Falling For Them Volume 2: Reverse Harem Collection

by Nikki Bolvair

  James agreed. “It would probably be a good idea for all of us to do the same. There’s no telling when we’ll get another chance.”

  Rhea moved to the bed, sitting on the edge as the guys spread out on the floor. Eric leaned against the wall next to the door. Adrian sat directly under the window while James sat with his back against the bed.

  “Rhea?” James wiggled his foot nervously and seemed to take a sudden interest in the floor.

  Knowing exactly what he wanted, she chose not to beat around the bush. “You want answers.” Wiping her clammy hands on her thighs, she sighed. They deserved to know the truth. If they wanted to leave after, she didn’t plan to stop them.

  Eric and Adrian both seemed to perk up. She could sense them staring at her.

  “You finally decided to tell us the truth?” Eric raised a brow.

  “You deserve to know, I only ask you to listen, and if you want nothing to do with me afterwards, I’ll understand…” Rhea trailed off. Hopefully, she masked the sorrowful tremor in her voice.

  “Is the truth really so terrible?” Adrian moved to the foot of the bed, putting him in her direct line of sight.

  “No, but since I began watching you after your mother passed away, you probably won’t view this as good, either.” Taking a deep breath, she forged on. “Your father hired me.”

  Eric crossed his arms over his chest, staring at her with a darkening expression.

  James nudged her leg to get her attention. “There must be more to it than you being in our father’s employ.”

  Curious blue eyes watched her, waiting. “Well, yes...” Blunt might be best. “Your father, the god of fate, knows what the future holds. His gifts are considered dangerous to the gods. He travelled away from the immortal realm with limited permission, but was forbidden to conceive children. When he met your mother, his gift showed him a future with their children. Because of what he saw, he hid her from the other gods. When you were a couple of years old, Marin, god of law, caught him.”

  Eric played with the fabric of his tunic. “Mom’s final story about our father, the god, was the truth?”

  Rhea shrugged. “I can’t answer your question. She passed before I began to watch over you.” She glanced at all three of them, trying to gauge how they took this news. “Your birth resulted in his power to leave the heavens being stripped from him. When your mom fell ill, he started searching for someone who could help him keep an eye on you. He wanted someone who could travel to you if you needed help.” Pausing, she frowned, thinking. “He probably already knew someone needed to come help you…” Shaking her head to clear it, she went back to the story. The twins stared at her with a mixture of hope and curiosity. “He sent someone for me, and he trained me over the years to use my natural abilities as well as magic that I don’t have any affinity for.”

  “What made him choose you?” Eric questioned. He no longer scowled, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

  “My gift as a mirror mage made it easier to keep an eye on you. I created Mirror to help me not sit around watching you do everything…” She trailed off, blushing.

  “Everything?” James asked, horrified.

  Shrugging, she nodded apologetically. “Well, I mean, not everything! Mirror could alert me when I needed to watch, but I didn’t need to be constantly viewing you…” Rhea’s stomach knotted, and her face heated, no doubt turning bright-red.

  “Our father chose you to keep an eye on us, which means he didn’t bother?” Sneering, Eric glared at the ceiling. “Figures.”

  “You misunderstand. He wanted me to keep an eye on you so he wouldn’t get caught doing it himself. He didn’t want to risk another god interfering with your lives if they caught him watching.” On a sigh, she whispered, “I’m not trying to change your frustrations with him, but he showed me kindness when not even my own family could be bothered with me.” She glanced out the window. “We should sleep. You can ask more questions in the morning.”

  “And you’ll continue to answer any question we ask?” Rhea heard the skepticism Eric voiced.

  “To the best of my ability.” Scooting back in the bed, she covered herself, curling up. She hoped she could actually get enough sleep tonight.

  “Goodnight,” James called out as he lay down.

  Adrian moved back to his spot under the window, mumbling, “Night.”

  They never said they wanted nothing to do with her, and they didn’t immediately walk out. Rolling over, she watched Eric as he sat against the door, not bothering to lie down. If any of them left her, it would be him.

