Lor (Monstrous, #7)

by Lily Mayne

“We don’t know that for certain,” he insisted. “Remember the legends about the salyik chieftain’s strange mate? The unknown creature that appeared from nowhere? They had to have come from somewhere. Why not some… other world?”

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.

And its ears were tiny. Rounded at the top. I eyed them in alarm. Had someone maimed it? How cruel.

This is a weird spaceship, I vacantly thought, but then two werewolves walked in, and I passed out.

I lapped it up like a neglected little folna pup. Aside from my relationship with my brother, those easier moments with Seis were the only instances of true friendship I ever experienced.

At least she had gotten to see Lyri shape his body into the man he had always been. She had immediately called for the royal healthkeeper when he finally told her, years after he had told me, his hand sweating in mine the night we had gone to her chamber for him to finally tell her that he was her son, not her daughter.

One of my slippers almost fell off, making me stumble, but I quickly righted my footing and continued as if it hadn’t happened.

When it cleared a second later, I found myself staring at a deep blue face with wide silver and black eyes. We both screamed.

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.

“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.”

Sow those wild oats, you know? Or, I mean, not so wild, if you’re in a committed relationship. Sow those committed oats, my man.”

“W-wait.” I shook my head, struggling to breathe. “I’m—I’ll c-come. Just give me a minute.” Lor whined with impatience,

“You are everything to me. I won’t survive it, not as I am now. I won’t.” Releasing his hand, I splayed my trembling fingers over his chest. “My heart is in here now. Not with me. I will be empty without you.” “Don’t say that,” he croaked. “You’ll still have so much. Your brother and Seis and Gryf and Lilimar… You wanted to make all those changes here, right? You—you have work to do.” He gave me a weak, tearful smile. “I’m super proud of you. You’re so brave.”

“Life doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. But at least we had a little time together, right? At least… at least we managed to meet, against all the odds. I’d say we did pretty well.”

“I haven’t really achieved much, but making the decision to come back here, to meet you properly, is the thing I’m most proud of in my life,” he told me quietly. “I love you, Lor. I don’t regret any of it. And that… that helps. It helps me accept what”—his breath shuddered out of him—“what’s going to happen. It was all worth it. I love you.”

“And we still have a bit more time,” he said as he pulled back, smoothing my hair from my damp face. “Let’s do something fun tomorrow. Well, as fun as it can get in this room.” He chuckled. “We’ll do whatever you want,” I whispered, twining our fingers together on the pillow between us and kissing his knuckles. “Anything. We will spend the whole day together.” He smiled back drowsily, eyes already slipping shut, face lined with exhaustion after his emotional onslaught. “Sounds nice.” The next morning, he didn’t wake up.

When Seis left for the night and the hyll fell silent, I would speak to him. I didn’t know if he could hear me, wherever his mind was, but I wanted him to know he wasn’t alone. Was he aware? Was he scared? Was he trapped inside his own mind, terrified and unable to express it? The thought threatened to destroy me completely. So I spoke to him. I told him lies. That Lilimar nearly had a cure. That he would be back with me soon.

I remembered Jugs’ words, some of the last he said to me, about what I would still have once he was gone. My brother. Seis and Gryf and Lilimar. He had tried so hard to take away my guilt, even as his body had been failing him.

rest of the entire world. However, everyone knew that I had someone. Because a year after Jugs had gone into his deep sleep, I asked Lilimar to pierce my lip. To show the world that there was one person—a single person out there—who was mine, who I would never speak ill of, who would be the only one to ever feel the touch of my mouth.

I hated sleeping alone in my bed, but I hated sleeping in that room with Jugs’ lifeless body even more.

“Yes,” I croaked. “One that is now being flooded with terrible beasts.” Turning to Seis, I gazed up at him fearfully. “Humans are vulnerable. Their skin is soft, their teeth are blunt. They have no claws or tails or… Seis, they will be slaughtered.”

I was stuck. Still waiting. Still unable to grieve and still unable to feel any hope. I had no hope left. I had nothing left at all. I was a shell. Hollow and empty. A body that moved, a mouth that spoke, but nothing else.

The more time that passed, the less alive I felt.

Fifteen years. Fifteen years, and Jugs looked exactly as he had the day he fell asleep and never woke back up.

Every night, I sat beside Jugs’ glass case in silence. I couldn’t even bring myself to speak to him anymore, to hope that he could hear me, wherever his mind was. I only had terrible things to say. I had nothing good to tell him. Our plan to offer refuge to the humans had failed. My brother was gone. Gryf was gone. Lilimar seemed no closer to finding a cure than she had been over twenty damned years ago.

This is your punishment. For taking a human from the otherworld for yourself. For letting your brother go through there. For everything.

Thirty years. It didn’t seem possible. I couldn’t even fathom how different everything had been thirty years ago.

My hands shot up to grip the edge of it. It had been so long since I had touched him—so, so long—and he was right there, looking just as he had before I had lost him to this endless sleep.

“I’m not really furious at you,” I mumbled. “You are my friend, Seis. If I lost you as well…” His face softened. Gently, he pulled me back into another hug. I shuddered as my cheek pressed to his warm chest. I had barely touched another person in so long. I hadn’t let myself, especially after my final goodbye with my brother. “You haven’t lost me,” Seis rumbled, pulling back to smile at me. “And you haven’t lost Jugs. The cure works, Lor. He’s going to wake up.”

“Oh.” His throat bobbed with a nervous swallow. “L-like a koh-muh? How… how long?” I pursed my trembling lips and forced myself to look him in the eyes. “Thirty years.”

“I would wait my whole life for you,” he said quietly, trying to steady his voice even as tears continued to stream freely down his cheeks. He pressed his lips to my hand again. “I would wait forever for you, Jugs.”

He looked so happy—so relieved—that I leaned in to kiss him, uncaring of our audience. But I kept it brief, because I didn’t want to make Seis uncomfortable. Plus, I probably really needed to brush my teeth. And shower. I didn’t stink of body odour, but there was a strange, musty, vegetal scent clinging to my skin.

“Did you like it?” he asked. “Sorry, I should’ve asked before if you were interested in… Not everyone likes topping—”

“Hey.” He chuckled and dutifully high-fived me when I lifted my hand.

“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.”

“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.