"I may understand you more now," Hyacinthe murmured beside him, his tone quieter than usual, a hint of amazement slipping through. "It’s only been a week. You’ve already trained it to do that?"
Amethiel let out a small hum, clearly pleased with himself. "That’s not all."
There was a slight lift to his chin, a smirk tugging at his lips as he turned his attention to Kree.
"Say anything."
Kree tilted his head, as if thinking, the glow beneath his skin shifting faintly.
"H-Hello?"
Amethiel felt both of his brothers tense beside him.
A small flinch.
Subtle, but there.
He glanced between them, brows lifting.
"Didn’t you already know it could talk?" he asked.
"Honestly," Hyacinthe admitted, still staring at Kree, "we thought you were exaggerating. Or lying. You do that sometimes."
"Johnson didn’t say anything about it?"
"I think he was too busy being terrified to notice anything else," Hyacinthe replied.
’What cowardly knight.’
Lilior leaned forward slightly, squinting at Kree as if trying to figure him out.
"What else can it say?"
Amethiel raised a finger, almost like a professor about to prove a point, then looked back at Kree.
"What’s my name?"
Another thing he had worked on.
Repeatedly.
Well, they mostly refined it.
Kree’s gaze shifted to him immediately.
"Amethiel..."
It came out softer, but clear.
Lilior let out a short, incredulous laugh. "It can say your name? I couldn’t even say your name for the first few years of your life!"
"I still have trouble saying it now," Lilior added under his breath, crossing his arms. "That’s why we call you Amie."
Hyacinthe leaned back slightly, still watching Kree. "How is it even speaking? Is it just copying sounds?"
Amethiel shook his head.
"No. It understands," he said, his tone firm. "Despite all your doubts, I’ve actually found something that can progress my research."
He shifted, resting his head casually against Lilior’s shoulder, as if the conversation didn’t matter as much as his comfort.
"The day I asked Johnson to attack me," Amethiel continued, his voice lowering slightly, "I discovered it has retractable arms."
He paused briefly.
"And tentacles."
"Tentacles?" Hyacinthe echoed, his brows pulling together. "That sounds dangerous. More dangerous than that stag you keep locked away."
"Riftane Stag," Amethiel corrected immediately, without missing a beat.
Hyacinthe rolled his eyes.
"It’s not dangerous to me," Amethiel added, his tone shifting, more thoughtful now. "It hasn’t attacked me. Not once."
’Which makes no sense to a normal-brained man,’ he thought.
"That’s what makes it interesting," he continued. "It’s almost like it was made to obey."
He glanced toward Kree for a brief second.
’Or conditioned to,’ he added in his thoughts.
"In all the records I’ve read, there’s nothing like it."
"Really?" Lilior asked, raising a brow. "You checked everything?"
"That’s the first thing I did, dummy."
"Oh." Lilior leaned back again. "Then it must be new. I wonder where it even came from..."
"I wouldn’t be surprised if it were some messed-up case of a human breeding with a monster," Lilior added with a careless chuckle.
"That’s crude," Amethiel said, poking his arm lightly.
"To be fair," Hyacinthe said, shrugging, "who wouldn’t think that? Just look at it."
All three of them turned to Kree.
Kree looked back.
But not really at them.
At Amethiel.
Always at Amethiel.
Amethiel noticed.
Of course he did.
"Oh, stop it," Amethiel said, waving a hand dismissively. "It might start picking up what you’re saying. The whole point of bringing it here is so it can learn proper conversation."
"Proper conversation?" Hyacinthe repeated with a teasing smile. "So no talking about monsters?"
Amethiel’s eyes widened slightly.
"But—"
He didn’t get to finish.
Lilior suddenly wrapped his arms around him, pulling him into a tight hold.
"No, stop that," Amethiel knew what was about to happen.
"We finally get to talk to our little gem properly," Lilior said, almost laughing.
"Lili—" Amethiel protested, his voice muffled as he tried to pull away.
"Our little gem," Hyacinthe added, leaning in and grabbing Amethiel’s cheeks, squishing them lightly. "We’ve missed this version of you."
"Hya! There’s no version! A proper conversation isn’t talking about NOT talking about Monsters!"
"His grammar skills are depleting!"
"It really is our little baby brother!"
"Brothers!" Amethiel exclaimed, his tone sharp with irritation, even as something softer stirred beneath it.
He struggled against their hold, trying to pry himself free, but they only laughed, tightening their grip for a moment longer.
Truthfully, he didn’t hate it. He didn’t hate it at all.
Not really.
If anything, he liked it.
A LOT.
Amethiel had always liked this. The attention. The familiarity. The way they treated him like he hadn’t changed, even now.
Even at twenty.
Even when he had long since outgrown it.
’I don’t even look twenty anyway,’ he thought, his lips pressing together as he tried to maintain his annoyed expression.
But—
This wasn’t why he brought Kree here.
’It’s not going to learn anything from this,’ Amethiel reminded himself. ’It needs to learn proper human interaction.’
So, with a small huff, he raised both hands and pressed them firmly against his brothers’ heads, pushing them away.
"Enough—"
"Hiss!"
The sound cut through the room.
It was both familiar and unfamiliar to Amethiel.
All three brothers froze.
Amethiel froze with them, his hands still mid-motion.
His breath caught slightly.
’Is that—’
There was no point finishing the thought.
He already knew.
Then he felt it.
Something wrapped around his leg.
Another followed, sliding higher, curling around his thigh.
And then—
Another.
Higher still.
And now, tighter.
Three separate pressures, soft yet firm, moving with intention.
Holding him.
Amethiel’s body stiffened.
’That’s...’
He didn’t need to look.
He knew exactly what it was.
Tentacles.
"Amie! The monster—" Hyacinthe started, his voice immediately shifting, instinct kicking in.
"Don’t pull out any weapons!" Amethiel snapped before either of them could react further.
His voice came out fast, urgent.
Even as he felt the pull.
Kree’s grip tightened, the tentacles coiling more securely around him as they began to drag him back, away from his brothers.
"Amethiel..."
Kree’s voice was low.
Close.
Right behind him.
’What is it doing?’ Amethiel thought, his brows knitting together, confusion slipping in despite himself.
This wasn’t aggression.
It didn’t feel like an attack.
But it wasn’t calm either.
The pull was insistent.
Almost possessive.
And that—
That was new.