“There’s no need, Andrea.”
“Please, sir. I know I’ll not match the others in nearly anything, so please let me do the little things I can.” She kept her gaze down the entire time, her voice soft and sincere.
Sean sat back, “Okay, but this isn’t going to become a habit.”
“If that is your wish, sir,” Andrea said. Her smile was clear in her tone, even though her face was hidden from him.
~*~*~
Shaking his head, Sean sat down on the bench, one of the pipes he had been using to work out the enchantment beside him. He had been wondering why Chastity and Andrea had both been so intently focused on his every word for the last hour. Both of them were much further along than any of the smith’s kids were, aside from Ida, but Chastity was clearly better, having had more time to practice. Andrea was diligent and steadfast in learning, so she would catch up eventually. Sean had her keep a few ounces of copper, and asked her to spend some of her time Shaping it into different things throughout the day.
“Okay, now let’s get this damned enchantment to work,” Sean mumbled as he focused on the pipes.
Sean was entirely unaware of time passing by until Fiona touched his shoulder. “Sean, it’s time for dinner.”
Rubbing at his eyes, Sean sighed and stretched, “I know what I want, but I can’t get it to take.”
“You’ll get there, husband. We all have faith.”
“Thanks,” Sean smiled as he set aside his work and looked at Fiona. “You look wonderful.”
“You like it?” Fiona asked, stepping back and doing a slow twirl in her long-sleeved dress.
“It suits you,” Sean said. He stood up from the bench and captured her in his arms. “I can feel the bits of metal and leather in it. Good, I was a little worried.”
“All of our clothing is prepared to help defend us,” Fiona said.
“Let’s go eat, then go to the inn.” Taking her arm, he led them back to the house.
Andrea had made a fabulous chicken soup with fresh bread. Everyone ate their fill, leaving Andrea blushing with their praise. Omin and Onim helped polish off the last of it, earning chuckles from everyone else as they flew into the kettle to sop up the remnants with the last bits of bread.
“Who’s staying home?” Sean asked as he got up.
“I need to clean the kitchen,” Andrea said, “and then try to work on Shaping some more.”
“I’m going to work on my Shaping, too,” Chastity added.
“I’ll be staying behind to help them both,” Myna said.
“Okay,” Sean gave Myna a quick kiss and scritch between her ears. “We’ll be home later.”
Ida had asked them to wait a minute, and she came back wearing a dress after a couple of minutes. “What do you think?”
“It’s good. Different than Fiona’s, but the style suits you,” Sean said. “Showing a bit more than I would have thought you would.”
“Too much?”
“No, it works for you,” Ryann said before Sean could. “It hints, but it’s modest when it counts.”
“Agreed,” Sean added. “Shall we?”
They did not see many others as they walked down the street. Fiona stayed beside him while Ida walked a few steps ahead of them with Ryann.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, Fiona. When I did my best to stop them from healing after the attack, their bodies didn’t fight me. The trees fought me.”
“Because they are Bonded to you, and because what you were doing wouldn’t kill them, and was still in their best interest,” Fiona replied.
“Huh. Does that mean I could Shape your skin to cover the mithril?”
Fiona stopped dead and stared at him. “The Winter Queen did this herself... it should be impossible to change it… but…”
“Not sure if I can, but I can try if you want,” Sean said. “We can try a small section like your hand, so you don’t have to keep wearing gloves.”
Swallowing with unshed tears shining in her eyes, Fiona nodded. “Please.”
“You two okay?” Ryann asked, coming back to them when she noticed they had stopped.
“Yeah, give me a minute,” Sean said. “Give me your hand, Fiona,” he said softly. “I’ll need to bring strands of it over to start with.”
Hand trembling, she placed her gloved hand in his uncovered one. Feeling his energy rush into her body instead of her soul, her breath hitched when she felt her skin begin to move. Grabbing his shoulder, she stared at his face, which was creased in concentration.
Sean frowned as he felt her skin begin to cross over her mithril side, but it shifted into mithril instead of being skin. Brow furrowing, Sean focused on making Fiona happy and giving her back even a hint of what she had before. A wall of energy rushed up to block him. White and cold, it slammed into his and subsumed it.
Fiona’s teeth began to chatter when she felt the cold rise up inside her left side. “Oh, Morrigan... help me,” Fiona whispered softly as her teeth continued to chatter.
Sean’s eyes narrowed when he heard Fiona’s plea. No crusty old Elf bitch is going to stop me from making the woman I love happy, Sean vowed. He pushed with everything he had to do what he wanted, demanding the universe bend to his will. The wall of cold melted back as if his intent was a plasma cutter. The sheer energy behind the cold dwarfed him, but a tunnel opened for him through it.
Fiona gasped, feeling heat shoot through her, going from right to left. The heat vanished a few moments later, leaving her wrist and hand tingling.
