The Helicon Muses Omnibus: Books 1-4

by V. J. Chambers

  She set down her rag and looked up.

  To find Roth surveying her, his rag lying on the table. “Sorry,” he said. “It’s just that I’m curious about a couple things.”

  “You are?” she said. “Me too, I guess.”

  “Curiosity’s good, right? I was raised to believe that it’s good. It leads to knowledge, and knowledge is power, and if we talked about this, but with the understanding that it was only for the pursuit of knowledge—”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  He nodded. “Good.”

  “So, what were you curious about?”

  “Why would you say that thing about a clitoris being misplaced?”

  “That’s kind of personal,” she said. “It’s not very knowledge-y.”

  “I guess that kind of answers my question,” he said. “What were you curious about?”

  “The sensitivity thing? You said that you thought your… organ was….” She couldn’t even finish the sentence.

  “That’s kind of personal,” he said.

  “Yeah.” She chewed on her lip. “How would you even know?”

  “I did a lot of reading,” he said. “Kind of compared my experiences to the descriptions I read about. And while I definitely think that things down there work, I’m not sure if it’s exactly at the same level of a human guy.”

  “Oh,” she said. “Well, doesn’t that bother you?”

  “Not really,” he said. “After all, it’s better than the other fairy men. And besides, the fairy men don’t really think of sex being primarily about physical sensations.”

  Nora cocked her head. “No?”

  Roth tapped his temple. “Sex is up here. It’s not in your body. That’s what they say. It’s more about the way you feel about the other person. Like being connected to them, letting the spiritual part of yourself use the physical to experience being joined with someone else.”

  “Whoa,” said Nora. “That sounds intense.”

  “Yeah,” said Roth. “It sounds terrifying to me actually. I don’t know if I’m ready for a spiritual connection with someone else.”

  Nora chewed on her lip. Not about physical sensation, huh? Maybe she’d been thinking about this all wrong.

  “So, you sure you’re happy with Sawyer?” said Roth. “You know, because I’d be happy to spend some time trying to determine if your clitoris is misplaced.”

  She threw the rag at him. “Shut up.”

  “That wasn’t friend-appropriate either, was it?”

  “You’re lucky Sawyer isn’t a violent person,” said Nora. “Otherwise, he’d probably beat you senseless for propositioning me like that.”

  Roth raised an eyebrow. “I’m really just mind-numbingly horny and desperate. It’s nothing personal.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “Thanks a lot.”

  He grinned.

  “I wish I had another rag to throw at you.”

  * * *

  Agler glared at Jack. “Come on, don’t make me do this.”

  “You care way too much about what this girl thinks of you,” said Jack. “I think that you might have feelings for her or something.”

  “Well, I can’t, can I?” said Agler. “Because there’s no way that she’ll ever like me.”

  Jack shook his head. “You straight guys, I swear. You get all weird about having sex with a girl just because it was her first time. Whatever.”

  “Jack, if I go to her house to pick up food to deliver, it’s only going to upset her. Don’t do it for me, do it for her.”

  “No.” Jack grinned. He gestured at the Salt tent. “Go see her. It’ll be good for both of you.”

  Agler sighed. His shoulders slumped, he turned towards Maddie’s family’s tent. It was made of patched green and blue fabric, and it had four or five peaks—about a typical size for a family tent. There was smoke coming from the place where the kitchen was located, so he headed in that direction.

  He paused outside the flap of the tent. “Here to pick up food,” he announced.

  “Come in,” came Maddie’s distracted voice.

  Taking a deep breath, he pulled aside the flap and stepped inside.

  Her back was to him. She was stacking the trays of food that he would deliver to sick muses. He’d been helping out here and in the babies and toddlers enclave ever since Halloween. But he’d yet to run into Maddie. Oh, he saw her occasionally, across the dining room or running through the enclave, her dark hair streaming out behind her. He thought she looked so delicate and beautiful. Almost fragile.

