Lor (Monstrous, #7)

by Lily Mayne

“Oh geez.” I swallowed, then let out a bark of nervous, slightly hysterical laughter. Get married? But I was only twenty-one— Oh. Wait. No. No, I wasn’t.

“Okay,” I said, feeling strangely shy as I smiled at Lor. His breath caught, eyes glimmering in the dark as he gripped my hand tighter. “Yes?” he whispered fearfully, sounding like he wasn’t sure he’d heard me right. “Yes.” I leaned in to give him a deep kiss. “I wanna marry you. Um, unite with you.”

Cupping my face, he leaned in to kiss me, smiling against my mouth. “I cannot wait to tell Seis that you have agreed to unite with me. I thought I was cursed when I was without you. When everything—” He stopped and took a breath. “But how can I be when I get to have you? I am the luckiest creature in this entire world. In both worlds.”

He gazed at me, eyes imploring, like he still thought he had to convince me—me, a nobody who’d barely graduated high school and had parents who didn’t give a shit about me, while he was a big, powerful ruler who was so beautiful and kind and loving and could have anyone he wanted. Literally.

“You don’t have to do anything for me,” I mumbled, feeling overwhelmed. “I just want you.” “You have me,” he breathed, wrapping his arms back around my neck and hugging me tight. I felt his lips move against my skin as he said, “From the moment we met, you have had me.”

SOBBING

I couldn’t wait. I woke up every morning practically vibrating with excitement, knowing I was one day closer to uniting with Jugs. The only time my elation would fade was when I remembered that Lyri wouldn’t be with us to witness it. Then the grief overwhelmed me until I could pull myself together and realise that Lyri wouldn’t have wanted me to stop living my life. He had told me as much while he was still here. He had begged me to keep living. So I did. But, as I had done over the last ten years, since he went through the void and never returned, I sometimes spoke to him in my head. We had never had that kind of connection, but I still tried. I tried to feel him, and sometimes I thought I could—moments of anger or despondence that weren’t my emotions. Never happiness or joy. I never felt those from him.

I couldn’t contain my beaming smile as I watched Jugs grin at Talimuth and cheerfully tell them how great it was to meet them. And Talimuth even smiled back—a tiny, barely there smile, just a slight curve of their mouth, but a smile nonetheless.

Seis seemed more interested in roughhousing with him and getting him outside. The baregh guards all adored Jugs, laughing uproariously in good-natured humour when he attempted to wield their heavy weapons or tried on their enormous armour.

He was equally fluent in vint language now as well, able to converse with the councillors and hyll staff with ease. It made me want to burst with pride—made me tell him over and over how clever he was, which always made him blush.

A few very young vints had run up to Jugs and asked him why he was only half-dressed—he was in his shorts and sweat shirt—which made him burst out laughing while his face flamed bright pink. After they’d run off back to their mother, he whispered to me that maybe he needed some clothes like mine so he would fit in better. I told him that he should dress exactly as he wanted. And after glancing around, I had leaned in and whispered how much I enjoyed gazing at his long legs and bare stomach in his usual clothes, asking if he would wear the pink shorts for me that night. His face had turned pink again, but for an entirely different reason this time, as he bit his lip and grinned at me.

He hadn’t asked about Lyri. Everyone knew that their Verin was gone, though no one knew where. But the lack of his presence was still keenly felt in Thinir.

:(

Jugs had looked so handsome in his deep blue tunic and trousers, made just for him by the royal tailor and fitted perfectly to his big body. I wore my outfit from the Valor of the Morics, my tunic with the delicate chains that attached to my finger piercings. I knew Jugs liked it, but it also held a second purpose—it covered up the constant tinkling sound of all the chains under my clothes. I had elaborately adorned myself for Jugs, and I could tell that he knew what would be waiting for him when he undressed me later that night, judging by the heated looks he kept sending me.

By the time the high worshipper ended the ceremony with a customary prayer to the Mabs, to watch over us and keep us happy and prosperous together, I couldn’t stop smiling and neither could Jugs. When we turned to face our miniscule audience, grief stabbed through me yet again as my eyes automatically tried to seek out the grinning face of my twin brother. I pushed the pain back, blinking rapidly and hoping that wherever he was, perhaps he could feel my happiness. Perhaps it would give him some comfort, to know that I was truly living again, not just existing in a void of nothingness. Perhaps it would give him renewed strength to find his way back to us from wherever he was, from whatever was keeping him away.

I was shocked to see my big baregh guard a little tearful as he congratulated us, his deep voice gruff with emotion. He laughed when Jugs hugged him tight, slapping him on the back and making my new husband—the human word for it that I liked very much—jerk forward with a choked sound.

