Honored Vow

want to destroy him, either,” he said softly. “I
    mean, there was the feud, you know? That bullshit that Domin’s father
    kept alive, but once he died… then it was over and Peter welcomed Domin
    into their house. Everything was good for so long until Domin was old
    enough to lead, to take the seat away from his uncle, who held it until he
    turned twenty.”
    A new semel was “made” the moment they turned twenty. As soon
    as the first-born son, the heir came of age, if there was an heir of age, the
    semel in power stepped down. Logan had become semel as would his son
    after him. When Logan had turned twenty, his father had passed him the

    Honored Vow

    231

    mantle of command; it was how it had always been, another antiquated
    leftover from when people only lived to the ripe old age of thirty. There
    were so many of our laws that needed to be revamped or tossed out
    completely.
    “So Domin took over being semel from his uncle and what?”
    “Discovered a tribe full of corruption, plagued with debt, and
    basically just falling apart at the seams,” Yuri told me. “It was a mess, and
    the only thing he could think of to do was to unite against a common
    threat.”
    “And that threat was the tribe of Mafdet.”
    “Yeah. I mean, he knew Logan, knew his weaknesses and how far he
    could push him. If you hadn’t ever come, I don’t know what, if anything,
    would have ever changed.”
    “They were just dancing around each other, Logan and Domin.”
    “Yes, they were.”
    “And all that time, you just waited and hoped.”
    “There was nothing else to do,” he assured me. “I wanted Domin,
    but Logan was my semel.”
    My heart went out to Yuri, who had spent years holding out for
    Domin even as the relationship between the two tribes, between the two
    men, disintegrated.
    “And then Domin fell in love with Koren.”
    “He was infatuated with—”
    “It was love, Yuri, on both sides,” I corrected him. “And Koren may
    be too stupid to know it, but someday it’ll hit him like a sledgehammer,
    and when it does, he’s gonna die a little over what he gave up.”
    “Or not,” Yuri said.
    And he was right. This was Koren we were talking about, who
    apparently never knew his own mind, so the chances were good that he
    would never, ever realize what he lost. “What if,” I began, “Domin picks
    you, and then six months, a year later, Koren wants him back. What
    happens then?”
    “Then I have faith in Domin,” he told me, “if he even chooses me to
    begin with.”
    I stared at him. “So even if you lose in the end, you’ll take him for
    however long you get.”

    232

    Mary Calmes

    “Hell yeah,” he said, smiling at me. “Whatever I can have for
    however long I can have it.”
    I grunted. “Your heart is much stronger than mine.”
    “Oh, I don’t think so. You fell in love with Logan and you weren’t
    even sure if he was gay or not. That’s pretty damn brave.”
    “It’s not brave,” I argued. “The man is my mate, the only one I will
    ever have. I mean, I know you guys don’t really get it, but tomorrow, if he
    dies… Yuri, you might as well kill me too. I won’t live through it.”
    “But you expected him to; if you had died that time you called for
    the law of Bast and planned to take Logan’s place in the pit.”
    “He can live without me, Yuri, he’s the semel. He’s the strongest,
    the reah the weakest.”
    “That’s a lot of shit,” he scoffed. “Logan is physically stronger than
    you, but I’m tellin’ you right now, if you die, he’s done. You don’t know,
    you weren’t with him when that psychopath Laurent Bruyere kidnapped
    you. I have never seen him like that, and I’ve known him since we were
    kids.”
    “What was he like?” I asked before I could stop myself.
    “He was hard and cold and mean. I had no idea Logan could ever be
    like that, but he—it was like he was someone else, someone angry. The
    change once he found you was amazing. I got my semel back.”
    “I—”
    “Here’s the thing,” Yuri sighed. “I’m not brave, I just fuckin’ want
    what I’ve been waiting for, for half my damn life, and you and Logan need
    to never be apart again for any reason other than choice.”
    “Agreed.”
    “Amazing, huh?”
    “What is?”
    He tipped his head, and following where he was looking, I saw
    Yusuke’s right arm slide around Crane’s waist as she snuggled closer.
    “That she can even be alive and isn’t a complete fuckin’ basket