  And he cursed himself for the way he’d treated her.

  He’d promised himself that if he ever had the chance to be with Maddie again, he’d would focus on her pleasure. He would be gentle with her. But instead, he’d gotten drunk. And poured liquor down her throat. And then he’d been the exact opposite of gentle. He still remembered waking up next to her the next morning and finding the finger-shaped bruises he’d left on her hips.

  It made him sick. He wasn’t a violent person. He cared about women, and he didn’t want to hurt them. Bruising a woman didn’t turn him on.

  Except apparently, it did.

  When he’d seen the evidence of his brutality staring back at him on her body like that, he’d bolted. He couldn’t imagine facing her. He didn’t want to see her tears again. He didn’t want the knowledge that he’d damaged her. Again.

  When he never wanted to hurt her. He wanted to make her happy. He wanted to protect her.

  But it seemed like he was the guy she needed protection from.

  Maddie turned around. Her eyes widened. “Agler.”

  “I’m just here for the food.”

  Maddie gave him a bitter smile. “Of course you are. Agler Thorn, still pretending that nothing happened. You coward.”

  He flinched. But he deserved that. He knew he did. He stepped closer to her. He had the sudden urge to pull her into his arms and kiss all the bitterness out of her expression. But he’d lost that chance. He hadn’t treated her properly, and now it was all ruined. “Give me the food.”

  “I hate you, you know that?” she said. “You are the cruelest person I know.”

  He couldn’t look at her. “I’m sorry. But it seems like all I do is apologize to you. And it never makes any of it better, does it?”

  She handed him the stack of trays. “Get out.”

  He did.

  * * *

  It was the night of the Harvest Ball, and Sawyer was holding up the dress he’d made for Nora.

  “It’s beautiful,” she said. It was a long, brown, silk gown. It shimmered under the candlelight in the tent. The sleeves were long and flowing, but the dress would bare both of her shoulders and dip low in the back. It had embroidered accents around the edges—dark flowers and vines wound around the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt.

  “You like it?” He grinned.

  She sidled close to him. “I like everything you make for me. You’re very good at dressing me, as you’ve pointed out before.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Well, before I dress you, I think I’ve got to undress you, don’t I?”

  She giggled. “I guess that’s true. I can’t very well wear this dress over my clothes.”

  “No, you can’t. It’s designed to expose the beautiful curve of your back.” His voice had gone husky. He turned her around and pulled her shirt over her head. His fingers traced the outline of her spine.

  She gasped, Sawyer’s fingers making her shiver in the most delicious of ways.

  His fingers danced and leapt over her skin, brushing against her waist, cupping her breasts.

  Her breath caught in her throat. “Sawyer, we have a dance to get to,” she managed.

  “Do we?” he whispered into her neck.

  She closed her eyes. She liked messing around with him, but if they actually ended up having sex, it was just going to take forever and be messy and annoying and—

  What had Roth said about the fairies? They didn’t think sex was abou
t physical sensation?

  She turned in Sawyer’s arms, pressing herself against him. She gazed into his deep blue eyes.

  He was smiling at her, and she could see how much he adored her. It was all over him.

  She adored him too. So much. He was her best friend. She could tell him anything. He was beautiful—the most graceful and gorgeous man she’d ever met. And he was in her arms. He wanted to make their bodies as close as humanly possible.

  Thinking about it like that made her insides go to jelly.

  She seized him, pressing her lips against his.

  “Mmm.” Sawyer’s hands found her hips and pulled her close.

  “I guess we could be fashionably late,” she murmured.

  * * *

  Sawyer brushed hair out of Nora’s eyes. She was gazing up at him, and he could swear that she’d never looked at him like that before. “Well,” he breathed. “That was… different.”

  She smiled shyly and pulled him down for another kiss.

  He surrendered to it, teasing her tongue with his own.

  She ran her hands over his bare chest. “Bad different?”