Sean stepped back and promptly fell onto his ass. “Ugh, that was intense.”
Ida and Ryann were beside him a moment later. “Are you okay?” Ryann asked, kneeling beside him.
“Just pushed a bit harder than normal,” Sean said, getting back to his feet with their help. “Fiona?”
Fiona stood there, shaking as she looked at her gloved left hand. Swallowing hard, she shifted her gaze to him. “I’m not sure... but maybe.” Licking her lips nervously, she held her hand out to him. “Will you take it off for me?”
Sean smiled at her as he took her hand gently in his and pulled her glove off. Pristine pale skin shone in the lamp light. A couple of freckles became visible on the back of her hand when the glove came free.
“It worked,” Sean smiled, then almost immediately frowned, “I was only able to change the skin on your hand. The muscles, bones, tendons, and the rest are still mithril.”
“You changed it...” Fiona whispered, tears falling as she smiled broadly. “You forced the Queen’s Shame to retreat even a little.”
“Goodness,” Ida said in a hushed tone. “Even the most powerful in the high houses couldn’t do that.”
“Miraculous,” Ryann said in awe. “The Queen’s word isn’t immutable…”
Fiona lunged forward, grabbing Sean and kissing him hard. Taken by surprise, Sean was forced back a step into Ryann, who held him in place. Head swimming by the time the kiss ended, Sean held Fiona as she cried softly into his chest.
“We’re going to be very late if we don’t go,” Ida mentioned as she rubbed Fiona’s back.
“Yes, of course,” Fiona sniffed, stepping back and wiping at her eyes. “We should go see our friends.”
“May I?” Sean asked as he took her left hand in his right.
“Yes, dear husband,” Fiona smiled brightly, her eyes shining. “You may always lead me.”
“All of us,” Ryann said before moving ahead of them.
Fiona removed her other glove before they entered the inn; her sleeves came down far enough to hide where the mithril began above her wrist. Fiona was happy and animated as she spoke to their friends. The main topic around the table was speculation about how Fredrick and Eva were getting along.
Hours later, the evening came to an end and everyone went back home. Fiona walked hand in hand with Sean all the way back, marveling again at having her hand almost back to normal.
Chapter Twenty-five
Breakfast was just about do
ne when a Messenger Fairy appeared in the room. They landed by Ven, held a quick conversation, and flew off just as quickly.
“Sir, there is a mass of people waiting outside,” Ven explained to the questioning looks. “Word that a new type of kettle is going to be for sale has spread.”
“MacLenn moves quickly,” Fiona said. “Chastity, I’ll be with you today. It’s likely to be busy all day.”
“Thank you, Fiona,” Chastity said, pushing her empty bowl aside and getting to her feet. “I’ll go open the shop.”
“Hmm, I’ll work on the bathhouse,” Myna said. “Andrea, when you finish your early work, come over. We’ll skip sparring today so you can practice Shaping.”
“Yes, Myna. I’ll hurry as fast as I can.”
“I’m just going to stay here and work on the enchantments,” Sean said. “Ry, if you and Ida want to go help, you can.”
“That is acceptable. Venn, please let me know if that changes,” Ryann said.
“Of course.”
“Looks like we have our plans set for the day,” Sean chuckled, collecting kisses from each of his wives before they separated.
As he and Fiona made their way downstairs, he could hear the commotion coming from the front of the shop. Fiona touched his shoulder, making him pause, and stole another kiss.
“Thank you again, husband, for everything you did last night,” Fiona murmured with a smile before she left him in the hall.
“Thank you,” Sean said after her, thinking back on just how thankful she had been when they got home.
After a brief stop at the outhouse, Sean was ready to start trying to find a way to make things work. He sat down on the bench with the collection of pipes he was using as test cases.
“Here we go again,” Sean snorted and picked up the copper pipe. “I have a couple of ideas that haven’t worked... either find a way to produce water on demand, or to stop producing it when the pipe is too full.”
Sighing, he examined the pipe with his crafting version of Mage Sight. All the flaws were gone and the water production rune was ready to work as soon as he gave it energy. Picking up the next pipe, he compared it to the first. Everything was the same except the gem that had to be pressed for the enchantment to work on the second pipe.
What am I missing? Fucking hell, it feels like I’m trying to reinvent the wheel. Letting out a long-suffering breath, Sean tried to push aside his complaints. No… I will find a way to make the shut-off rune work.
When he picked up a new section of pipe, Sean quickly made it match his newest idea. He focused on the amber set inside the pipe, along with the rune he had made. He crafted it to represent the idea he wanted, and added a long tail to it. With that ready, he engraved the normal water summoning rune with the edge of it touching the tail of the other rune. He looked at it and nodded, making sure the valve was closed on the pipe. Pushing energy into the gem and water summoning rune, Sean watched and waited.
