"Oh, you're so thoughtful, Bee. Thank you both." Milly beams at us as if we have given her a prize. "I'll just set this on the table. Mycrul and Mina are in the sitting room." She gestures at a pair of closed double doors and moves down the hall.
My collar turns chokingly tight. Lord va'Rin exchanges pleasantries with my mate, who squeezes my arm again and gestures at the room across from us. She's telling me without words that I should go inside and introduce myself. I press a kiss to the top of her head and then stride over to the double doors that must be the sitting room. Before I go inside, I can smell…myself, but not. It's strange. It's like me, but a slightly spicier scent and a different soap. There's also the smell of an unfamiliar female mingled with his.
I open the door and step inside.
There's a scrawny female sitting on one of the chairs. She has thick, slashing brows that seem huge in her small, pale face. It's the only noticeable feature about her, so I turn toward the male at the far end of the room. His hands are on his hips, his back to me, as he stares at a crystalline vase with a frown on his face. It's like he's no more comfortable here than I am.
I close the door and immediately, the male turns. His nostrils flare, and we stare at one another.
It's my face…but not. His mane is cut short, his jaw shaved. His tusks are gone, and he almost looks…civilized. Me, with all the edges filed off. It's strange, but I touch my own jaw and I'm glad that I kept my tusks. Do they pull at my mouth? Yes. Do they look fearsome? Also yes, and Bee loves them.
"Holy shit," the female says softly.
"You are Mycrul?" I say, taking a step forward. "I am Victor." Pain pricks at my back, as if my spikes are preparing to launch themselves through my skin. Bee told me that Mycrul would not want to fight, but I need to be ready if he does. I need to protect my mate.
As if we share thoughts, he immediately steps in front of his scrawny mate and sizes me up.
"Victor," he says slowly, as if tasting my name. His tail lashes, and his mate swats at it. "As in…winner? Have you battled many, then?"
I can smell the tension radiating off of him as he tries to keep his female behind him. It occurs to me that he has the same concerns I do—that he is worried I will be like Crulden and want to fight and harm—and that is why we are here at Lord va'Rin's estate instead of somewhere more private. "It is just a name," I admit. "Crulden did not fit me, so Bee suggested that one." I manage a half-smile. "She did not want to call me 'Asshole' like the guards did."
The female snorts with amusement.
Mycrul puts a hand behind him, and I see her fingers lace with his, even though his expression does not change. "Do you have his memories?" he asks. "Crulden's?"
"Some," I admit. "None of them good."
"Mine either." His mouth twitches, and then he smiles broadly, the sight of it pleasingly strange and unfamiliar without the tusks. He is a different person, and I am glad to see it. "Mina says I should focus on the future, not the past."
"Bee says something very similar," I admit. "But Bee also likes to tell people what to do."
Mycrul's mouth twitches again. "We noticed. She set up this meeting."
"I know. She wanted me to get to know you both." I love my mate with all my heart, but I know her better than anyone, and I know how much she loves to prod and manage people. "If you do not want to be here, I understand. I just want to live quietly with my mate at my side."
"We don't mind being here," the female says, her voice fierce. "Do we, Mycrul?"
The male wearing a face that is almost mine watches me and then nods slowly. "I thought it would be good to meet."
"My Bee wants us to be family," I admit, since she will be in here in a moment and tell them just that. My collar is tight and I feel awkward and strange. As I watch, Mycrul adjusts his own collar, and it makes me feel a little better. "Just so you know."
I expect the male to laugh in my face. To show his fangs, like the Crulden of my memories would. To display his claws and then use them on every surface—and every person—available. But Mycrul only gives me that strange, tusk-less smile and squeezes his scrawny mate's hand. "It would not be a bad thing to have family."
I smile back, because like me, he is not Crulden. He is his own person. "Family would be good."
"If we are family, then can I unfasten my collar?" Mycrul asks, glancing down at his mate as he tugs at it with his free hand.
I let out a huge sigh and free my own, rubbing my throat. "Thank the stars for that."
Mycrul stares at me and then throws back his head and laughs.
It's almost the same laugh as mine. Almost, but not quite, and when I join in, it feels good to laugh. We are family, after all.
Author’s Note
Hello there!
* * *
I decided this book would come about almost immediately after I finished BAD GUY. I had SO much fun with that book that I knew I wanted to write another. I hope you enjoyed it! I don’t think I have plans for more Crulden clones just yet, but never say never! There might be an Ultimate Bad Guy lurking on some distant station, just waiting for his own book. You never know. I also thought this would be just a short novella…but I’d also thought the same thing about BAD GUY and we all know how that turned out. Basically if I call it a novella, you can expect 200 pages at this point.
(I really need to stop doing that to myself…)
I feel like this book fits pretty closely in the Risdaverse general scheme of things - you don’t have to have read everything else to follow along, really. It just helps fill in some of the blanks if you have. If you’re wondering about timeframes, this book occurs in the period just after BAD GUY finishes.
I loved writing Mycrul and Mina so much that I was actually tempted to write Victor and Bee into a similar situation…except I also realized immediately that wouldn’t work. For one, I’ve established that Lord va’Rin is a good guy, if overworked and delegating a lot (hence First Rank Novis). It wouldn’t make sense for his guards to be abusive. Trigger happy and clueless? Yes. Unable to get along with Victor/Crulden? Yes. But downright mean? No. Victor is caged and cuffed because he can’t stop lashing out, so it’s due to his own actions and a policing force that has no clue what to do with a very violent man they’re supposed to reform. His head is filled with angry, piecemeal memories, and that’s all he has to establish his personality. It isn’t until Bee comes in and treats him like a person instead of just a problem that he starts to blossom into his own self.
Bee is very different from Mina, as well. Whereas Mina was the grudgiest slave ever (who wouldn’t be?), Bee has been freed for a while, but the scars of her captivity still hang over her. She’s learned to cope with her lack of power by manipulating everyone around her with smiles. In a way, it made me think of the Southern saying of ‘Bless your heart’ which sounds so very nice until you realize the person saying it isn’t intending for it to be nice at all. Bee is nice, but she also likes to get her way. I thought it was a fun angle for a heroine to reclaim her power, especially one that’s been through what she has.