21
Ark watched Maia leave, the steady stream of emotions he usually felt from her frozen.
"Jaromir," Prince Kheir spoke, sounding betrayed. "Why?"
Jaro wrapped his arms around himself, his shoulders curled inward as he tried to make himself smaller. Ark sighed, giving the prince a warning look.
"It's not as if I had a choice," Jaro muttered, a mixture of shame and deep-seated rage in his voice. "I'm beastkind. I was indentured. You don't say no.Can'tsay no," he bit out.
"You," Ark barked at Heron. The healer winced. "Go somewhere else for a while."
"This is my shop," he sputtered in outrage.
Ark levelled his most dangerous look on the small, blue-haired man, not giving a shit that he should have shown an elder some respect. This was family business, and he wouldalwaysput family first.
"Alright, alright," Heron relented. "I'll be in the back, making your mate's supply of salve. Shout when it's safe to come out," he huffed, and grabbed a pestle and mortar, disappearing through a door behind the counter.
When he was gone, Ark marched over to Jaro and grabbed his shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. "No one's angry at you for that. It's the secret keeping."
"Yeah," Kheir agreed, softer than before as he dragged a hand through his brown hair. "I didn't mean—Jaro, I'm sorry."
Jaro laughed bitterly, shaking his head. His confused sideways look made Ark want to hunt down whoever had indentured him and make them pay. Ark just squeezed his shoulder again, letting him know he wasn't going anywhere.
"You should have told Maia," he said calmly. "This secret's going to damage your relationship."
Jaro's pale throat bobbed. "How was I supposed to tell her?" He twisted away from Ark and paced down the room, close enough to the burning fire that Ark tensed, prepared to rescue him. "‘Hey Maia, you know I'm a courtesan forced to fuck people against my will? Well, one of those people is your cousin, who you hate with all your heart.’"
A laugh shook Jaro's body, strangled and sour, and he paced back towards them.
There were no good responses to that, no reassurances Ark could say to make him feel better. He was a shit general, and he'd only had the job half a day.
Kheir, at least, knew what to do.
"Jaro," he sighed, and caught Jaro between two pacing steps, pulling him into a long hug.
"I didn't want her to know," Jaro rasped, and Ark stifled a curse when he saw he was shaking hard. "I never wanted her to know.Never."
"Of course you didn't, honey," Kheir murmured.
Ark was glad they had someone as gentle and caring as Kheir in their little family. He felt surplus to requirements, and a little useless, but he kept an eye on the door Heron had gone through, falling back on guard habits.
Maia was somewhere outside, falling apart, but Jaromir needed him too. Pulled in two directions, Ark just stood there. He couldn't imagine what it had been like for Jaro, indentured in the pillow rooms; couldn't begin to picture how that whole nightmare might make him feel. Thousands of beastkind were going through it daily, and Ark had never approved of it but he hadn't given it much thought. Not the way he was doing now.
There had to be a way to undo it. If Azrail toppled Ismene, if his militia swept through the empire and placed him on the throne, would he abolish the cuffs of every beastkind? For Jaromir, Ark thought he would.
Jaro's inner saint may have broken his cuff, but every other beastkind was enslaved, and hearing the unvarnished truth in Jaro's own words, Ark was sickened by it.
I'm a courtesan forced to fuck people against my will.
Jaro was no more a danger to society than Ark; the indentures were bullshit.
"It's going to be okay," he spoke finally, louder than Kheir's reassuring murmurs. "Jaromir. It will be okay."
Jaro laughed, a choking sound little more than a sob.
"All you need to do is talk to her. Explain why you kept it secret," he said gently, cupping Jaro's head like he would have a younger brother if he'd had one. That was what Jaro was now, what they all were; his brothers.
"She hates me," Jaro disagreed.