What followed was an exercise in torture as Tethys offered hints, broad and subtle, as to my nature, occupations, hobbies and sexual indiscretions, all of which the girls lapped up, loving a mystery like they did.
"Wait, you caught him with your girlfriend?" Betty asked, drawing a groan from me, "And you still work with him?"
"Please stop, Tethys, I live with these people," I begged.
"What's in it for me?" she asked, squeezing my thigh.
"At this point, anything you want!"
She grinned evilly and seemed to think it over.
"Nah, I'm having too much fun with your friends," she said, though her grip didn't waver, and it was wondering a bit high.
"Anyway, he can't help himself," Tethys said, "He's just a man, after all, and she's just a sweet, innocent little thing. How was she to resist his charms?"
"He has charms now?" Polly said with a giggle, "Since when?"
"Hah! They're onto you, they know I have no charms!" I said with confidence.
Wait...
They all laughed, at my expense again. See what I mean about women and packs?
"Well, it was wonderful meeting you three, but I must be off. I'll see you at home, later?" she said.
I nodded and Tethys kissed my cheek before walking out.
All three of them just sat, staring at me, for quite a while.
"What?" I asked.
Chapter 15
"Well, thank you very much!" I said as I walked into Tethys' study later that day.
She laughed as I dropped into an armchair and then came to join me, sitting on my lap and putting her arms around my neck.
"No, this has worked in the past, but it's not going to work today, I'm very angry with... with...," she kissed my neck and cheek and my brain stopped working.
"I'm sorry, Love," she said softly, kissing and nibbling, "How can I ever make it up to you?"
"Tethys, that's not fair," I complained.
"Then I'm sorry for that too," she whispered, in no way convincing.
She finally pulled back after a few more kisses that left me unable to think properly.
"Now, what were you saying?" she asked sweetly.
"Something very important..."
"I'm sure," she said, nuzzling my neck again.
I turned towards her, our noses brushing against each other's.
"You are quite evil."
"As advertised."
She hugged me tight, grinning all the while.
"You know..." she began.
I gave her a raised eyebrow.
"What?" she protested, "I didn't even say anything yet!"
"That tone always means trouble."
"That's just mean."
"Then prove me wrong, what were you going to say?"
Her eye twitched, "Shut up."
I laughed and she rolled her eyes before joining in.
"What were you going to say?" I asked.
"No, you've ruined it. I had a whole bit where I was going to tell you that I've changed my mind, and that I fully intended to ravish you, you've spoiled it."
Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. She cuddled in closer to me.
"But, now that you mention it, that redheaded friend of yours looked tasty. Dibs."
"She's straight."
"So was Kandi."
"Hands to yourself."
"If you don't surrender the redhead, then I shall just have to find something else for these hands to do," she whispered, tracing her fingers along my jaw and neck.
"Too bad you already told me that this can't happen. I am immune to your charms, Tethys Smyth!" I said with a smile, "From now on, I'm just going to assume that anything naughty you do is to be resisted."
"I take it back."
"Too late. You've surrendered the war. Mathew wins."
"Wait just a minute! That is not what happened! I had you on your back, in the palm of my hand. You'd have gone there if I wanted, I win!"
"And now we're permanently platonic. I win," I countered with an evil smile.
"Oh no, don't you dare try to turn this around like that!" she said, darting up and waggling a finger.
I grinned widely and darted for the door. She pursued and grabbed my illusion around the chest, causing it to disintegrate.
"You little bastard, you come back here and I'll show you who won!" she shouted, darting around to see me climbing out the window. I tossed her a jaunty two-fingered salute and dropped, catching myself with my Will, lowering myself gently to the ground outside the front door.
She was already through after me, landing with a gentle flex of her legs before shooting off in pursuit.
"Come here," she whispered menacingly, her eyes black, her horns in evidence.
"Nope," I said, running away past the two Wardens on duty, both of whom looked confused more than anything else.
"You are mine, Magician, come here!" she ordered.
"Now, Tethys, what were we just talking about?" I said over my shoulder as I ran towards the library, that's generally where I'd find Kandi, my hope being that I could throw her at Tethys as a distraction.
"Don't care anymore."
I felt her call on her power and she blurred with speed, grabbing me with a squawk and throwing me over her shoulder. She started walking up the stairs.
"You're coming with me now," she said, "Feel free to struggle, it just makes it more fun."
"Lacy? Be a dear and see if you can find Kandi for me? Quick as you can," I said to the woman. The Warden darted away, and I turned my head back towards Tethys, "And this is far below the dignity of an Archon."
"You shouldn't have run. You knew I'd chase you," she said, her grip on my hindquarters tightening.
"No, I didn't, I thought we were past this!"
"Sorry," she said, not sounding like she meant it, at all.
She carried me to my room, kicking the door open before throwing me down on the bed. I sat up and was flattened back to the duvet as she jumped on me. She shoved my hands above my head and leaned down to sniff at my neck.
"You know I don't actually need these, right?" I asked, nudging my hands against her grip.
"Then stop me, if you can," she growled, biting my ear.
