Lor (Monstrous, #7)

by Lily Mayne

I pictured that tiny, strange speck in the guest chamber. Maybe it would bring something interesting to the hyll, something to break up the monotony of my life. But I doubted it. It was just a speck.

“Yes, Moric.” He inclined his head, but a tiny, sympathetic smile tilted his tusked mouth. “Perhaps, if it doesn’t take too long, we can go for a walk around the grounds after your meeting. Get some fresh air.” “The council always takes too long,” I muttered, wishing for a weak moment that he would fall into step beside me rather than remain a respectful pace or two behind. Lyri was the only person in the world who actually walked by my side—even the council members hovered a step back if they continued trying to talk my ear off as I left another endless meeting.

poor Lor :(

Now, the isdernucs were gone, though it hadn’t been that final battle that had wiped them out. It had been years later, their numbers growing smaller and smaller in the forest they inhabited in the neighbouring fiefdom, until the last remaining tribe site of the isdernucs had been found rampaged and ripped apart, nothing more than rotting corpses left behind. There were still rumours to this day that one had survived whatever fate befell them that day. Travelling folk insisted on seeing a lone isdernuc wandering the lands, sometimes in the company of one of the telyths—the ghoulish creatures from a forgotten age.

hi edin and wyn!!!

“If you’re such a rebel, why don’t you shave all your hair off?” I grumbled, perching on the edge of the bed as Lyri heaved himself up onto an elbow. “Because I like my hair.” He shrugged, but then his eyes gleamed as he added, “I like getting it pulled.”

I had never… been with someone in that way. Intimately. By the time I became an adult, I was already Moric. And there were things that a Moric just didn’t do, which included fornicating with whoever they wanted. There were rules.

Lyri and I stared in shocked silence at the groaning lump on the floor and its tangle of long, unnaturally pinkish limbs dusted with golden hair—a wild mop of the stuff on its head that grew longer at the back, like a shorter version of the bareghs’ manes, which trailed all the way down their spines.

Its face looked… somewhat similar to ours, but odd enough to make me recoil. Broader and softer, with none of the sharp lines that made vints so beautiful to look at. And its ears were tiny. Rounded at the top. I eyed them in alarm. Had someone maimed it? How cruel.

“Alright, fine,” I gritted out, then tried to smooth my face into a pleasant smile. Its eyes darted down to my sharp teeth and grew wider. It let out a little whimpering sound.

lmaoooo this is so good

Lyri grunted. “I think it might be somewhat intelligent.” He peered around its big body, eyes sparking with intrigue that, for some reason, made me glare at him. “Looks male.” I followed his gaze down to the prominent mound under the creature’s strange short leg coverings. Yes, it… it did indeed appear to be male. Clearing my throat, I averted my gaze quickly as my cheeks grew hot.

But there was a living creature here now. Something I had never seen before. Something that did not look like it had come from this world. Some kind of… otherworldly monster, with his strange pinkish-white skin, glaringly bright armour and frantic barking language.

There were two bright pink splotches on his cheeks, and his strangely full mouth was trembling. “Pliz,” he blurted when he saw me looking at him. “Juzpliz lehmigoh. Pliz, pliz, pliz—” “He’s chanting something.” Lyri sounded wary. “What is it? A curse? Is he cursing us? Stop it!” He poked the creature’s bare side again, making him jump with a scream.

Oh my god, were these… were these aliens? Had they portalled me out of the forest to abduct me and experiment on me? Was that why they were looking at my dick? Were they going to experiment on my dick? “Please,” I burst out, wishing I could cup my hands protectively over my junk. What were they going to do to my dick? “Just please let me go,” I whimpered. “Please, please, please—”

this is so fucking funny omg

“He’s certainly a strange thing to look at.” Seis’ gruff voice snapped me out of my gawking, and I forced back the heat in my cheeks when I realised he was watching me with a wry smile. “Quite,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back and squeezing my fingers together tight. I tried to watch the door for Lyri’s return, but my gaze snapped back to the creature.

We both looked at the unconscious creature in the cell. He looked… very young. His strange face was soft, cheeks still flushed but no longer worryingly high with colour. Strands of golden hair brushed over his forehead, hanging in his eyes. But then my gaze dipped lower. His body certainly wasn’t young. No, it was… robust. Strong and toned, but not intimidatingly muscular like Seis’. His shoulders were wide. Stomach flat. Thighs thick and dusted with that intriguing smattering of hair. I tore my gaze away when the door at the end of the hall opened, Lyri and Gryf appearing with their arms full.

