by Viola Grace
Tynan grinned. “Hey, Mr. Reckon. This is a lovely display.”
Nessa chuckled and recognized them from the wedding. “Maven, it is nice to see you.”
Maven grinned and eased her away from Hector. “Wow, I thought that the mages were clingy. Hector’s father looks like he is going to start ripping throats out.”
“It is Orvis’s first evening out as mostly herself. She’s two phases from her final form. And her natural form is rather striking.”
“I will say. Argo is drooling, and he never does that. Olmin is just trying to make direct eye contact with Stovos at all times.” Maven laughed. “Does she know the effect she has?”
“I think she does, which is why she has been using a glamour. She’s super sweet and kind of like a less aggressive version of the protector’s mate from what I hear.”
Maven nodded. “I work with Krys, so if Stovos’s lady is as nice as you say, I will look past the dangerous curves.”
Nessa watched as Maven gave her husband the slip and went to talk to Orvis. They introduced themselves, and then, and only then, did Stovos loosen his grip. Nessa sighed. Baby steps, but Orvis was taken by Maven and introduced to people that she had probably met a hundred times as Stovos’s assistant but was now meeting as an actual person on her own. Stovos wandered around to speak to friends and business acquaintances, and by the expression on the face of those he was talking to, he was speaking about his relationship to Orvis.
Tynan smiled. “Why are you looking so happy? Aside from being back with us, I mean.”
“When I first met Tolly, she was desperate to help her sister and get herself out of an arrangement she had no interest in. Now, she finally looks like herself, and once people get to know her, she will make friends easily. They just have to get over the fact that she is the sexiest thing in the room.”
Tynan kissed her shoulder. “I beg to disagree.”
“I know what I look like. I am beautiful, but she is sexy. I make women check their makeup; she makes them suck in their stomachs, stick out their chests, and suddenly demand their spouse’s attention.”
Hector turned back to her and said, “That is because my father chose an excellent stepmother for me. I wonder how she will take it when the baby calls her grandma?”
Nessa smiled happily. “I think she will take it in stride.”
Tynan returned to the guild master, and he and Olmin were in deep discussion when Nessa whispered to him that she wanted to see the exhibit.
She and Hector snuck away while Tynan discussed the use of magical sources in modern technology. Riveting stuff.
Nessa murmured, “Meredith extended a formal invitation to me.”
“Good. So, we are going to a wedding Saturday?”
She nodded. “We are. At least Stovos and Orvis will be there, and we are sitting with Kelnen and Krys.”
Hector was impressed. “Oh. Wow. Why are they at our table?”
“Kelnen wants to meet Orvis. He wants to talk to another creature with wings.”
He chuckled. “That means a better table for us. Faeries normally get shunted to the back of sides.”
“We do? I haven’t attended many functions for the last decade.”
“Well, you are half mage, so it might have been a different situation.”
“I remember parties when I was growing up, but they were mostly on my father’s side and just general shadow court stuff.”
“I hear that those gatherings can contain a lot of debaucheries.” He murmured it as they looked at the variety of poses that men and women had contorted into before their poses had been translated into illustrations and portraits.
Nessa grinned. “There was a reason I didn’t freak out when you and Tynan made a pass at me. It was two years after I turned eighteen, I had been to about nine shadow court parties of varying intensities since then. I had seen people fuck in public before and was just happy that you two took it indoors.”
He chuckled. “I suppose that if you weren’t comfortable, we would have known it.”
“Oh, yeah. I would have told you. I do tell you when something pushes too far. Lucky for you two, it isn’t that often.”
He chuckled, and they continued their walk through of the images of striking couples on canvas.
* * * *
Orvis talked to a few of the women, and when she kept her tone bland and factual, they warmed up rapidly. Apparently, when they saw her, they anticipated a vapid airhead with a bubbly tone.
She casually glanced around the room and caught the boss’s gaze. He smiled and walked toward her, the crowd parting in between them.
He touched her elbow. “Are you enjoying yourself?”
She smiled at the women she had been speaking with. She made the introductions, and the women were nearly drooling as he smiled and oozed charm when he bent over their hands.
“If you will excuse us, I think I would like one of those pictures that Olmin was mentioning.”
She frowned as he led her away. “Pictures?”
“Yes, they have a photographer who is posing couples in romantic arrangements.”
“Wait. You want pictures... of us?” Orvis held his arm as he slowly walked through the displays.
“Yes. At the faere, I would like to get one with your wings. I am going to have some portraits done for the house... maybe one for the office.”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t you dare.”
He grinned. “What will you give me not to do it?”
“That depends on how the picture turns out.”
He chuckled. “It is cute how you think that the photographer will only let us take one.”
When they stood in the queue of couples with three in front of them, the photographer glanced over his shoulder and did a double-take when he saw them.
The couple in front of him was laughing in front of a green screen. A genre background was added by an assistant nearby, with the images joining a projection twenty feet tall of partygoers on romance covers.
