8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Isla’s guide to The Twelve Nights of Halloheen (Excerpt)

Try not to fall in love until Red Night. But if you can’t hold out, then don’t worry. It’s considered good luck to start a relationship on any of the twelve nights.

Isla

“This is for you!” Marcel announced as he held out a small plate with both hands. “I decorated all my Red Night cookies all by myself. I colored each cookie to match the person I love. Yours is yellow because Mama said you’re bright, like the sun.”

The cookie was so covered in yellow frosting that she couldn’t see any of the red cookie underneath. The frosting wasn’t a soft yellow. It was an obnoxiously bright chartreuse yellow. Isla didn’t even know that color could be created by the simulator.

Her teeth would probably end up dyed yellow after she ate it. Hiding her grin at Marcel’s excitement, she leaned over, pretending to critically examine the cookie.

“I love it!” she declared, letting her mouth curve into a smile. Before he could thrust the plate at her and probably topple the cookie onto the ground, she accepted the Red Night token. “Mine isn’t as good as yours. I hope that’s okay.”

She handed him her second to last cookie to give out. Like Marcel, she’d hand decorated all her cookies but used less frosting. Instead of yellow, she’d mixed silvery dye in white frosting to make her cookies sparkle.

“It’s so shiny!” Marcel squealed with glee as he accepted the cookie and immediately pulled it out of the clear bag she’d put it in to take a big bite out of it. His actions added a layer of silver frosting to his face, covering some of the blue, purple, lavender, and pink frosting already there. She eyed all the different colors. How many cookies had little Marcel eaten so far tonight? And there were probably even more cookies waiting for him at home.

Unlike all the other nights of Halloheen, Red Night was meant to be spent with your most special people. Couples, thruples, poly-groups, and/or families were expected to go off and spend quality time together and pay close attention to those they loved the most.

To Isla’s delight, Tisuran had asked to spend Red Night alone with her. She’d eagerly accepted. She’d been waiting for him when Marcel had intercepted her.

“I wuv ou!” Marcel said with his mouth full of cookie.

Going down on one knee, Isla set down the box containing her last and most special cookie and opened her arms. “I love you too, Marcel! You’re the best six-year-old friend a girl could have!”

After a quick hug, Marcel giggled and ran off, leaving Isla to go back to waiting for Tisuran. Waiting with barely controlled impatience.

Yesterday’s Day of Fasting and Night of Feasting had been perfect. After eating their fill, they’d managed to find some more time alone. That night there’d been no fear for Isla. She’d been quick to strip down and demand Tisuran join her in her bed.

He hadn’t protested.

Tonight, Red Night, was the second to last of the Twelve Nights of Halloheen and Isla was anxious to see Tisuran. This would be the first time they could spend the whole evening together instead of sneaking away.

As the name implied, Red Night was all about the color red. Red for love. You were supposed to wear red. Decorate with red, and give those closest to you red cookies. The baked sweets were in the shape of circles for platonic love or heart-shaped cookies for romantic love.

Usually, the cookies weren’t very big because everyone expected to receive numerous cookies from friends and family. But Isla had feelings too strong to be represented by a single tiny confection. She’d made a cookie so big she had to hold it in two hands when moving it around the large communal kitchen.

Everyone making cookies at the time had teased her, but they didn’t bother her at all. This was the first time she was giving anyone a heart-shaped cookie, and she wanted it to be big and bold. She didn’t want Tisuran to have any doubt about her feelings. She’d gone a step farther and put the cookie in a box wrapped in leftover, shiny paper from the Night of Gifts. She wanted it to be special.

She’d also dressed with care, wearing a deep red wrap and a gray omnie with red embroidery on the sleeves and down the center of the back. She didn’t have any red underwear so she decided to go bare. She’d spent an hour styling her hair, and she never did that! It’d taken her forever to braid the sides then gather them up in a bun while the rest of her hair flowed down her back in a glossy mass. She’d even gone to the extra effort of weaving red ribbon into the braids then tying the base of the bun with the same ribbon. It was perfect and she couldn’t wait for Tisuran to mess it up.

But where was he? She was so excited to see him that she felt as hyper as Marcel and kept shifting in place, unable to remain still.

