by Mima
“I think as long as I’m here, I may as well stick around to help guard the ritual. Markos will be here in a few hours.”
Adam sighed, deeply and loudly. “Will he.”
“I’ll be on the shore. I have to make sure I didn’t lose any scales.” Robert stepped out.
Adam stood from the bench and drew Xia into a hug again. When she tightened her arms, he whispered, “Gently.”
“I’m sorry.” She pulled back to look in his face. “You seemed so fine before.”
“I would never insinuate Robert did less than a perfect job of healing. Damn, I’m sore.” He limped over to the bed, sat, and eased himself back into it. “I would give anything to sleep with you now.”
Xia stood mournfully by the bed. She chewed her lip. “I wish I could sleep now too. If I lie down with you, I’ll be out.” And it still wasn’t safe for her to sleep without her rampart to guard her. Not when too many people knew of her revelation.
“Any other status I should know about after I blacked out?”
“Your selkies were amazing. Several were hurt, two badly, but I don’t think any were your relatives.”
“They’re all my relatives here. I’ll look into that soon.” He plumped a pillow, and she pulled the covers up over him.
“Well, they’re all alive. Robert in his dragon form is stunning beyond words. It was a sight I’ll never forget. I’m not sure if the wendigo is eaten, dead or captured. I answered my email. There was a lot, and I don’t think I’m going to be very anonymous.”
With his tousled blond hair and his eyes closed, his face relaxing, he looked so young. Not a day over ninety. “It will hit the papers tomorrow. When it does, we’ll ride the wave, and the crest will pass.”
Which reminded her. “What did you think of Robert’s proposal?”
“I think if anyone had to be a sexpot, it would be my sweet-faced, auburn-haired, curvy-bodied Xia.” He closed his eyes.
What a horrible pun. Xia stood slack-jawed for a few moments, until a deep, heavy breath eased from Adam. He was asleep, with a smile on his face. It was contagious. She went to the door to overlook the sunny cobble beach, beaming.
Chapter Fourteen
When Xia walked into her little rental cottage early in the evening, the realization that her life was different hit her hard. First of all, it was surrounded by selkie guards. With Tasha on the doorstep. Second of all, the scent of coffee and bacon lingering from their last breakfast only a short while ago made her realize Adam was beginning to smell like home.
She took her suitcase into the bedroom. There the scent of herbs made her shake her head. If anyone had told her last week that the last thing on her mind a few days after subsuming into Terra would be that experience, she would have laughed. The massive, life-changing ritual was only remembered when she displayed distressingly dependent separation anxiety, like when Adam had taken a shower.
Markos was sitting on her bed with his laptop, a notebook, a soda and a bag of Doritos, his cell phone at his ear. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and his shoes were off, revealing his round, shining black hooves. He looked like he’d been there for days instead of fifteen minutes. He also looked good. His thick black hair and dark brown eyes were familiar, dear. His throat was strong and his forearms muscled. His thick fingers on wide hands moved delicately on the keyboard.
“She won’t do any interviews. No. No cameras, not even stills. I’m telling you, this is everything you’re going to get from her. You can sue all you want, I’ll see you in court.” He hung up and tossed the phone down. He scowled at his laptop, typing for a few more moments. She wasn’t insulted. When Markos had his concentration on, the world ceased. He looked up at her. The anger cleared from his eyes. “Xia.”
“Are you my agent now too?”
“Might not be a bad idea.”
“Can they sue to force me to talk?”
He snorted. “She thinks I’m covering up truth the people have a right to know. Little does she know, the article she’s dying to write as an expose is going to hit the papers tomorrow. All of them.”
“So someone’s been talking.”
“Bound to.” His cell buzzed on the bed, dancing in a circle on the plaid like an angry black bee. Markos looked at the number. “Another one.”
“This has been happening a lot?”
“Since about midnight last night.”
“I’m sorry, Markos. Thank you so much for running interference for me. I caused the problem, yet I’m the one being protected from the consequences.”
