Mother.
Ramiel felt an ache in his heart he was familiar with and it tempered his kindness with sadness and sympathy. Raziel felt an ache too, but his was more of a sting. His ears rotated backwards, and he swallowed back the bitter taste that was suddenly in his mouth.
“Who is Daphne?” Ramiel asked, his voice the same as his expression, soft and cautious. He did not want to pry where she may not want him to, and so he tip-toed gently, testing the waters with what he should and should not ask. The honesty that encompassed him spoke to how badly he did not want to offend, only help.
His eyes reached his brothers.
Can I say it? Just so she knows…
No.
Their eyes held for a few seconds longer before Ramiel conceded to the expression his twin made which told him exactly what was on his mind. The pair had no supernatural ability to hear their thoughts in one another’s heads but had lived every day together since their creation. They knew each other inside and out and could read each other’s expressions better than they could read their own. Ramiel glanced back at Dahlia and flicked his dark-lined ears curiously at her suggestion.
The Commons was a place their father had celebrated – well, all the mingling areas had been – but they remembered how well he’d remembered it fondly, those times Aunt Mariael was not around and he could tell them of the islands. Of course, the pair of them weren’t supposed to know this, and Ramiel remembered so just in the nick of time. He’d been ready to nod agreement and remember aloud how their father had told them of what dangers could be there.
Good thing he caught himself. Raziel would have been even more disgruntled. Perhaps even mad.
“We’ll protect you.” Ramiel nodded firmly and then glanced at Raziel. A small twitch of a grin was at the edges of his pale pink lips. It wanted to spread, the more he looked at Raziel’s somewhat dour expression. He glanced back at Dahlia. “Even Raziel can’t let a pretty girl get hurt, no matter how much of a grump he’s being.”
Raziel’s eyes jerked toward Ramiel and his ears flicked back. He grunted in irritation under his breath as his silver-white tail flicked and snapped Raziel’s hind as they stood close enough for it to reach. Still, there was a small bit of love just after in the way he rolled his eyes afterwards and sighed, accepting what Ramiel had said was pretty much true.
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