“Isla, I—”

Tisuran didn’t get to finish his sentence. Isla was too busy screeching and jumping so high she swore she could have cleared a domicile! Standing on shaking legs, Isla bent over, put a hand to her sternum, and worked on bringing her heartbeat back under control.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

Tisuran sounded a distant-bass-drum rumble of concern. “Sneak? I’ve been calling your name,” he protested. “You were turning in my direction, I thought you heard me. Did you hurt yourself?”

“Don’t pretend you and the rest of the retired soldiers from Kalor aren’t sneaky by nature,” she answered with a grin as she straightened up, her earlier fright all but gone.

“We don’t sneak,” Tisuran countered, this time with the marbles-clinking rumble of amusement. “We are trained to be stealthy, not sneaky.”

“Same thing,” Isla argued, then threw herself into his arms. “I’m so glad you finally got here! Even if you almost scared me into a heart attack.”

Tisuran folded his arms around her, his hold light and gentle. It felt so good to be held without any panic or fear invading the experience. It gave her the courage to think about letting other people hug her. But only after she’d practiced hugging with Tisuran. A lot.

He rubbed a cheek on the top of her head, saturating her braids with his bonding oil. “I missed you also, loreline .”

She made a contented sound as the smell of sweet maple filled her nose. “Same. And there’s something really important I want to tell you.”

“Before you say anything, there is something I want to show you,” Tisuran said as he stepped away.

She picked up the box with his cookie. “Is it very far?”

“It’s at my domicile,” he explained.

His domicile. Which was close by and had a big bed. “Yes, that’s a perfect place to show me,” she agreed and fell into step next to him.

They covered the short distance quickly, but to her surprise, Tisuran stopped at his door. He made a rattle she wasn’t familiar with. It sounded like the swarm-of-angry-wasps rattle, but muted, as if the swarm was far away. What did this rattle mean? He couldn’t be annoyed with her, could he?

“I might have done too much,” he admitted. “I’m not sure. I spent all day on it, and only recently saw what others were doing. I believe I might have made a mistake. But I also think you will understand. That you will see my intention instead of only the results.”

“I’m sure I will,” Isla said, realizing Tisuran’s unfamiliar rattle was one of anxiety. Now she was intrigued to see behind the door.

Tisuran silently waved his door open, then he stepped aside so she could enter. She stumbled slightly as she crossed the threshold, a little overwhelmed by the sight that greeted her.

Every piece of wall was covered in images of red hearts, but not the stylized hearts everyone was giving each other as a sign of love.

No, these hearts were accurate and bloody. Some of them were recognizable as anatomically correct human hearts and others were wider with a few extra bumps. Isla guessed that the other hearts were Talin.

She turned slowly to take it all in. She couldn’t even guess how long it took Tisuran to draw them. The hearts weren’t even a uniform size, so he hadn’t been tracing or using stencils. And they were all blood red. Hundreds of red, bleeding hearts covered the walls. One was even spurting blood from an artery, rendered in precise, anatomically gory detail. There was only one way for her to respond to all of this.

“I love it!” she declared. She turned to find Tisuran standing in the doorway. Setting the box on a nearby table, she flung herself into his arms. “I love it, I love it, I love it!”

Tisuran purred at the same time he sounded a windchimes rattle of excitement. “You do?”

“I do,” she assured him. “It’s amazing. It’s perfect. It’s wonderful.” She grabbed his face with both hands, gently pressing her fingers over his sensitive scent glands. He purred loudly at her touch. “You’re wonderful!”

“Everyone kept talking about hearts,” he said. “I didn’t realize they meant some kind of symbolic heart.”

“Red Night is whatever we want it to be,” she said. “And this is the best Red Night of my life. I can’t imagine being anywhere else than with you and surrounded by these beautiful hearts.”

“Truly?”

She brushed her lips across his. “By the way you’ve been so eager to rub your bonding oil on my hair, I’m guessing you’re scent-bonded to me. Right?”

“You guessed correctly, loreline ,” Tisuran agreed, sounding a regretful rumble. “I hope you’re not angry with me. I tried to hold off. I tried to fight my feelings and instincts, but I was weak willed and gave in.”

“I’m glad you did because I love you back,” Isla whispered. “I want to claim you as my Talin.”

He sounded a rattle like many hands clapping—triumph. “There’s nothing that would make me happier!”

They spent the rest of the night entwined in each other’s arms, as befitting a Red Night.