Chapter 38

“So here you are. I’ve been looking for you,” Silus said, joining Lilitha at the ridge.

Lilitha’s human father looked up from his meal, spat, then pulled away. Silus winced at Lilitha’s swollen face. Lilitha flushed and dropped her chin into her hand. He sat beside her. It was a curiously warm night, the sky clear, a splash of stars winking at them through the treetops. The fire Lilitha had built for her father flickered happily. Eyeing Silus warily, her father continued with his meal.

“So, this was your caretaker,” he said in distaste.

“He is my father.”

“~I ~am your father.” The fire snapped. He sighed. “I’m sorry for what you saw the other night. This is why family members are not supposed to abide within the same clan. I will go.”

He got up but Lilitha seized his wrist. “Don’t go. I’m sorry for being angry. It’s just—this is all new to me.”

He sat back down beside her. Smiling grimly, he took her hand. “You have every right to be angry.”

Lilitha watched as her human father huddled before the fire. “I’m not angry. I’m just confused, that’s all. I had always thought I was supposed to be with only one other.”

“For human beasts that is probably true, but that is not true for a Diablon. We live, we love, as a clan.”

“You and my mother were together.”

“That is so. But it is a rare thing.”

“But—” she thought for a moment “—but does that mean you all…you know—” she flushed “—with each other?”

“Yes.”

“You and Carmella?”

“Yes.”

“You and Mateus too?”

“Yes.”

Lilitha chewed her lip as she studied the scattering of rocks by her feet, hot and flushed at the thought of her next question. “And what of you and me?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“All interfamilial relations are against natural law: brothers and sisters, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, close cousins—they are forbidden. Often the offspring are twisted. Like I said, it is not usual for family members to reside in the same group, and it is so to protect the next generation, to protect our species.”

She frowned, then smirked in disbelief. “Then what of Damon and Mateus? Would they …?”

“No. Definitely not.” He grinned. “They would ~kill~ each other first. As alphas they only seek out betas or females. Mateus and Damon ~do~ love each other, but they love each other like brothers—”

“—but they hate each other!”

“And they hate each other like brothers.” Silus smiled at her astonishment. “It’s a complicated relationship. You’ll get used to it.”

He paused as they both watched her father, the links of his chain gleaming in the moonlight. He really did look wretched. Thin. Miserable. It was what he deserved.

“Have no fear when they fight,” Silus told her. “Alphas fight all the time. It is normal. It trains them to be protectors. For me and Carmella—and for you. Alphas ~can~ kill each other, though, and do so often,” Silus said sadly.

“I make them angry. Really angry.” She felt her heart lurch that either of them might die. “What if you’re wrong?”

“I’m rarely wrong.” He gave her a mischievous smile. “A clan is not a clan without an alpha. Just as a clan is not a clan without a beta or a female. We keep them in line. We keep them under control.”

“Doesn’t feel like it.” Then she looked up with a start, suddenly understanding as she looked over his smaller horns. “~You’re~ a beta.”

Silus nodded.

Lilitha frowned in confusion. “But you’re the leader, aren’t you?”

Silus nodded again. “An alpha cannot lead a clan. They are too emotional. Too unpredictable. Only a beta or a female can do that. Like I said—balance. And the best balance is two alphas to four or five betas or females. Which means we’ve been short two for many years.” He gave her a wry grin. “Carmella and I are exhausted.”

“Can’t there be just one alpha to two? Wouldn’t that be safer?”

“It would be doable,” Silus agreed, “but it wouldn’t be safer. The clan is too small. And as much as it sounds strange, alphas work better in pairs.”

“I remember…I remember that night…when all those men were killed. I could not look. I did see the aftermath though, and that was enough. I still cannot—” she winced “—I still cannot ascribe them such terrors.”

“Do not judge them harshly. They are angry. They have little love for man and rightly so. Particularly after what happened to you.” His tail lashed.

“Rightly so? After all the horrors they’ve put humans through? Eating them!”

“It is the way of things, Lilitha. We are designed to consume them, and so we do, but we never desire to eradicate or destroy. But ~they~—” Silus’s brow furrowed; he gripped his knees “—~they ~have no misgivings in destroying us utterly, torturing us, razing our homes to the ground, flushing us out and cutting us down. They know our numbers are small, and yet they are merciless.”

“Who are ~they~ you speak of? I have seen none of that. Damon spoke of them, but I still cannot believe it. He says they cut off your horns.”

“It is true. We are beasts to them, as they are beasts to us. It is not here but down south. You have no idea, Lilitha, safe up here in these old settlements where little has changed for generations. Down in the southern regions, cities multiply, man runs amok, ravaging the earth, polluting the waters, raging wars. I hope you will never see, but I fear it is inevitable.”

He looked around at the trees. “They have moved at lightning pace over the past ten years. Soon, their ways will arrive here, and I would estimate that in a little more than a few years, things will have changed radically. The settlements here will either prosper or burn, this forest will be razed.”

“No!”

“Yes.”

Lilitha stared into the flickering flames, feeling sick, tired, older. It was as though a veil had fallen from her eyes. Suddenly, she was looking further out, beyond Mainstry and Esteria, to the settlements to the south, to the glaciers to the north, to the great, wide ocean to the east. The world was an enormous place, its mysteries infinite, a great deal more than the simple life she had once lived in Norfolk.

They watched her father curl around the fire. The flames danced in the breeze, throwing misshapen shadows against the ridge wall.

“I have my friend,” Lilitha said, “whom I love dearly. It tears me apart that she should exist here against her will.” She looked into his eyes. “Please, please, can’t you release her? For me?”

Silus held her gaze. He felt for her, Lilitha could see that, but there was a hardness in his expression that made her heart sink.

“Not possible. The clan comes first beyond all else. It is an unnecessary risk, and I will not allow it.”

“But she is harmless. She is innocent. She is just a girl. And she doesn’t even know about the clan.”

“Humans cannot be trusted, innocent or otherwise. And she knows enough. She is alive when she should be dead. Her reappearance could crush our myth, and we will be hunted. It is my love for you that has kept her alive thus far, and it is my love for you that will keep her alive until the day I die if that’s what you want. Let that be enough.”

“So, you won’t ~…~eat her—” Lilitha grimaced “—like the other prisoners?”

“By my oath. And neither will the rest of the clan. I promise.”

Lilitha bit her lip. “But—”

The glow from the fire blazed in his eyes. “That’s my final word.”