"Tethys," I said softly, injecting all the affection and love I had for the woman into that one word. She stopped, bringing her head up to look in my eyes. She frowned.
"Why'd you have to say it like that?" she asked, letting me go.
I cupped her face; she closed her eyes and leant into the touch.
"Because I do love you. And I'm not going to let you do anything you don't really want to do. And because you were quite right, I am yours. And above anything... like this, I am your friend, and sometimes that means doing the hard thing rather than the fun thing. I will never give you a reason to regret, that's my promise to you."
Tears trickled down her face and she collapsed onto me, her cheek on my chest.
"You ridiculous man," she said, wrapping her arms around me.
I stroked her hair and back as she laid there, holding her tightly to me as she composed herself.
"How are you like this?" she asked, "Nobody should be this strong. It's not fair on the rest of us."
"You know me better than that. You know I'm not."
"No, I know you think you're not. That's different," she said.
"I'm a big old coward, Tethys, as you well know. I'm not strong as much as I'm terrified of consequences. Which is good, it keeps me on the straight and narrow."
She sighed, looking up at me. She shook her head.
"Only you can make morality sound like a sin," she said, taking my hand and kissing it gently.
I sighed instead of arguing, and that was when Kandi turned up.
"What's up? I was summoned- Am I interrupting something?" she asked with a lascivious grin.
"Just get over here," Tethys said, "before I do something indiscreet."
Kandi bounced over and dropped down onto my other side, her arm
around both of us, her hand helping mine stroke Tethys' back.
"Dare I ask what you two are doing in here?" Kandi said.
"Best not," Tethys replied, "I don't come out of it looking too good."
"You always look good to me, baby," Kandi said, tickling Tethys' ear.
"Stop that, I'm determined to be upset, don't ruin it."
"Want I should do something degrading for you? Make you feel better?" Kandi offered in a high and tempting voice.
"Maybe later," Tethys said, "I'm rather comfortable just now."
"He does make a good pillow, doesn't he?" Kandi said.
"The best," Tethys said, snuggling in, "the very best."
"So, just throwing it out there, but we both like him, would there be any way that- OW!" Kandi said, rubbing the spot on her rump where Tethys had landed a stinging spank.
"Baby, that didn't discourage me," Kandi said with a shudder, "you're going to have to do it much harder than that..."
"Oh, good grief, that's my cue if ever there was one," I said, trying to slide out from under all that... everything.
They giggled, and Kandi squeezed some inappropriate things as I made my exit.
"Please don't wreck the bed, I'm planning on sleeping in it," I said.
"No promises," Tethys replied as she enveloped Kandi and kissed her hard.
Cassandra found me as I was making my way to the library.
"What's going on?" she asked, her hand in her jacket, no doubt resting on a weapon, "I hear things about Tethys flipping her lid, Kandi being called, what happened?"
"Oh, nothing much," I said, giving her a very watered down explanation as we walked.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Mathew," she said as we dropped onto my favourite sofa in the entertainment nook, "Can't you find a nice Sorceress and date like a normal person?"
"I refer you to my previous attempt at that," I said, meaning Jocelyn.
"Who loved you, and was willing to give you up to keep you safe, how's that so bad?"
"Can we please talk about anything else?"
"Such as?" she asked.
"How about the Demigoddess? That has to be more interesting."
"Than your misguided relationships with part-Demons that feed on sex?" she asked with a smirk, "No, not really."
I harrumphed and she chuckled.
"Things got complicated?" she asked, "Between you and Tethys and Kandi?"
"Enough to leave me in a state," I said, leaning back, "and rather confused."
"Well, we always knew the day would come where you'd get yourself all in a mess over that woman. Thank God she's decided to be sensible about the whole thing."
"Humph," I managed neutrally.
"I did tell you, didn't I?" she said, nudging my knee with hers.
"Yes, Mother," I replied with a glare.
"Think of it this way, you've always got me," she said, slapping my shoulder hard enough to make me yelp.
"What a wonderful compensation," I said dryly, rubbing the now tender spot.
She snorted, "Feel like some lunch?"
I nodded, smiling.
The Pixies showed up as I was finishing my meal, stealing my dessert while I wasn't looking (it's a miracle I ever managed to get anything down my neck with so many sticky fingers around the place...).
"You smell funny, what have you been doing?" Melody asked after she was done gorging herself on cheesecake. She'd flitted over to my shoulder, looking for a place to nap her afternoon away.
"Nothing I can think of," I said, "maybe a new shampoo?"
"Nope," said Jewel, snuffling at my neck, which tickled, "this is something else... has the pretty monster been having at you again? It smells like that. We told her not to."
"Yes we did," Meadow said before belching adorably and draping herself over my arm for her post-lunch snooze, "we won't have her hurting our Shade."
"She'd never hurt me, silly," I said, stroking her back, which made her sigh happily.
"They all do," Jewel answered sadly from on top of my head, patting me gently.
"That's not true," I protested.
Though... no. Not true. Tethys never hurt me, well, not after she stopped trying to enslave or sell me, anyway.
"Name one," Melody challenged.
"Cassandra," I said, gesturing over at my Warden, who raised her sandwich in salute.