Focusing on their faces again, I realised they were watching me with undisguised curiosity. But it didn’t look malicious or gleeful, like they couldn’t wait for me to stupidly eat something and die an awful death from poison or whatever. They looked as confused about me as I was about them.

The food basket and water were untouched, but at least he was still alive. Though I had no idea if crying meant the same thing for his kind as it did for us—perhaps he wasn’t sad. Perhaps he was… leaking out all his internal fluids because he was dying.

His eyes looked big and watery, the sheen of tears making the blue of them even brighter, like the crystals that lined river edges and jutted out from waterfalls.

I found myself staring at him, taking everything in. His nose was fairly big, and more rounded than the sharp edge of a vint nose. His jaw was wider too, and his pink lips were full in a way that was oddly distracting.

With trembling fingers, I reached up and lifted the hood over his golden mane. He stared down at me, strands hanging in his bright crystal blue eyes. They are strange but lovely eyes, I thought absently, then felt my face heat further, so I stepped back quickly.

“The amount of sheets those guards tear up while they’re fucking. What I wouldn’t give to experience a night with a baregh.” “What?” the other blurted with a horrified laugh. “They’d tear you in half, Mayri!” “Oh no, they’re meant to be exceptional lovers.” I could hear the smirk in their voice. “Haven’t you heard about the knot they have at the base of their cock? If they can get it to fit inside you, it locks you together while they’re coming.”

oh????

I was still pressed to his front, far too close for propriety, but I… couldn’t bring myself to move. I was a head shorter than him, and I gazed in the darkness at the prominent bump in his throat, resisting the strange urge to reach up and feather my fingertips over it, especially when it dipped as he swallowed.

Why was I feeling… sad about never seeing this creature again? I couldn’t understand him. I had no idea what he was or where he came from. His clothes were strange and very revealing, and his features were soft and rounded, not sharp and beautiful like a vint’s. His skin was still splotchy from crying, his hair a tangle on the top of his head. He shouldn’t have been at all pleasing to look at, but as he followed me into the room and I turned to face him, I couldn’t look away.

My mouth trembled, and I took a step closer, starting to speak even though he couldn’t understand me. “I’m sorry for how we treated you,” I croaked, gazing up into his strange crystal eyes. “I’m sorry we locked you up and tried to make you eat food you aren’t familiar with. I’m sorry my brother threw you to the ground and pinned your arms behind your back when you were just… scared and confused. We were—Well, Lyri probably wasn’t scared, but I was scared too. I didn’t—I’ve never… We have never seen anything like you before.”

My chest ached with the desire to know what he had just said—to understand him. And not just because he was an anomaly, a fascinating creature from another place, a mysterious stranger who had fallen into my hyll. But because, for some reason, it felt like I needed to understand him.

I was still wearing the robe. The one the blue monster with beads in his hair had given me before letting me go. For some reason, I didn’t want to take it off.

I couldn’t stop picturing him. His unusual face, soft and pale. His wild golden mane that had been sheared at the sides but long at the front and back. His pink mouth that had drawn my gaze like a beacon. His crystal blue eyes fringed in long golden lashes. The dip of his navel. His long, hair-dusted legs. Every time I thought of him, I grew hot and flustered under my stuffy clothes.

“Hag’s balls.” He shook his head like a wet folna pup. “It is strange through there.” “What did you see?” Gryf asked immediately, staring at him in awe. “Looks like a forest. But everything is… The colours are so unnatural. The sky is blue.” “Blue?” I repeated in shock, picturing the creature’s crystal blue eyes. He had eyes the colour of his sky. Lyri nodded, looking excited. “And the trees are all brown and green. The ground, too.”

“Lyri!” I placed a palm on my forehead, feeling faint. “You are giving me palpitations.”

My mind raced. I wanted to stay here. And I knew I would come back many, many times to watch the void, though not for the same reasons as Lyri. I wanted to see if the creature would return.

For the first time in years, I wasn’t worrying about doing something that could risk my reputation. I wasn’t thinking about how I could be the best, most graceful Moric. How wickedly thrilling.