The three couples ahead of them all posed in a variety of flirtatious poses.
“Sir, how would you like to pose?”
Orvis replied. “What would you like to see?”
The photographer looked like he was drooling at the possibilities. “Start with sweet.”
At the mark near the backdrop, Stovos pulled her back against him, wrapped an arm around her waist, and he whispered, “Look at me.”
She looked up at him, and he smiled. The frantic shutter click followed his hand stroking her cheek.
The photographer said, “Something hot.”
The boss turned her, lifted her, stood sideways, and lowered her against him. She pointed her toes and lowered her mouth to nearly touching his. They both smiled, and the shutter sound was frenetic.
They straightened, and he asked, “One more?”
She grinned. “You are going to have to be quick.” She grabbed Stovos’s tie and wrapped it carefully around her hand, pulling him down toward her, her left leg, where the slit in her skirt was, parted the fabric and exposed the line that he loved so much. He lowered his head to kiss her, and her smile was broken by the hand on her bare back.
She looked at him, and he kissed her softly and politely. She carefully unwrapped the tie from her hand and smoothed it. He released the leg he had been holding.
They walked to the computer, and the backgrounds that were chosen ranged from dark cavern to open stars to Georgian mansion.
Stovos produced a business card. “Send copies here.”
The assistant nodded and put their photos into the rotation.
Orvis grinned. “That was fun.”
“I certainly enjoyed it. Now that they have accumulated enough, they should be activating the other projectors.”
She suddenly felt uncertain. “Other projectors?”
“Yes, there are large screens in the gallery. We should be able to hear when our images go up.”
The intakes of breath were definitely noticeable.
As if summoned, a distraction happened. Her purse started humming in distress. She opened the clutch and saw it was her cousin’s number. She looked at Stovos. “I have to take this.”
He nodded at her expression.
She stepped into a quiet corner. “Hello?”
“Tolly? I need help. I am at Seventeen West Sixth Street, and I need help.”
“I am on my way. I will be there in ten minutes.”
“Tolly, it’s a biker bar.”
Orvis grinned. “Thanks for the warning. You might want to warn them that your cousin is irritable.”
She hung up and fished around in her clutch for the small tube and smiled. “Can I borrow Reese and the car?”
“Yes, but I am going with you.”
Her eyes widened. “That isn’t necessary. I can handle this.”
“I heard biker bar. I am coming with you.”
She grimaced. “Fine, but don’t spoil my fun. They are literally the only people that can’t call the cops on me.”
She sent the signal to Reese, and he was on his way to the main entrance. They headed through the crowd that watched them with longing eyes. She paused next to Nessa. “Family emergency. Will be back soon. Go get photos taken with the guys; the photographer will wet himself. Menage is all the rage.”
Nessa nodded and laughed, and a grinning Stovos hauled Orvis out of the party. It would look like they had run out to finish what the pictures promised.
She gave Reese the address, and Stovos removed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. The address was seven minutes out.
“Ladeer is working as a resident at a local hospital, but she is extremely attractive. She has never been able to fly, and so she doesn’t have control over her voice. She’s really strong, so if she’s scared, she’s grossly outnumbered.”
“What would you like me to do?”
“First, I have to ask, do you mind if I get blood on this dress?”
He grinned. “I do not. Mage fire can clean it.”
“Good. I will go in with staff and wings, stun the inhabitants, and get Ladeer out. Some might have hearing damage, and those are the ones that get hit.”
“Why are you talking like you have done this before?”
She just grinned.
The ranks of bikes gave a good idea that they were at the address. She stepped out of the car after Stovos and walked to the door with the address above it. She opened the door, and the boisterous voices that she had heard from the outside fell silent.
“Well, well. What gods have we prayed to delivered this?” A man who had more spaces than teeth in his head leered at her.
She called out. “Ladeer!”
A scream came from a backroom.
She made sure that she had clearance between her and Stovos, and she flicked her razor wings open, and she screamed. Seventy-five percent of the bar patrons froze, and their eyes filled with distant fascination. She moved forward, extended her collapsible staff, and used it and her wings to clear a path toward the back office.
Ladeer staggered out of the office with her lab coat torn and her face bruised.
Orvis announced. “There is a scary-looking dark elf by the door. Go straight to him, and I will take care of this.”
She walked down the hall with rage in her blood. Fury was a polite word for what she was feeling. She saw the stunned man with the unzipped pants and a dazed expression. She screamed at him and watched blood vessels burst in his eyes as a stroke killed him.
She walked out with her wings folded and used the staff to clear the path through the bodies that were immobile or bleeding. There was a rush from behind her, and Stovos punched forward. The crunching noise of the front of the skull breaking was secondary to the distance he was thrown into the bar.
Ladeer was huddled by the car, and Orvis smiled. “Get in the car. We will be with you in a moment.”
She switched to steel wings, took to the air, and came back flying at an angle as she severed the frames of the motorcycles near the seats. She landed next to the car, dismissed her wings, and collapsed the staff. Stovos put his hands on her waist and kissed her deeply, pressing his hips against hers until he lifted his head with his chest heaving.