  Chapter Eight

  A Much Needed Bath

  Sitting up, Rhea glanced around to find only one other person awake, Eric. “Did you stay awake all night?” she whispered.

  He put a finger to his lips, nodding. “I’ll wake the others while you get dressed.”

  Heading for the screen, she cringed and pulled out the filthy, uncomfortable dress. Hopefully she could find something else at the local market.

  Back in her corset and dress, she peeked around the screen. Hopefully one of them would be able to help her with the buttons. Whoever put buttons on the back of a dress needed to be shot with one of those newfangled weapons from the east.

  Eric glanced up, meeting her eye. “Need help?”

  Rhea nodded and stepped back behind the screen.

  Eric slipped in behind her to slowly thread each button through its hole. “The twins are awake. As soon as you’re ready, we can go.” His fingers lingered against her back as he finished closing the last button. His lingering touch brought butterflies to her stomach, as a dream became reality.

  She shivered. “Alright.”

  Once she got ready, they made their way to the docks, searching for the man in charge.

  A small man with beady eyes and a thin mustache seemed to be directing foot traffic and handling transactions. Rhea marched up to him. “Are you the dockmaster?”

  He gazed at her, and she could practically sense him sizing up her wealth. “Yes, what can I do for you?”

  “We want to secure passage on the next ship to Faxim.” Eric moved up next to her, firmly taking the dockmaster’s attention away from Rhea when he realized he would be more likely to do business with a man.

  “The next ship don’t leave till tomorrow mornin’. That okay with ye?” His lips twitched in a smirk.

  “Fine with us.”

  After Eric haggled some more, Rhea paid a gold coin to the dockmaster. Their passage on the next boat would be held.

  James led them to the marketplace, where they could buy new clothes and some food. Thankfully, Rhea found two dresses that she could get dressed in without help, and another outfit to make traveling through the wilderness easier. Once they acquired everything they needed, James piped up, “Next stop, the bathhouse.”

  None of them talked much all morning, making Rhea nervous. Could they be mad at her now that they knew?

  Following James, they headed to the bathhouse, a wide building with a low roof. It sat in the center of town with a wooden sign in front to identify it as their destination. A small woman stood inside. She stepped out from behind the counter. “Welcome! You here for a bathing, yes?” She seemed entirely too peppy. And short. Her pink hair reached her chin in a bob, making her violet eyes seem too big for her face. Barely chest height to Rhea, and Rhea wasn’t an overly tall person, everything about the bathhouse woman pointed to small and bouncy.

  “Yes, baths for all of us,” Again, Eric spoke for them.

  She gestured for Rhea to accompany her. “You may follow me. The rest of you all please wait here.” Something about her seemed off, but it could be the way she bounced around happily as if life couldn’t get any better than this. Glancing over her shoulder at the boys, Rhea trod after her. “This will be where you bathe. Do you need assistance disrobing?”

  “No, thank you. I’ve got it.” Since she didn’t plan to wear it again, Rhea had every intention of ripping this dress from her bod
y. It would be pointless to continue carrying it around, she would leave it for the bathhouse to use as scraps.

  Nodded hard enough, Rhea briefly wondered if something was wrong with her neck, the woman turned, skipping out of the room. Listening, the woman’s words to the boys became muffled as the door slowly swung shut. A glance around the room revealed one window high above Rhea’s head on the far wall for privacy. The bath seemed more like a small pool, with enough room for more than one person. Both ends of the pool were shallow enough children could stand without fully submerging themselves, while the middle sloped to allow a person to get more of their body under the water. Quickly undressing, she tugged until the buttons gave and ended up ripping her dress in multiple places.

  Rhea couldn’t wait to get clean again. Without stopping to check the temperature, she hopped straight into the deeper middle. Cold water lapped at the underside of her breasts sending tiny shocks through her, causing her to let out a shriek. Grabbing the soap set nearby, she started to lather up, hurrying as quickly as possible while shivering.