“He’s your advocate. It’s his job to control your contact with the outside world.” Adam came up behind her, and his hand on the back of her neck might as well have shouted “Mine!”
To Markos he said, “Advocate.”
Markos’s brows lowered darkly. He got up off the bed and stepped up to Xia, chin up. Pulling her into a hug, he wrapped her up tight. She wondered what kind of staring was going on behind her. Adam didn’t move his hand from her nape, and she had a sudden mental image of Markos biting it. She wiggled to be free of the tension between them.
“Let’s talk out in the living room.” The significance of Markos setting up camp in her bedroom wasn’t lost on her.
Walking into the small living area, she paused. If she sat on the couch, it would become a power play to see who would sit next to her. She pulled a counter stool out and set it across from the couch.
“Have a seat.” She waved her hand at the selections and sat on the floor.
Adam took the couch. Markos moved the stool back to the counter and sat next to her on the floor, but at a good distance. Xia kept her sigh a mental exercise. With Adam’s legs sprawled out and Markos’s stretched and crossed at the ankle, Xia had a ridiculous urge to see her men play Twister.
Xia had talked to Markos via cell when he’d landed, as she’d helped Adam put his home to rights after his long nap. Between his rest, Robert’s dragon magic and a visit from the elderly selkie healer, he now had nothing but a tender fresh scar on his back.
Adam hung one arm on the back of the couch. “Have you talked to Robert?”
Markos sat with both arms braced behind him. It created a lovely presentation of his chest in the tailored white dress shirt. “He was here a bit ago. I find that I’m less than honored to be gifted with the execution of a world-saving ritual.”
Xia shuddered. “Let’s not use the word ‘execution’. It was clear that the use of death magic will be laid at our door if we fail.”
“We’ve missed moonrise. Moonfall is just after sunset tonight,” Adam mused. “Placing it directly in the gloaming. I don’t want to do this when Aqua is at her strongest.”
He was talking about auspicious ritual times to begin. Xia shrugged. “Witch’s midnight, then.” The darkest moment, the halfway point between sunrise and sunset.
Markos clacked his hooves together softly as he shifted his feet. “I already calculated when that would be. You won’t believe this. It’s one twenty-three.”
She chewed her lip hard against the desire to dismiss the number as a superstitious coincidence. In magic, such things had power.
Adam remarked, “How interesting. The only night of the year that witch’s midnight falls at that time, and all of our choices have led us here.” Clearly, Adam wasn’t a believer in fate. His words settled her.
“I think we should perform it outside.” Markos’s deep bass filled the room.
“We’ve recently had some bad luck with outdoor excursions,” Adam countered dryly. His cream T-shirt had an ad for motor oil on it. Xia enjoyed how it was too small for him, outlining every rippling muscle as he shifted on the couch. He looked at her, and her stomach flipped happily. “You decide, Xia.”
Oh. Crap. She glanced at Markos, who watched her intently with a warm, patient gaze. There were deep, bruised gashes under his eyes. Xia regretted that it was no doubt her fault he hadn’t been sleeping. She had a thought. Last year, Markos had shared that he’d taken
Elspeth for a lover. Mostly, Xia didn’t follow his long list of sexual activity. Was this ritual going to interfere in their relationship?
“Focus, dancer. I see your brain being distracted through those gorgeous silver eyes of yours.”
Adam shifted on the couch at Markos’s low words.
Her first reaction was the same as Adam’s—rejection of the outdoors. But she reconsidered. This was not an etheric ritual, like when she’d tested Adam with her games or shared the memory of her dreaming with Markos in a private report. This would happen in the real world, with the elements coming to them. She’d be responsible for working Aer, which didn’t enjoy enclosures.
“If Robert is here as our guard, with Tasha and the selkies to help, and the Chamber has cleaned up their dirt, then I think we’ll be safe enough from magicals. Being outside will aid our element work.”
The men were quiet. Xia couldn’t believe she had to wait a half-dozen hours, sharing the house with them, contemplating sex magic.
