As for Myrtus Stopper, he had acquired a fortune, bought some gems, and set out to the south with a merchant caravan. Lucky man.
Then Laev had consulted with T’Blackthorn and the Elecampanes regarding the thefts and they agreed the issue was a camp matter and that the Holly guards would investigate. The first small box stolen had not turned up.
Jace accompanied Laev to his home and one of T’Hawthorn Residence’s workshops. He didn’t quite make a deal with Laev to handle his leather goods. Despite everything, he didn’t want to make a business of practicing a private joy.
Laev had shrugged, then scried to set Jace up with trial memberships at various clubs, a social one or two, and The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon.
Then Jace and the Fams—Zem, who’d flown in, and Lepid, who’d teleported there—got to tour the castle Residence and the seaside estate of a FirstFamily GreatLord.
* * *
Glyssa mulled over her words and made some hot cocoa with white mousse to take up to her sister.
She knocked on Enata’s door, stood as her sister checked mentally who was there, heard the refusal in Enata’s mind before she voiced it.
“I have hot cocoa, with white mousse and cocoa sprinkles just as you like!” Glyssa called.
Curiosity flowed from Enata through their bond and she opened the door to her sitting room, which appeared to have been recently redecorated.
“Nice,” she said.
Enata shrugged. “It had been more than a decade since I’d changed my rooms.”
Glyssa nodded.
“Where did you get the cocoa? It’s not accessible from any of the regular no-times until after Halloween and Samhain, the new year.”
“I took it from the ritual no-time.”
Enata’s eyes bugged a little.
“That’s not a good look for you,” Glyssa admonished, handed her sister the drink, pushed open the door, and went to a new wing chair of deep teal furrabeast leather. “I’ve learned that enjoying the moment is important. The hot cocoa drink option in the ritual no-time was completely full. So we should use some.”
“Not like it will go bad,” Enata said, then, “What do you want?”
Glyssa lifted her brows and Enata rolled her eyes and sighed. “Sorry for the rudeness,” she said, sounding anything but.
“I have a plan.”
“Of course you do.” Enata settled in a comfortchair that conformed to her shape, excellent for reading or watching vizes.
Sipping a little of her own cocoa, Glyssa said, “I think we should buy an appointment for you with the matchmaker, Saille T’Willow.”
Enata gasped. “Such expense.”
“You’re worth it. And you’re the only one without a HeartMate this generation,” Glyssa tried for matter-of-fact. “You deserve that from the rest of us.”
A mixture of feelings crossed Enata’s face. She swallowed. “You think?”
“Yes, I do, and I can make a good case to our parents.”
“The expense!”
“Gilt is not as important as happiness,” Glyssa said. “We all know that.”
“Ye-es.”
“And it isn’t as if the return won’t be worth it. The GreatLord will find you a husband, a partner, a helpmeet.” Stupid of Glyssa to think that so far her own HeartMate wasn’t quite at those points. “You’ll be happier, your work will show that. We aren’t meant to live alone.”
The small silence was only punctuated by tiny sipping noises. “You believe that,” Enata said.
“Yes, I do.”
“It’s easier to believe, I think, if you have a HeartMate.”
“Perhaps. And I think we need to put it in the Family charter held by the Licorice ResidenceLibrary that all individuals without HeartMates will be allowed an appointment with the T’Willow or D’Willow matchmaker, if they so choose.”
Enata was shaking her head. “It costs a lot.”
“Stop harping on that!” Glyssa said. “What is gilt for except to make us happy?”
“To further our research? To ensure the Family never is poor.”
Glyssa waved the comment aside. “I insist. T’Willow has a ninety-eight percentile success rate with matching people.”
“You insist?”
“Yes. And if necessary I will pay for your appointment myself!” Not that she really could without selling something.
More wide-eyed surprise from her sister. Glyssa leaned forward. “Just think, some man out there for whom you are perfect is as alone and as lonely as you.”
Enata smiled, looking years younger. “It’s . . . intriguing. By the way, there’s quite a lot of alcohol in this drink.”
“Yes, there is.”
“I think you should take some to Mother and Father,” Enata said. She set the tall mug on a coaster on the table and had her fat comfortchair tilting back, the panel for leg support unfolding, then lifting. “I would like to see T’Willow. T’Willow! For a husband for me!” She giggled. “How exciting.”
“Yes.”
“I do love you, you know, Glyssa.”
“I know. I love you, too.”
“Even when you’re being a flitch,” Enata said.
“Yes,” Glyssa answered. “I love you even when you’re being a flitch.”
Convincing her parents was a little tougher for Glyssa but not as difficult as she expected. Enata’s behavior that afternoon that had resulted in Glyssa being elevated to FirstLevel Librarian before she was quite ready for the honor had been a revelation for all of them.
Her mother and father had consulted the ResidenceLibrary for figures regarding appointments with matchmakers for Licorices without HeartMates and had come up with equally revealing numbers. Only one or two single Licorices had asked for appointments, and they had been given them, and mates found. Most unwed Licorices shriveled into bitter people—the Residence’s words.
