Page 26 of Mated By Twilight
“Of course.” She frowned. “Am I not supposed to?”
“No one else would,” Sollit nuzzled her knuckles.
They wouldn’t? She didn’t see how. Tillos and Sollit looked the same, sure, but even when they were dressed identically, there was just something so inherentlySollitabout Sollit, and the same for Tillos. She couldn’t imagine mixing them up.
“You’re a fool, huh?” Shorvi’s unpleasant voice interrupted the moment as he glared dolefully at her while folding a long piece of fabric.
“Shorvi,” Sollit said warningly, his voice chipper and all the more menacing for it.
Shorvi shrugged. “I’m still not wrong. You’d think she would have read up on the species she’s mating. No one can tell avanava males apart at all times except their mate. It’s how their species recognizes such things.”
“Oh,” Leah breathed softly. Was that why they looked so happy about it?
Of course, neither of them looked happy now. They were glaring at Shorvi as if trying to decide if they were going to punish him for his rudeness.
But Leah tightened her grip on their hands and pulled their attention back to her.
“Come on,” she said, choosing to ignore the unpleasant domini male. “Let’s go. I’m really looking forward to the show.”
Chapter 11
Sollit
“Please! You are closer to me than anyone. You cannot make me watch you die!” Sollit’s horrified cries were met with stoic silence. “Please…”
“I must fight,” Tillos responded, his voice echoing in the deadly silence of the auditorium. He looked at him, tears gathering in his eyes. “She hurt you. I cannot allow that to pass…”
Sollit put a hand over the bandages wrapped around his chest. “The pain of these wounds will be nothing compared to the agony of losing you.”
Tillos turned his gaze away. Tense. “Forgive me.”
“No!” Sollit yelled, trying to chase after him as Tillos ran off stage.
But he cried out, grabbing his chest, the pain of his wound making him drop to his knees. Losing him the chance to stop Tillos before he ran to his death in battle. He gasped on his hands and knees before letting out a wordless scream. His pain, his helplessness, his despair all coiled together into a heartbreaking sound that burned in his throat and echoed deeply in the auditorium.
The stage went dark as the scene ended, and the audience cheered riotously. Sollit, in the cover of darkness, dropped back to the bottom of the stage and snuck out as Skara and the others playing in the next scene took the stage.
He met up with Tillos at the entrance. His brother would be in the next scene as well, but he wouldn’t enter until about halfway through.
“Did you see Leah?” Sollit whispered as the distant sounds of Skara’s speech began. The sound proofing between the stage and understage meant it was pointless to whisper, but it was a habit from back when he and Tillos had performed with troupes that weren’t so lucky.
Tillos grinned, nodding. Which made Sollit chuckle.
“Nodding? How very human of you.”
“She does the head bobbing movements a lot. I thought it best to get used to it.”
Sollit nodded as well, the movement smooth – not from familiarity, just from a long life of performing on stage and needing his body to do unfamiliar motions and signs easily. “She looked enraptured, didn’t she? She was hanging off her seat.”
“I think we’ve made a fan of her,” Tillos agreed, tightening his bracer.
Sollit grinned. “I’m going to go make sure our gift is ready.”
Tillos nodded and stepped up to the stage entrance, getting ready to rush on.
Sollit turned and jogged out of the backstage area. Usually, it was the actors that were given gifts after a performance, and he was sure there would be that too, but he and Tillos wanted togive Leah something. A thank you for coming here. A welcoming present. A reassurance that they were going to take care of her, no matter how long she needed to get used to everything.
The present they’d ordered had been rush delivered to the Jin-Raun Space Station. He had then hired someone in the station to bring it to the ship during the show so he could make sure that Leah didn’t see it early.