  “No.” He looked into her eyes again. “Good different. It felt like… and this is a weird thing to say, but it felt like you were actually… there when we were making love.”

  Her smile got wider. “You could tell.”

  He nodded. But he wasn’t exactly sure what he could tell. He only knew that there had been a subtle shift in the way they’d coupled. Maybe it was the way she’d whispered his name when he was inside her. Maybe it was the way her breathing had changed. Maybe it was the way that she’d moved with him, their bodies in perfect sync. He wasn’t sure.

  “I was checking out before. Every other time we’ve made love, I’ve just resigned myself to it, laid there and let it happen. I was waiting for something magical and amazing to happen. I was waiting for sex to be fireworks and champagne and this transformative experience.”

  “It is,” he said. “I mean, for me. It makes me feel transformed.”

  “Why?”

  “Why?” He thought about it. “Because of us, I guess. Because you’re surrounding me and close to me, and I love you.”

  She kissed the tip of his nose. “Yeah. That’s the part I was missing Sawyer. I thought sex was about me. About how I felt. But it’s about us.” She kissed his lips. “And I love you too.”

  * * *

  The Harvest Ball hardly looked like anything to write home about. Though it would normally be held around the main fire pit, which would be festooned with autumnal decorations, it was too cold to do that this year. Instead, they’d moved all of the tables out of the dining room to make a ball room.

  There weren’t any decorations to speak of, and there was still a lingering smell of that night’s dinner. Some of the tweens musicians were gathered in the corner, strumming guitars and pounding on drums. The dance floor was still full of muses in fancy clothes, though. And the atmosphere was festive, even if it didn’t look that way.

  Nora felt buoyant. She held hands with Sawyer, and she felt as if they were tied together with invisible threads. She couldn’t stop looking at him, touching him. She had never felt so in love with him.

  He tugged her onto the dance floor.

  She rested her head on his shoulder.

  One of his hands was on the bare skin of her back, another rested on her waist.

  They moved together.

  She closed her eyes.

  This was perfect.

  “See?” Sawyer’s voice rumbled up from his chest. It was soft in her ear. “I told you there had to be a Harvest Ball.”

  “You were right,” she whispered back.

  And then she let herself get lost in the sounds of the music. The spirit of Helicon was still strong, and she could hear it in the music, see it in the way the muses moved, and it was echoed in her love for Sawyer. They were part of this, their feelings were knitted into the fabric of the world. She was home. And she knew it, deep in every fiber of her being.

  They danced together for a long time, and Nora was swept up in every second of it.

  When they finally stopped to get something to drink, Maddie found them next to the punch table. She was wearing a rich mahogany dress that hugged her torso tightly, and Nora was struck by how thin her friend was. She was practically skeletal.

  “Geez, Maddie, when did you lose so much weight?”

  Maddie beamed. “I had to get the dress taken in. It was too big.”

  Nora furrowed her brow. “You know, you could probably stop losing weight now, don’t you think?”

  Maddie rolled her eyes. “What? Do I look bad?”

  “You’re gorgeous,” said Sawyer.

  “Like you’d notice,” said Maddie. “I’ve been watching the two of you mooning at each other all night.”

  Nora smiled at Sawyer.

  He took her hand, gazing into her eyes. “Well, it’s Nora’s first Harvest Ball. And I wanted it to be awesome.”

  “It is.” She sighed, feeling like she could lose herself in his gaze.

  Maddie made gagging noises. “You guys are bordering on gross, you know that?”

  Nora tore herself away from Sawyer. “You should dance with someone, Maddie. Did you ever talk to Agler after Halloween?”

  Maddie clenched her jaw. “You could say that.”

  “Damn it,” said Sawyer.

  “I didn’t think you wanted me to talk to him,” said Maddie.

  “No, sorry,” said Sawyer. “I realized that I forgot to bring the present I have for Nora.”

  “Present?” said Nora, grinning at him. “You didn’t have to get me anything.”

  “I know.” He stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “But I wanted to.”