Her voice came out disgustingly high. “Are we clear on the ritual’s procedure?” The High Mages at the Chamber had emailed them details. She’d read her email separate from Adam, too embarrassed to call him over to read about the peak of climax, domination options and timed orgasms.
Silence. No waves, no wind, no voices.
Then Adam said, “Xia hasn’t had any sleep. You should clear out of the bedroom and let her rest.”
“Markos is tired too.” She could have slapped herself upside the head. Her comment had just slipped out, but clearly sounded like an invitation. Adam’s face became a mask.
Markos smiled at her. “I’m way beyond tired, but I’m all right. There’s a lot of work to do for tomorrow’s release of your revelation. I wouldn’t say no to some food, though.”
She nodded. Being both an elemental and a minotaur meant Markos had much more stamina than she. He could stay up for days, although she feared he already had. The oatmeal she’d had for lunch seemed long ago. “All right. Dinner first, and then I’ll rest.”
She stood, Adam rising with her. Markos gathered his hooves under him and rose to a few inches below Adam’s lean height.
“Can I speak to you outside a moment?” Adam said mildly to Markos.
Oh, no. Oh, Hel, no.
“Sure,” Markos replied just as mildly. “You’re okay with starting dinner on your own?” he asked Xia.
“No problem.” She moved into the kitchen at a sedate pace. They were so not going to have a male powwow about her. Absolutely not.
She opened the refrigerator and took out several things, blindly. The front door opened and closed. Slamming the fridge, she dashed toward the bedroom. The front door opened again. She froze, eyes big and innocent as Adam stuck his head in. “Xia, I’ll be right in the drive. Just a few minutes.”
She smiled brilliantly at his thoughtful reassurance. “Thanks. I’ll try not to come to the window if I can help it.”
He nodded to her, his hair golden on his brow with the late sun hitting it, and closed the door. She sprinted for the bedroom. Hauling the window up, she grabbed the latches for the screen and shoved it aside. Throwing one leg over the sill, she gritted her teeth when a tall, lean selkie came over from the fence.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in alarm.
“Nothing. Quiet. I’m spying.”
He put his hands in his back pockets and rocked on his heels, grinning. “All right, then.”
She peeked around the side of the house and saw that it was safe. She scurried up to the corner of the carport, with her lovely Schwinn gleaming there. A line of parked cars stretched down her driveway. Running bent over, Xia scuttled up behind the first and caught a wisp of Markos’s rumble.
“—needs someone who will stay around for her. Between Terra, Aqua, and this public revelation to magicals, she’ll need a full-time friend. But not a rampart. Keeping her with me is the most efficient and familiar route for her.”
What? Were they dickering over who got to take care of her? They were still two cars away, standing where the edge of her mowed front-lawn area turned to field. Staying hunched over, she crept forward as quietly as she could.
Adam’s response was measured, but his voice was tight. “I disagree. My cottage is remote, easily guarded. It’s better for avoiding the rush of celebrity and the backlash of fear that will come at her. Taking her with you on your assignments to major cities isn’t wise.”
“After this ritual, she may not be comfortable with you. You know that you’re going to have to submit.”
Crouching, she squatted beside the back tire of an old-model Volvo. It was still warm, even with the sun in creeping distance of the horizon. She was so fiercely glad she didn’t have to ride the dreamtime tonight.
Adam’s voice came a little faster, a little less measured. “Xia should be given a choice of who to stay with. You know nothing of how we relate sexually. Are you insinuating she’ll be disgusted with me after the ritual?”
“I know quite a bit about how she and I relate sexually. Xia is drawn to strength. If she doesn’t have confidence in you, she won’t feel safe.” Markos sounded hard.
“You’re saying this ritual is going to make me look so weak she’ll no longer want me.”
There was the distant crunch of feet on gravel, and she cursed. Someone was coming up the drive, and the men began to move toward the house to avoid the person, passing her on the other side of the car.
“It’s not going to make you look weak, Adam. In this ritual, you are going to have cede sexual control of Xia to me. Ignis needs to emerge the victor here, forcing Aqua’s transformation.”