That had shaken all three of them, too.
“We certainly have the gilt to provide Enata with this boon,” Glyssa’s father said.
“True,” D’Licorice said, frowning. “But I am sure that T’Willow is booked.”
“We’ve done a few favors for him and his,” T’Licorice said.
“We will call him tomorrow,” Glyssa’s mother said.
“Meanwhile, why don’t you and I retire to the HouseHeart to consider this matter more deeply?” her father suggested.
Her mother smiled. “That sounds wonderful. We’ll see you tomorrow, Glyssa.”
“Yes, Mother.” Glyssa hugged her mother tightly and kissed her cheek. “We’re doing the right thing.”
“I think so, too,” said Glyssa’s father, embracing her. “Good idea, Glyssa.”
“Thank you.”
“Later,” he said, then he whistled as he and her mother walked hand in hand to the tiny, secret elevator room that would take them to the HouseHeart.
Glyssa was left alone by herself in the mainspace. She hoped Jace was having a good time by himself, but for her own self, she wasn’t enjoying her solitude. She was lonely.
Then he and Lepid and Zem arrived and she prepared them the evening meal and they worked as they had in the camp. Later she and Jace satisfied each other, both on her bedsponge and the one in the guest suite.
Now that she was a FirstLevel Librarian and her fieldwork approved, Jace wanted to return immediately to camp.
She wasn’t quite ready. She wanted more time with her friends, to see a new exhibit at an art gallery. Glyssa wished just to enjoy the solitude of home, the comfort of her rooms.
When she lay awake after sex, stupid tears dribbled from her eyes. No, she and Jace weren’t nearly as close as her sister believed.
* * *
Enata’s appointment with Saille was in four days. The man had been booked, but had made time. Glyssa hadn’t been able to finesse the reason why they were being given preferential treatment from her parents.
And after the morning appointment came the afternoon wedding betwe
en Enata and her true love. Apparently, T’Willow had already known of a man who’d take one look at Enata and fall in love with her—Barton Clover. Barton was the security head for that extended clan and the Clover Family saw no reason for one of their own to wait for his happiness. Thus the quick wedding that had the Licorices reeling.
Thirty
Jace wanted to be anywhere but at the marriage ritual. The Clover Family was huge, and their joy at the wedding filled the great Temple.
The whole vast circle of people seemed to be nothing but couples, from young teens who were engaged, to oldsters who’d obviously spent most of their lives together. Well, there were the children, too, interspersed between the couples. More children than he’d ever seen at one time, including when he was one growing up in the village.
And Fams, too. Zem had been given permission to fly free. The other Fams, including more foxes than Jace expected, were confined to the edge of a quadrant.
Being linked together in the circle wasn’t like the large circles at camp. More of these people had greater than average Flair: the high priest and priestess; GrandLord Walker Clover and his wife who belonged to the FirstFamilies, as well as Laev T’Hawthorn. Camellia D’Hawthorn and Tiana Mugwort, who led the ritual, came from lower noble Families. There were also more noble Families than he’d ever seen gathered together, let alone been a part of.
Power throbbed through him in waves as he stood between Glyssa and her mother, nearly awed at the Flair cycling around the circle.
The whole atmosphere made him envious of the close bonds of the Families—the Licorices as well as the Clovers—and wary at how each person seemed to have a press of expectations on him or her to do certain things, fit into a Family slot.
Glyssa’s future had blown open, troubling Jace. Barton Clover was the head of security for that Family and had to live at Clover Compound. He wanted Enata with him. Maybe even wanted Glyssa’s sister to forego her heritage as D’Licorice and living in D’Licorice Residence.
Glyssa could actually become D’Licorice. He saw that her Family and the Clovers would accept her, and how she herself could grow into that status. That would be good for her. But not for him, and he was beginning to accept that she would be in his future. In fact, he couldn’t imagine a future without her.
Enata, the bride, spoke a little piece, thanking her Family, saying she loved them, including her new brother, her sister’s HeartMate.
Jace cringed. No, still not ready for that word. The ritual ended on a huge surge of joy that dizzied him and he shouted and could almost see the love aura around Barton and Enata. The circle was opened and he was finally outside of the circuit of Flair and more confused in his life.
Especially when folk treated him and Glyssa as a married couple.
She left his side for a few minutes and it was a relief until some Clover woman started asking about their marriage ritual and he choked on flatsweet crumbs.
Glyssa handed him a tube of alcoholic punch, made their excuses, and took him away from the main Temple area, through the circular corridor to a small room.
He blinked as he looked around. It was sort of like Glyssa, but different in a couple of basic aspects. A holo painting of the three friends was on the wall. All of them holding each other.
“Tiana Mugwort’s office?” he guessed.
“Yes,” Glyssa said. Thankfully she didn’t sit in the chair behind the small desk, or make him lie down on the chaise lounge. Instead she took his hand and sat on the lounge, upright, of course, and tugged on his hand so he’d join her. He sat next to her, his thigh touching hers.
She closed her eyes and a long sigh compressed her chest and he focused on her pretty breasts.