  “Seriously, get a tent,” muttered Maddie.

  “What’s with you?” said Nora. “I thought you were okay with Sawyer and I being affectionate.”

  “I’ve got to run and get it, okay?” said Sawyer, giving her a quick peck on the cheek.

  “What?” said Nora. “You’re leaving?”

  “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said.

  She pulled him close and kissed him full on the lips. “Don’t be gone long.”

  His arms came around her, and he kissed her again. Longer this time. Deeper.

  “I’ll miss you,” Nora whispered.

  “I’ll be right back.” He kissed her again.

  Sawyer backed away, still holding her hand.

  They both held on until Sawyer was too far away. Reluctantly, they let go, letting their fingers slide slowly apart.

  “The question is,” said Maddie, “what’s up with you two?”

  Nora blushed.

  * * *

  Sawyer strode through the fields toward the tweens and rebels enclave, feeling really happy. He thought this might be the happiest he’d been in his entire life. Happier than the first time he’d kissed Nora. Well, the first time he’d kissed her, it had been awkward and strange, he remembered. It wasn’t until the kiss in Nimue’s castle that he really felt like Nora wanted him. That had been an amazing feeling. But right now, everything was so much deeper than that.

  He peered up at the moon in the sky. Even though the air was frigid, and the trees were bare bones against the stars, he felt more alive than he could even explain. He rubbed his hands together, his breath making clouds in the air as he walked.

  He passed the greenhouses. Saw the bridge over the stream in Helicon. But he couldn’t see farther than that. The cold air of night had come up quickly, trapping the moisture in the air into an icy mist. The fog clung to everything, making it harder to see farther than a few feet.

  His feet crunched over the grass, because it was covered in frost.

  He was coming up on the arch to the tweens and rebels enclave, when he saw Mack River striding over the bridge.

  He stopped. “Mack?”

  Mack was sick. Why was Mack walking around? Had Mack gotten better?


  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “So,” Maddie was saying, “then he acted like it never happened.”

  Nora was appalled. “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope,” said Maddie. “I saw him the other day, and I called him out on it, and he avoided it. Completely. He said he was sorry, but that saying sorry didn’t fix anything, and then he left.”

  Nora shook her head. “I never realized that Agler was such an asshole.”

  “Who?”

  Nora turned to see Roth standing behind her, a glass of punch in his hand. He was wearing a silk black shirt and black slacks. His eyes glowed darkly.

  “Oh, just something Maddie was talking about,” said Nora.

  “No,” said Maddie. “I can tell people if I want. Just because he wants to hide it doesn’t mean that I should hide it.”

  “Hide what?” said Roth.

  Maddie pointed. “You see that guy playing guitar?”

  “Agler Thorn, right?” said Roth.

  “He’s a dick,” she said.

  Roth shrugged. “Yeah, I always thought he looked like a dick.” To Nora, “Where’s Sawyer?”

  “Getting something from the tent,” said Nora. “He’ll be right back.”

  “Well, in that case,” said Roth, turning to Maddie. “You want to dance?”

  Maddie heaved a huge sigh. “As usual, I’m the second choice. After Nora.”

  Roth arched an eyebrow. “I assure you, I didn’t mean it that way at all.” He offered her his arm. “Come on. You can tell me about all the dickery that Agler Thorn has engaged in. I’d be incredibly interested.”

  * * *

  “Hi there, Sawyer,” said Mack. “Good to see you again. It’s been since last week, right? You were so helpful, staying by my bedside while Roth was off trying to meet girls. Thanks.”

  “Uh… you’re welcome,” said Sawyer, looking hard at Mack. “Why are you out of your bed?” Mack didn’t look the least bit sick. When he’d gone to sit with Mack to give Roth a break, he’d expected Mack to be a bit robust. After all, Roth was always going on about Mack yelling at him. But Mack had been as weak and whispery as the other sick muses, leaving Sawyer to conclude that Roth had been exaggerating.