I wondered if it was normal for me to feel so smitten as I watched him do silly little things, like yawn and scratch his belly as he got up and walked to the waterchamber, or tug his clothes out of the wardrobe to get dressed for the day, or tap his feet against the side of the window seat as he read a book. I didn’t care if it wasn’t normal to be so besotted. I cherished every single moment I had with him, even the moments when we were simply existing within each other’s space, not doing anything of note. Perhaps I cherished those moments the most.

But Jugs was still especially close to Seis, and had grown very close with Talimuth, which made me happy. They often joined us for dinner or walks around the gardens, and when I was busy outside of council meetings, the pair of them sometimes went into the city for Talimuth to show Jugs the shops and buildings and explain the history of Thinir.

Jugs also spent much time with Lilimar, and had confided in me that she felt more like a mother to him than his own mother ever had. I had smiled and kissed him, admitting that she felt a bit like a mother to me too, though she could never replace my own Mama.

He hadn’t gotten his lip pierced, but a few months ago he had returned to our quarters with a sheepish grin on his face before pulling up his shorn off shirt to reveal two fresh piercings through his nipples. It had been torturous waiting for them to heal, even with Lilimar’s quick-healing salve, and the moment he told me they no longer hurt, I had spent a long, long time playing with the little hoops topped with tiny, polished silver stones. He’d shyly told me he’d picked them because they reminded him of my eyes. We hadn’t slept much that night.

And he still slept naked—something else I appreciated—but told me that he loved my long, silky nightclothes. He especially loved burying his cold hands under them after getting into bed to make me squeal, before kissing me senseless until I was thoroughly distracted.

They had asked me to join in, and at my first attempt to catch it when Jugs had gently thrown it at me, my ears had twitched madly. I was terrible at it, though gradually getting better, but my throws were always weaker than Seis’ or Jugs’, and half the time I fumbled to catch it, but neither of them cared. It was actually rather fun, despite being such a strange thing to do. And despite the fact that I always came back to the hyll with the front of my tunic covered in sand from my multiple missed attempts to catch the damned ball.

He had certainly helped the people here grow less wary of the otherworlders. Thinir’s citizens clamoured to greet him when he went into the city, gushing over him and trying to give him gifts. Many people had—much to my embarrassment—adopted hairstyles similar to ours. It was common for people to look to their Moric for the latest in fashion and style, but I was quite sure that they were all trying to emulate Jugs more than they were me.

“Moric.” He stumbled forward, still panting heavily, his uniform rumpled. “The—the Verin—” I stopped breathing. My heart gave a mighty, sickly thump in my chest, then began to race. I couldn’t move, frozen in place, clutching Jugs’ hand tightly as I croaked, “What?” Had one of the soldiers returned with news? Was Lyri—Was he— “He’s—” Nanimir cut himself off with another weak cough, making me want to shake the answer out of him. “He’s outside.”

Hcjdkdjdh

A pained sound left me as they came into focus, and I saw my twin brother’s teeth gleaming in the sun as he grinned at me and raised a hand in greeting. “Mabs,” I choked as I started running again, stumbling the last few steps and flinging my arms so hard around my brother that he almost toppled over. “Lyri. Lyri.” He squeezed me back, letting out a wobbly chuckle. His voice shook the tiniest amount when he said, “It’s good to see you, Lor. I missed you.”

“This is Cat,” Lyri told me proudly, taking the human’s hand and pressing a smacking kiss to the back of it. “And before you ask, Gryf is fine.”

“Hey, it’s no problem.” He chuckled, shaking my hand. “I get it. I’ve heard all about you, Lor. Lyri has—” He glanced down at my brother again, dark eyes softening. “Lyri has missed you a lot.”

Lyri waved a hand, then went still as his gaze drifted behind me and his mouth spread into a wide, gleaming grin. “Well fuck me. Jugs, you sly bastard, come here.” I heard Jugs’ familiar laugh as he and Seis jogged over to join us. Lyri immediately pulled Jugs into a hard hug, murmuring something so quietly that even I couldn’t catch it.

“Lyri?” I croaked, clutching Jugs’ hand tight. He huffed and crossed his arms. “Well, we’ve brought back some humans. They’re setting up camp a short distance from the city. But we should probably get back to take them to Honra.”

OH?

“And it’s not even that many! Plus, they’re well-protected—half of them have mates from this world, including the fucking rycke—” I choked on a breath and stumbled back, lifting a hand to my forehead. “What?”

wait maybe the whole nebraska camp??????

“There are more humans?” Jugs asked in disbelief. “Here? Right now? Like… really close?” “Yes.” Lyri glanced at me, before giving Jugs a big, wicked grin. “Want to go meet them, old sport?” I was still reeling, trying to keep up with everything that had just happened, when I heard Jugs laugh and say, “Heck yes I do.” Oh Mabs.