  A shout from the hallway rang out, and the door burst open. Turning, Rhea gaped at all three of the boys standing in the doorway without a stitch of clothing on. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t seem to make her voice work. In what world would it be okay to barge in on a bathing lady… in the buff?

  Their eyes assessed the room. Flames licked up Eric’s arm, slowly dying as he seemed to realize there was no threat in the room.

  “Can I help you?” Rhea’s teeth quit chattering thanks to the adrenaline rush.

  “You screamed,” Eric accused, narrowing his eyes at her.

  The woman from the front counter came in behind them. “You men, not allowed to in here! Shoo!” She waved at them with her tiny hands.

  Angling his body to block the door while addressing the short woman, Adrian bowed at the waist. “I must apologize, but we won’t be going anywhere. After the alligator incident, I don’t really trust her not to get into trouble without us watching over her.” Turning to his brothers, he added, “We shouldn’t let our guard down.”

  Nodding in agreement, Eric showed his intent in the way he planted his feet and crossed his arms. “We will pay you extra for your discretion, of course.”

  Trying to hide as the woman tapped her fingers together, Rhea sank lower into the chilly water. Bathhouse woman’s violet eyes flicked between Rhea and the boys. “More shinies?” She bobbled her head. “Yes. Yes, okay.”

  Adrian grabbed the money pouch from where Rhea dropped it near her things. Blinking slowly, she tried to pull her gaze away from his bare butt as he bent over. It wasn’t easy.

  He handed the woman a few more coins and grinned as she left the room. As soon as the woman left, he shot Rhea an apologetic smile for using some of her coins without permission.

  With a quirk of an eyebrow, Eric turned to her slowly. “Why did you scream?”

  “Cold water… I jumped in.” Her skin tingled where she submerged herself up to her neck, and she closed her eyes. The sight of him standing there in all his glory burned into her memory, and nothing seemed to make it go away.

  “I can make it warmer.” Eric moved to the edge of the pool. A tiny splash forced her eyes open. He sat down, dropping his feet into the water.

  “You can’t seriously mean to stay!” Her voice squeaked, and she blushed. She couldn’t seem to stop staring at their nakedness.

  “We can,” Adrian replied. Both he and James hopped into the water.

  Sighing, she turned away from the three of them to finish washing up. At least Eric started to make the water warmer.

  As she washed her hair, careful to keep her back to them, she listened to them chat. They didn’t seem to mind being unclothed and standing a couple of feet away from her. As she rinsed the last of the soap from her hair, she frowned. Her hands shook, and her insides hummed. Power came in waves. Awareness of Mirror came rushing back, plus some.

  Mirror perched herself on the window, chirping. Rhea blew out a breath, attempting to calm herself as the bird glided down, showing Rhea what she already suspected.

  On shaky arms, she pulled herself out of the water. “Get out of the water. There’s something wrong with it.” Shakiness, not from fatigue, but energy, made her restless. Pacing, first to her clothes and then back to the edge of the pool, she couldn’t stop moving.

  Frowning, Eric hopped out first. “What do you mean something is wrong with it? Aside from the chilly temperatures when we first got in, I mean.”

  Pacing back to her clothes again, she couldn’t stand still. The extra energy pinged around her insides. “Something is off…” She made a vague gesture with her hands, not sure how to go on. Rubbing her palms against her eyes, she turned back to them. “It…” She released a breath, trying to center her herself. “There was…”

  Adrian stopped her, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Take a breath, then tell us what’s wrong.”

  Thoughts tumbling, she had trouble connecting the words. “Magic in the water. Something is wrong.” Energy pulsed frantically inside her. She needed some outlet for the excess coursing through her body.

  Someone pounded on the large door separating the pool from the front area. “Bath time over now!” The woman’s high-pitched voice sounded less peppy and slightly panicked.

  Pressing his ear to the door, clearly, he could make out the low tones of the woman speaking in the hallway. Scowling, he swore, filling them in with a hushed whisper. “It sounded like she told someone to let us get dressed first because we couldn’t escape the room.”