Xia slowly rotated on the balls of her feet, so that she pointed back toward the house. Her palms itched with the need to smack Markos. Should she stand up and end this ridiculous posturing?
“Interesting. That’s not how I see it at all. I’ll be the one who reaches for Aer, blending myself with it. Ignis has that option too, but won’t take it. Ignis will be stubborn and left behind while the two of us join.” Now Adam sounded amused. “And I think it will merely be the fact you take Xia last, that forces Aqua’s change. Far from being weak, I think Xia will see me as a refuge from your unrelenting aggression, well after she’s been satisfied and wants to stop.”
She straightened her knees, her fingers tingling with the desire to punch Adam in the nose. But she remained bent and hidden, chewing on her lip indecisively.
“It’s not called aggression, it’s called passion. Something she and I have shared many times. We’re very comfortable together, and she’ll trust me.” Now Markos’s voice was the tight one. “Both during and after the ritual.”
As they traveled closer to the house, she glanced over her shoulder. She scuttled back to the first car, letting them stay well ahead of her. She’d have to move fast once they entered the house again. What excuse could she give for being in the bedroom all this time?
“Hullo, Adam,” called the new voice that had come up the drive.
“Hullo, Samuel. This is Tasha. She’s coordinating the guards. Thanks for coming.”
Tasha? Tasha was overhearing this pissing contest? Xia’s thighs were beginning to burn from her posture.
“I show you where to stand and watch,” Tasha’s soft but authoritative Russian voice said.
“Sure. G’night, Adam.”
Footsteps moved away, thankfully, in the other direction. Xia dared a glance around the front fender of the car. Both men stood with their arms folded, watching Tasha and a slender young man walk away.
Markos spoke. “Listen to me, you arrogant asshole. She’s scared, she’s exhausted, she’s overwhelmed. By assigning us to this mess, Robert assured it would be personal. Make this about her pleasure, and do your duty. Give way to my heat and just finish the fucking ritual. Afterwards, we’ll discover her emotions, and we’ll deal with it.”
Adam turned his head toward Markos, and she ducked back behind the car. “She hasn’t been yours for a long time
. And you were fine with that. I hear you’ve been keeping your bed plenty busy. Now that it’s time for her to move on, you rear your head up. She’s not part of your herd.”
“Sure. Go for the cow jokes. Our bonds are solid, sealed in hardship and time. She is very much part of my team, and I’ll always fight for her well-being. As her advocate—”
“Don’t give me that shite.”
“Listen—”
“You’re far more than her advocate.”
Silence, but for a cricket.
“And how is that news?” Markos’s reply made Xia smile. She recognized her influence in the snark of it.
Adam’s tones became more controlled again. “This is going to be personal for all of us. Get your head clear on where you stand in her life, and where she’s going, and where you want to be when she goes there. The dynamics of the ritual are set as we manipulate a certain outcome, but the emotions behind the actions can give them several different meanings.”
His voice lowered and Xia leaned forward, angling her head to hear him.
“Let me be clear. She’s the center of my life right now. She’s going to become part of history with her announcement and will need constant, undistracted support. I plan on being close by her side throughout. So close I become part of her body each night. And after this ritual, sharing her is not going to be in the stars.”
She couldn’t stand it anymore. She took another peek. Adam and Markos were nose to nose, Adam leaning down from his greater height. Markos’s hands were in fists. One hoof scuffed the dirt in a slow warning swipe.
Adam continued, ignoring the fact that Tasha cleared the corner of the house and moved toward the men with such controlled grace she appeared to be floating. Xia whipped her head back around the side of the car, her heart pounding at Adam’s impassioned words. They just kept coming, a steady rain drenching her in fascination.
“I don’t think she’s the center of your life, Markos. And I don’t think that either of you want her to be. So your prior claim is moot, and your pride needs to be set aside. You gave her to me, knowing I’d be her rampart, anchor and lover. Now you’re fussing like that’s all going to be wiped away in some powerful sex magic. It isn’t.”