Slowly, Kalvoxrencol grabbed my arm, and I bristled but didn’t shake him off. “I do not say these things to hurt you,” he said. “I like Caleb, as does Seth. But you don’t know humans like I do, Zoltilvoxfyn. They are different from us. Does your Caleb truly understand what it means when you say he is yours? Does he understand that you are to be his mate and thatthisis permanent for you?”
Mollified by Caleb being called mine, I actually contemplated my little brother’s words. Did Caleb understand? I had told him I would never give him up. He hadn’t acted upset. In fact, he’d seemed to like it. But we hadn’t known each other long or well, and humans were different from drakcol. He might not have understood what I truly meant.
“I don’t know,” I finally admitted.
“You need to speak with him. Humans don’t mate only once like we do. Caleb might not understand our desire to claim one person.”
“I will.”
His grip on my arm tightened. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
I brushed him off. “He is mine, Pest. I knew it from almost the instant I saw him.”
“I believe you, but he is a spirit, Zoltilvoxfyn.”
“So?”
“You yourself told me that spirits cannot linger here because of the threat of disappearing. Permanently. Is it fair to make him stay?”
I’d had much the same thought. “I’m not forcing him. Caleb is choosing to stay. Besides, he has been dead for a long time.”
“Please,” Kalvoxrencol said, “read what the other mediums had to say again in case you missed something, and please guard your soul until you know he can stay with you.”
It was too late for that. Caleb was mine, and I would have no other. “Did you guard your emotions from Seth until he decided to stay?”
His aspect darkened. “That was different.”
“Why? Because the Crystal revealed him as your soulmate?”
“Yes, the second I made the choice to seek the Crystal, my fate was sealed. I went into it knowing I could never have another. This is different, Bloom.”
“Caleb is as much mine as Seth is yours. I will not waste time or energy protecting myself from him on the slight chance he might decide to move on. I will cherish what we have right now.”
Wrapping his tail around mine, he said, “I understand. I will help you however I can.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“Like I once told you, if he does decide to move on, I will allow all of you to hold me together until I can stand by myself.”
After several moments of strained silence, Kalvoxrencol asked, hip against my workstation, “Is there anything you want to know? I know you don’t have access to the human database we took from Earth yet. Hopefully, the Council of Seekers will release it, or you can tell Mother and Father of your connection to Caleb, and you will be granted access.”
Thatwasn’t going to happen. “There are things I would like to know.”
“So ask.”
“What does it mean when he bobs his head?”
He laughed. “That confused me as well.”
I listened intently as he explained nodding, shrugging, blushing, which Caleb had never done—he might not be ableto—and all manner of other human oddities. I seamlessly transplanted the fern seedlings while Kalvoxrencol spoke. He even told me of things like Seth marking when he sucked and nibbled on his skin. A hickey, Kalvoxrencol called it. I would have no opportunity to use such knowledge with Caleb, but I enjoyed knowing that and things like their soft, smooth skin, which was cooler than ours, how soft their pink tongues were, and how amazing it was to be inside of them.
As Kalvoxrencol talked, a shot of longing went through me. Sex and physical love would never exist in our relationship. I would still choose Caleb, though, in spite of everything.
Eventually, my little brother fell silent, eyes distant. Was he speaking with Seth? I didn’t know how far they could mind-speak or if they even understood each other, as neither spoke the other’s language. I was surprised they even could mind-speak as Crystal-bound drakcol mates did. It was rare for another species to be able to; humans had to be more compatible than we had thought.
“Seth is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said.