The way the beautiful one had spoken to me before I’d returned to the forest, his big silver eyes anguished and his voice so soft and musical as he said incomprehensible words to me before he… he touched my stomach. Just a light brush of his long fingers, but it had made goosebumps break out all over me.

I’d stared at the top of his head in the dark, at all those unusual gems and beads wound through the braids in his long grey hair. At the delicate rings and jewels studding his huge ears. The sharp slope of his nose and pronounced cupid’s bow of his mouth.

I considered just turning back, but couldn’t bring myself to. I needed to know that it had been real. That he had been real.

This close to the portal, I could see colours in it. Faint swirls of pale pink and blurs of deep blue. My heart thudded hard against my ribs. Was he there? On the other side?

Was I doing this? Oh my god, I was doing this. Shaking hard from fear and terrifying anticipation, feeling like I might ralph, I reached up and curled my fingers around his.

But then my hand was being drawn back toward me as something stepped through. My lungs stuttered, heart giving a mighty thump, and I stared in wide-eyed disbelief as the creature appeared in front of me.

“Lor,” I repeated, touching my chest, then somehow found the courage to reach out and touch his. My fingertips rested against the warm fabric, and I could feel his heart pounding. “Juhgz.”

His name was Juhgz. What an odd name—so unusual and exotic. I wondered if it held any special meaning in his world, in his language. Maybe it was a noble name, like mine.

“I—I hope you come back,” I croaked, fingers twisting together. After a nervous swallow, I smiled and added, “Juhgz.”

“Are you smitten with him? With the otherworld creature?” I choked on a breath, hands jerking and knocking the pot into my cup. “What? N-no, of course not!” “You are.” Lyri laughed in disbelief, leaning back in his seat. “Look at you. Look at your face. You’re smitten.” I glared at him. “My face is normal!” “Well I for one have never seen that expression on it before. Have you, Seis? Gryf?”

“It’s extremely hard to find, apparently. And that would take a very long time.” Lyri shot me a crooked grin. “Are you willing to wait that long to speak to your otherworlder if he returns?”

“Mm.” Lyri quirked a brow at me with a smirk. “Because that is why you want to be able to understand him. Not so you can woo him with sweet words.” “Shut up.” I glared at him, my ears burning and twitching madly. But I was already breathless with anticipation, imagining what I would say to Juhgz if I could speak to him properly and have him understand me.

I had to give up hope at some point. It was foolish to even care this much. I had met Juhgz twice, and he was… he was a strange creature! From another world! My interest in him should extend no further than curiosity over our differences, not this… this aching pressure in my chest. This desperate need to see him again. To hear his musical voice. To simply be near him.

He crouched to set the thing on the floor before taking a step closer and lifting his hand. “Uhm, hai-faihv? Too sehy heh-loh?” I remembered this! Grinning, I quickly raised my palm and felt a little thrill when he smacked his against it. Perhaps this was how his kind greeted one another. “H-hai-faihv,” I said shyly, my belly swooping with pleasure when he laughed.

“Sweatshirt,” he said, and my heart gave a mighty thump before the word actually registered and made me cock my head. His… sweat shirt? Was it… designed to make him sweat? He didn’t look as though he was sweating.

“Lor,” I repeated, my face burning as I said, “It’s pretty.” “It is what?” He cocked his head. I cleared my throat. “Um, pretty. Your name is pretty.”

Jugs, with his beautiful golden hair and crystal blue eyes. Jugs and his strange talking box that showed moving illustrations of people, and his big metal casket that he climbed inside and somehow rode to other places without any morkes reined to the front. Jugs and his “cheeseburgers” and “fries” that magically appeared through a window if he rode his metal casket up to it.

I hadn’t told him that I was Moric yet—what it meant here—and… I quite liked just being a normal person for once. No more interesting to him than the fact that I was not human like him, and not because of my title.

Jugs cleared his throat as he finally broke his stare, but his face went even pinker as he mumbled, “You, um, you look really nice today. I mean, you always do, but I, um, I mean…” I flushed with pleasure, my ears twitching from the praise. “Thank you. You… So do you. Is it… is it custom for your people to keep your legs bare?”

We both stepped forward awkwardly, but the moment his arms went around me, I melted. My face was tucked against the front of his shoulder, and I tried to subtly breathe in his scent. It was so much better than lokl. Just as warm and comforting, but… deeper. Uniquely him.