"Didn't she try to cut your head off with a sword?" Jewel asked.
"She only threatened to."
Cassandra rolled her eyes, "Never hearing the end of that," she muttered.
"Shall we go into the time you punched me?"
"You had that coming."
"What about all the other times you've beat me up?"
"You deserved those too!"
I didn't really have a good reply to that.
"It's okay, Mathew, we'll never hurt you," Melody said, hugging my neck.
"I know," I said with a smile.
Cassandra rolled her eyes and went back to her lunch.
A couple of hours went by, and I was dozing quietly in front of the TV in the library when Kandi staggered in.
"Matty, little help? So much chafing," she wailed. I jolted awake, which roused the Pixies sleeping against my thigh, one of whom turned her face to glare at me while I apologised and went to help Kandi, who was limping and shaky.
"What happened?" I asked.
"What usually happens when you get her all riled up and throw me at her, I got carried away, and now I'm sore," she complained as I simply lifted her into my arms with my Will and carried her back to my sofa, gently laying her down.
"Let's take a look," I said with a sigh.
Hadleigh had taught me far better ways to diagnose and treat basic sprains and low-level damage. Flesh Sight let me really dig into each injury and understand exactly what was wrong, while more delicate healing spells let me piece the damaged tissues back together with minimal stress on the body. Comparing the way I used to handle healing with how I did it now was like comparing a jackhammer with a hammer and chisel. I couldn't believe how inefficient I'd been!
Having found the damage, which was concentrated in her large muscle groups and... private bits, I started working on it, taking each site in turn, touching gently to allow better transmission of energy into the deep tissues.
"Good grief, Kandi, you've got to take these things more slowly," I said, going to work, soothing the muscle sprains, rebuilding the chafed and blistered flesh and replenishing badly depleted protein stores.
"I know, I know, but it's hard in the moment, you know?" she said, sighing as her pains slowly vanished one by one.
It took about an hour to deal with her injuries. The Spellwork was more delicate, but it was also slower.
"You're getting better at that," she said after I was just about finished.
"Thank you, I aim to please," I said with a grin before frowning, "Hm, your hormones are a little off. And your adrenaline levels are spiking. Are you feeling alright?"
She coughed, "Um, Matty, where are your hands right now?"
"What?" and then I paid more attention, I'd left her 'private' injuries for last, you see, "Oh, sorry!"
"Not a problem," she said, kissing my cheek.
She settled against my shoulder, "So... now that you've fixed me up, care to break me again?"
"That sounded sexier in your head, didn't it?" I asked with a snigger.
"Yes, yes it did," she said, blushing heavily.
"Like to take it back?"
"Can I please? I think I can do better, something about cleaning me up and getting me dirty again, I'm working on it," she said.
I laughed and wrapped an arm around her, rubbing her side.
Chapter 16
My weekend was punctuated by frequent texts from the mother hens, Mary most prolifically.
Kandi thought it was hilarious. Tethys simply glared, which made Cassandra smile. Kandi was even more inclined to spend time with me than usual (I think she was just looking for a buffer be
tween her and her overly-amorous Succubus girlfriend). She did return a back-rub on Sunday, though, and that was just terrific, she eased out knots I didn't even know I'd had, and was scantily-clad enough to make the whole thing incredibly interesting.
But, in the end, it was back to school for me, which wasn't as much of a wrench as it had been, now that I had friends. Naturally, that came with its own set of drawbacks...
"You look terrible," Mary said as I walked through the front doors of Naiad Hall. She'd been waiting for me, which couldn't be a good sign.
"That's just the pick-me-up I needed, thanks Mary," I said, walking up the stairs so I could fetch my things for first lecture.
"I'm serious. Wherever you go at the weekend, they don't take care of you, I'm thinking you should stay here," she said, walking next to me.
"I have a life, you know."
"And we don't think that you should be spending so much time with that Tethys woman, she's obviously just using you," she said, ignoring me.
"Is that the Royal 'We'?" I asked indulgently.
"No, we all agreed, the whole Ladies' Council."
Now, it would be nice to think that Mary's concern was born out of some sort of attraction. After all, this was a girl that spent large portions of her day with me, even happily coming right into my room when I was in a state of undress. Right?
Wrong.
As far as I could tell, that girl thought of me as a half-wit little brother, someone to be protected from the dangers and pitfalls of the world. Between that little revelation and Tethys' recent running for the hills, my manly pride had taken a couple of hits.
"You know, some might consider University a place to, oh, I don't know... study? Instead of nosing into peoples' business arrangements? Just a thought," I said as I unlocked my door and headed into my room.
"And we also think you shouldn't leave your door locked, we like your DVD collection," she continued, "that one was the Royal We."
"Firstly, Tethys is family, and is quite possibly- no, certainly, the best friend I have, maybe the best one I ever had. But, to put your mind at rest, we are not involved in any sort of physical relationship. She's made it perfectly clear that's not on the cards. And secondly, the door stays locked, Kate has sticky fingers, and I don't mean that as a euphemism, her fingers are always covered in jam, and she smears."
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