hadn’t even been the one to tell him.
The past was in the past, and Kaveh knew it. What mattered now was why Rhys had come to his office. The drakones of his adopted clan, unlike Kaveh, couldn’t pass for human. They disliked traveling to the monstertown and relied on Kaveh to pass messages along to the town counciland to handle any interactions with humans in the outside world.
“Greetings, brother.” Rhys spoke in the drakone language, and judging by the irritated look he threw in Remi’s direction, he did so because he didn’t feel inclined to include a human in their conversation.
Kaveh made a point of answering back in English. “Good afternoon, Rhys. This is Remi Gatti, who’s visiting the ranch. Remi, this is Rhys.”
Technically, Kaveh should have introduced his fellow clan member as the second husband of the Saguaro Rift matriarch to maintain even the lowest level of courtesy expected in clan etiquette. But Rhys knew the reasons Kaveh chose to live in human society and also why he didn’t want any of the humans around him to know what he was. His ex had chosen to barge in, speaking in the drakone language and interrupting Kaveh’s conversation with Remi. Like the older members of the clan, Rhys was treating him as one of the rare children from a drakone and human relationship—scandalous, inferior, and in need of protection and supervision.
Kaveh was tired of that attitude.
Besides, if Rhys had wanted formal courtesies, he shouldn’t have interrupted Kaveh at work without sending word he was coming.
Remi rose to his feet, and his smile looked forced. His body had tensed and gone still, as a prey animal might when confronted by a predator. Not surprising of course. Rhys cut an intimidating figure, with powerful muscles under his scaled skin. His facial features must have looked strange and alien to Remi.
“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.” Remi sounded confident, even enthusiastic, but both of his handswere curled and stiff by his side. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in giving me an interview?”
“I’m here to talk to Dr. Salehi.” Rhys added in the human courtesy title, perhaps to point out Kaveh’s lack of formal introductions. “I would appreciate you giving us some privacy for our discussion.”
That was rude even by Rhys’s standards, but Remi put on a charming smile and moved toward the door. “Of course. I’ll go check on the bird cages again. If you change your mind about the interview, please let me know.”
Rhys glared at Remi’s back as the vid streamer slipped out. “He’s not a resident of the town, I take it. Why did you bring him here?”