She brushed the lipstick from his lips, and he used mage fire on them both. Clear of blood, they stepped into the car, and Reese drove off.
Ladeer sobbed and then paused. “Why are you in an evening gown? Who is that?”
“Ladeer, this is my mate, Stovos Twilight. He’s a dark elf. Stovos, this is my cousin who is just finishing medical school. She apparently got snagged by a biker after she did a good job on his stitches.”
Ladeer sighed. “How do you know that?”
“Deductive reasoning, and you are still wearing most of your lab coat.”
Stovos said, “Take us to the manor. We will get Ladeer situated for the night and return to the gallery.”
Ladeer clutched her cousin’s hand. “You are leaving me? What if they find me?”
“Well, you work at a hospital, so they are going to find you if they can remember it. Most of them are currently lost in memories of the best sex they have ever had. The others are dead or seeking medical attention themselves. People in that situation tend to not want me to return.”
Ladeer sighed. “Will I be safe there?”
“The butler, Yusen, is very efficient, and the house will take care of you. We will be back in a few hours. We have to head back to the party and pretend we just had sex in the car. Damn, I did not think this through.”
The boss laughed. “Work tomorrow is going to be very entertaining?”
Ladeer frowned. “You work together?”
“He’s my boss and mate and pain in my backside, but I am getting used to it. It is certainly stimulating. So, fairly directly, he has paid for your medical school. Be nice.”
Ladeer looked at him, and he dropped his glamour, showing her his black, red, and white glory. She jumped a little and then nodded. “Right. Okay.”
She leaned in toward Orvis. “Why are you with a faerie?”
Orvis whispered, “Because he goes down on me with enthusiasm and creativity.”
Ladeer flushed, and Stovos snickered. There was a cough from Reese.
“Ladeer, after tonight, we will move you into my apartment. The building is warded seven ways from Sunday, and it is close to the hospital. Deal?”
Her cousin nodded. “Deal. But, I have to tell my mom and your mom about this.”
Stovos surprised them both by saying, “I have notified the flock mistress. She is allowing our union but is going to watch closely. She has threatened Orvis’s wings, and after seeing her use them tonight, that is something I will not abide. I will have blood mages cut her ties with the flock before I let anyone take her wings.”
Orvis stiffened, but when she thought about it, it was the only reasonable step if they tried to take her birthright.
When they arrived at home, Yusen called for Neera, his wife and cook. She took Ladeer under her care and ushered her into the house.
Stovos tucked Orvis back in the car, and she said to Reese, “You might want to close your ears, or you are going to be working this out in therapy.”
A discrete panel rose up between them.
She ran her hands down Stovos’s torso and to his trousers. “Now, how can I thank you for your help this evening.”
She unsnapped and carefully unzipped the taut fabric.
“I did it for you and don’t need thanks. I would do it for anyone.”
She eased him free of the confines of his trousers. “What if I do it because I am still very aroused from the fight?”
He groaned as she teased him with her tongue before engulfing him in her mouth. She heard the squeak of leather being crushed, and it was a very satisfying trip back to the gallery.
Chapter Twenty-Four
&n
bsp; Orvis tidied up her makeup and said, “Glamour, Boss.”
He grinned and resumed putting on his jacket. “I will have to take care of you later.”
She winked. “Yes, you will.”
They returned to the party to a lot of good-natured and some jealous ribbing. They returned to their family members, and Nessa asked, “Is everything settled?”
“Crisis is dealt with. My cousin is at ho—the manor.”
Hector looked her over and then glanced at his father. “Well, he isn’t covered with lipstick, so that is a plus.”
Orvis snickered. “You aren’t looking in the right place.”
Hector paused, and Nessa laughed while Tynan hooted.
Orvis cuddled up against the boss while Hector put a hand over his eyes. The boss looked calm and serene, but the hand he had on her lower back was hot.
She eventually felt the call of nature and headed to the restroom. She was in the stall when she heard two women talking. “I wonder what kind of scaffolding she has in that dress to keep them up.”
The other woman laughed. “I can’t believe he has fallen for that cheap look.”
Orvis finished in the stall and exited to wash her hands. “They had to kill a whale to get this bodice upright. As for cheap? No. My annual salary is more than all of that jewellery you are wearing is worth. Hell. My dress is worth more than that. It is pricey when you have to hire an engineer to work with your dressmaker. Excuse me, I need the paper towels.” She snorted. “Besides, he likes that I fit his hands, and he has really. Big. Hands.”
She left the bathroom feeling a little bit cheap and very smug. The same socialites who had been so polite to her face had tried to make jokes at her expense.
She put it out of her mind when the boss insisted that they go for another picture. “What are you after this time?”
“You will see.”
They were with the other couples once again, and behind them, she heard, “Mr. Twilight, I have been meaning to thank you for the donation you made.”