Book 2: Living free from Jupiter's law - Rising from the ashes of Herbay

Daryl

Iason could have waited until morning to return home, but he was in a hurry and set out in the middle of the night.

It had only been a few days since Riki, after mysteriously disappearing all day, had reappeared at home late in the evening, clearly disturbed. Iason had excellent analytical skills and could usually read the volatile moods of his mongrel, but this time there was something he was missing.

During Guy's disappearance, their shared moments were minimal, and phone conversations were limited to a mere exchange of information focused solely on the investigations for his discovery.

They hadn't had a chance to talk about it anymore, but Iason knew that something important had happened to Riki that day. His distant attitude and the fact that, as soon as the conversation turned personal, he fell silent or diverted it, were evidence of that.

However, the reason for Lord Mink's urgency, which led him to leave the black-market offices in the late hours of darkness, was not only to see Riki again and find out the reasons for his absence. There was more, and it was that Guy had finally opened his eyes.

The frankness with which the mongrel had spoken to him, the terror reflected in his gaze, and the change in his way of moving, acting, and speaking had prompted Lord Mink to question his beliefs and reconsider his past with Riki from another perspective: that of the victim. Iason despised himself for not having thought of it earlier.

As much as their dynamics had evolved after Dana Burn, as much as he had tried to support Riki and fulfill all his wishes, including the rebirth of Ceres, despite declaring war on his own creator to keep him by his side, the past had not been erased.

The reality, too late appearing clear and irrefutable to his eyes, was one and no other: Iason had kidnapped Riki, locked him in a cage, and humiliated, violated, and tortured him for years. Just like Guy, Riki had been a victim of repeated and severe abuses perpetrated by the same person who now claimed to love him. The wounds he had inflicted to him were invisible, but no less profound.

The most gifted of Jupiter's Blondies was agonizing in the awareness of having been a perpetrator and couldn't wait to take his beloved in his arms and ask for forgiveness.

***

He found him in the study, seated on a chair next to the desk. He was fully dressed, which made no sense since it was the dead of night.

"Riki, has something happened? Why aren't you sleeping?" he asked with genuine concern.

"I was just waiting for you."

Not far from him, there was a half-open bag containing clothes and other personal effects. Lord Mink's disconcert grew.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Riki looked away because he couldn't tell him while looking into his eyes.

"Yeah. I've decided to stay at Sid's place for a few days until I find an apartment. I could have done it before you came back, but I thought it was right to let you know. Cal told me you were coming home."

Iason was bewildered. He quickly reviewed the events of the past few months but couldn't find any recent reason for Riki wanting to leave him. Their last real argument had happened on the evening of the Dana Burn anniversary, where Iason had lost control, but they had made up. That incident had even sparked a new way of living their sexuality, which Riki seemed quite enthusiastic about.

"Do you want to leave me? Why? Have I done something to you?"

"No," the mongrel replied, still avoiding his gaze. "Not recently, at least."