“What an event!” she said. “So many people!”
“Ah, nice.”
She laughed and her eyelids opened and she smiled. “I thought you’d be in your element.”
“Not really,” Jace said. “Hard to connect with so many strangers at one time, especially when they aren’t strangers to each other.”
“Yes.”
Silence fell between them, like it hadn’t since they’d come to Druida, like it hadn’t since they’d had that walk to the lake. And suddenly he missed the camp and the forest and the lake so much it was like a physical blow.
Glyssa studied his face with more of the compassion of a friend than the tenderness of a lover.
“They’re saying you could become D’Licorice in the future, if you wanted,” he said.
She shrugged.
“Do you want that?”
“I haven’t given it much thought,” she said. And though he was sure she told the truth, he figured she’d already come to a decision.
He took her hands, and stared into her lovely brown eyes flecked with green, and couldn’t find words.
More quiet between them and it hummed with questions Jace couldn’t nail down.
“What do you want, Jace?” she asked.
And his thoughts sorted out and he could let them out of his mouth. “I want to return to the camp.” He sucked in air. “Druida is interesting.” His lips twitched up. “Especially as seen with Laev T’Hawthorn, and experiencing it as almost a noble.”
He shook his head. “But I don’t want to live here. I don’t even want to live on this coast.”
“You love the camp.”
“I love that area,” he corrected.
Her brows arched and her fingers went limp in his. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Is that all you want?”
He squeezed her hands, his own voice came out rougher than he liked. “You’re pushing me to say what I want?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re pushing me to stay here?”
“I asked you first.” Her hands twisted in his.
“I want you to come back to the camp with me.”
She stopped trying to pull away and her smile bloomed. “All right.” She took a choppy breath. “But things have changed between us here, and I want that change to be seen by the camp.”
Her body might be vibrating, trembling, but he froze. “In what way?”
“We will be a couple. I want us to be seen as a couple. Not just convenient sex partners.”
Simple relief. He squeezed her hands again. “Agreed. We’re a couple.”
“You can stay with me, or we can use your tent now and then, but we are a couple.”
“Yes. The regular shuttle leaves day after tomorrow, on Midweek. I’m finished with my gifts for your Family and left them in the mainspace.” He smiled. “Though I don’t anticipate Enata seeing hers for a while.”
“We can go on Midweek,” she said.
His turn to close his eyes. “Thank you.” Then, “Your Family will miss you.”
“And I’ll miss them, and my friends even more. But my fieldwork isn’t done, nor is our story.”
More staring at each other. “My Family has accepted you,” she said.
He wasn’t sure and grunted. After a minute, he said, “They don’t seem to be bad.” They’d been nice to him since the hearing.
Her lips quirked. “No, they aren’t. Sometimes they aren’t easy to live with, but they aren’t bad people. We follow our own paths and standards, as do you.”
Standing, he drew her up. “Right. Now let’s go break the news we’re leaving Midweek. Easier in public with a big crowd.”
“I suppose so.”
* * *
A week passed in the camp and Glyssa’s relationship with Jace took on a certain pattern and rhythm. Jace slept and made love with her in her bedroom, the Fams slept in the sitting room or roamed outside. But her HeartMate kept his own tent. Both of them showered and ate with everyone else. They’d moved the furniture around to feel more comfortable and so they could work together on the journals and the story. They celebrated Mabon, the autumnal equinox, in the camp with the crew as a couple.
And with their news about Myrtus Stopper, how he’d profited from all the work that everyone did, Jace was
welcomed back into the campfire ranks and the smudge on his reputation disappeared.
Neither she and Jace nor the Elecampanes shared the information that Myrtus had claimed not to have stolen the original box or set the explosions.
When Jace wasn’t working with Glyssa, he was with those digging, with Flair and shovels and the two earthmovers, down toward where everyone believed the main entrance to be.
The Elecampanes had announced that no one who’d been in Lugh’s Spear showed any harm and they didn’t want to break up the camp for the winter yet. They’d do more research on the atmosphere in the spring, including getting opinions other than the Comosums’. Since no one had liked the ladies, the staff was willing to accept their findings as “mistaken.”
Everyone who’d wanted to leave the project was gone—and some folk had even reconsidered and bought shares.
Little by little Glyssa’s relationship with Jace expanded and deepened, with small revelations and vulnerabilities on both their sides. Progress, but not as quick as she wanted.
One night that held more than a hint of autumn chill, as they headed toward her tent, Glyssa felt a tickle on her mind from Camellia in Druida City, and gently pushed it away.
Because Jace’s breath was tickling Glyssa, too, as he nuzzled her neck. “Gotta have you, now.” His words were guttural and he took her hand and put it over his groin.
Her own core melted as she felt the strong length and thickness of him, the heat of him that had her breathing in pants.
She stroked him, her mind clouding until she only wanted him inside her, thrusting, riding her. Or . . . “And I want you, too. Me on top,” she whispered. “So I can tease us both.”
Only she could hear his rumbling groan, and it sent more liquid fire coursing through her.
They pushed through the spellshield, the door to the tent.
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