  All of them looked around, searching the room to verify the truth of her words. “We’re trapped in here.” He trailed off. Aside from the window situated too far up for any of them to reach on their own, there didn’t appear to be any way out.

  Nudity almost forgotten, she paced back to her clothes, and finally pulled them on. Her skin itched, begging her to pull them back off again.

  “We need to figure out a way out of here…” Adrian grumbled.

  James added, “We also need clothes. We won’t get far like this.” He gestured to his naked, dripping body.

  Rhea quickly turned away from him. This energy would drive her mad. “Your clothes are where?”

  “In the other bathing room.” Eric leaned against the door as if to hold it closed against intruders.

  Pacing, the sensation of breeches without underthings on was odd, but a woman wearing them was unseemly. Sparks flew down her arms, and she shivered. “A portal. I can…” Biting her lip, she tried to gather her wayward idea. She needed to get rid of this energy.

  “Didn’t you say you couldn’t open a portal,” Eric challenged.

  “Not a long distance portal, but I hold the power for something smaller… something…” She ran her fingers against the wall, stopping as the plan formed in her mind. “I’ll portal you to the bathing room with your clothes, then open the portal outside. It’ll open behind the…” Fuzziness caused her to trail off, gesturing at the back of the building.

  Grabbing her bag, she positioned Mirror against the wall connecting this chamber with the other bathing pool. Power thrummed through her body as she murmured a few words, casting the spell.

  Mirror glowed with a silver light. Her reflective surface began to grow, attaching itself to the wall in the shape of a door. Light swirled around in the portal, casting an eerie glow around the room. Rhea made the boys step through the small opening between the rooms.

  Adrian grabbed her wrist. “You too. Last time you made us go ahead of you, it was so you could play the sacrifice. Not happening again.”

  Rhea made a small noise of protest. She didn’t plan on staying behind. Closing her eyes as she stepped through the doorway, a bright light flashed behind her eyelids. The portal closed behind her, and Mirror dropped to her shoulder.

  Eric and James pulled out their clothes. Adrian joined them, and she could watch them without embarrassment with their attention on getting dre
ssed as quickly as possible.

  James’s breeches twisted, bunched in odd places and seemed uncomfortable, his tunic ended up tucked into them. He didn’t seem to notice. A crash came from the room next door, and Rhea could imagine their confusion at finding no one in there. “Out of time. We need to leave now.” She gestured at the wall, using Mirror to open another doorway in the wall.

  Eric grabbed Rhea, pulling her in the direction of the portal. “In case you considered staying behind, I’m not letting you.” he smirked, half joking.

  “Not part of my plan.” Resisting his direction never crossed her mind.

  Adrian stomped into his boots as he went through the glowing doorway. Eric stepped through, guiding her through with him.

  Looking up and down the alley, James frowned. “What now?” The back of the bathhouse butted up against the city walls. “If we go around the building, we’ll be spotted.” He sized up the wall thoughtfully.

  She released a breath. Thankful she no longer shook uncontrollably. Eric gazed around. “What if we went up?”

  “Up?” James squinted at the roof.

  Peering up, Adrian shrugged. “I’m game. I bet they won’t be expecting it.”

  Bracing his back against the building, Eric cupped his hands above his knee. “Adrian, you go first.”

  Adrian grinned at Rhea as he prepared to use his brother as a ladder. He grabbed onto his shoulders and stepped into his hands. Eric lifted Adrian up. As he grabbed the edge of the roof, he pulled himself up using the momentum Eric gave him. His shoulder muscles flexed and tightened under his shirt as he climbed.

  James went next, scrambling up after Adrian. Not as graceful as his twin, Adrian helped pull him all the way up. She stepped closer to Eric placing her foot in his fingers as a commotion came from the front of the building. He cursed, lifting her high enough for the twins to grab her. Once she was up, Eric took a step back underneath them to get some momentum and leapt at the wall across from the building. It stood close enough he could kick off of wall, which propelled him back at them. He got enough height for each of the twins to grab one of his hands, pulling him to safety.