Water began to fill the pipe. When it submerged the gem, the energy inside it passed into the new rune, and the water stopped filling the pipe as that energy went down and touched the first rune.
“Okay, here’s the moment of truth,” Sean muttered as he opened the valve. The sound of water and his magic sense told him the pipe was losing water fast. The moment the water stopped touching the amber, the water summoning rune started working again, refilling the pipe while the valve stayed open. “Please, please, please,” Sean mumbled as he reclosed the valve and watched the water rise inside the pipe again. The moment the water submerged the amber again, it stopped being summoned.
“Fucking yes!” Sean laughed as he opened the valve again.
Sean played with it for a bit longer before trying it again with a second pipe, this time for hot water. After cycling through the test a few times, Sean set aside the pipes. Picking up a different copper pipe, he went to work, making simple wheel valves to use in place of the ball valves.
~*~*~
“Sean, it’s time for sparring,” Fiona said, coming into the bathroom.
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it, I’m so close,” Sean sighed as he stood up. “I think I’ll have it tomorrow.”
“Oh? What did you manage today?” Fiona asked as she helped him set aside the pipes.
“I found a way to stop water from being produced... an off switch, if you will,” Sean explained. “The problem is that I need the pipes to come down far enough for the knobs to work like I want. But if I do that, there’s a problem with the water not having enough pressure before the off switch gets tripped.”
Fiona’s brow furrowed, but Myna calling for them made her shake her head. “I’m sure you’ll have it tomorrow.”
“Yeah, let’s get our sparring in,” Sean said as he led Fiona out of the bathroom.
The next hour was hard on all of them as Myna ran them through different scenarios. They would have been bruised and sore if not for the magic that healed them. Instead of limping into the bathroom, they were in high spirits and discussing where they could improve for tomorrow.
“Unless we’re attacked by surprise again, I don’t think we’ll fail,” Ryann was telling Ida when the two of them headed for the showers. “Our clothing will turn most blades, though it still hurts some. Unless they land a lucky blow to someplace not covered, we’ll be fine.”
“I agree,” Ida nodded and reached out for the gem studded pipe to summon water, “and with the scouts, it’s unlikely we’ll be ambushed unless they can use Camo at least as well as Myna.”
“Which means we need to stay aware,” Myna reminded them as she went to prepare the tubs. “Everything we can do to keep us safe is good.”
“Can I help you with those, sir?” Andrea asked, suddenly kneeling in front of Sean.
“Andrea, I said it wasn’t going to be an every time thing,” Sean said softly.
“I know, sir,” Andrea said as she pulled the first boot from his foot. “It won’t be.”
Sean did not have the heart to stop her when she looked up at him. “Fine.”
When she stepped away from him, Sean pulled off his shirt and caught a whispered snippet between Chastity and Andrea, who were both by the wash tub.
“Lucky... I’d try to do that, but I’m not the maid and he’d stop me,” Chastity whispered.
“Please don’t be mad at me, Chas. It’s one of the few extra things I can do for him.”
“Not mad, just a little jealous of you... but you’ll make it up to me later,” Chastity giggled.
“Remember how he almost walked in on us?” Andrea giggled back.
“Chastity, the shower is open,” Myna said, breaking them up. “Come get my back, please.”
“Of course,” Chastity said, her hand lightly tapping Andrea on the hip.
Sean stared at the wall as he slowly stripped off the rest of his clothing. So I didn’t imagine it, then... fucking hell... and they both…? Shit. You said you’d stop being the idiot protagonist. If one of them makes a move, we’ll make sure they understand what it means and if the others don’t object, I guess they’ll be folded into the family. A half dozen wives… far from the largest harem ever, but good gods.
Handing off his clothes to Andrea, who smiled up at him, Sean gave her a nod and headed for the showers. Myna and Chastity stepped away from them, and Sean took his place with Fiona beside him.
“How long, do you think?” Sean asked softly enough that only Fiona and Myna might hear him.
“Soon, and yes, we’ve all agreed they are acceptable,” Fiona replied as she scrubbed his back. “Does it worry you?”
“Yes. At what point is it too much? I won’t be able to care for all of you if it gets too large.”
“We understand, and we will make sure it doesn’t. If you feel overwhelmed, let me know and I’ll make sure you are not made uncomfortable.”
Sean nodded and turned around, taking the soap from her. “Thank you, my dearest heart. Now, give me your back. How has yo
ur hand been?”
“Good, I have all feeling and range of movement with it. I’m still amazed that you could do it.”
“So am I, and if you want, I can try to expand on it. Up to the elbow, so you don’t have to be as worried? Maybe the foot and calf as well?”
Fiona inhaled sharply, “I would love that, Sean. I dearly would. However, Myna had a request for you, and I’d feel better waiting for you to listen to her first.”
“Okay.”
“Andrea, take this one,” Fiona said abruptly, rinsing off and stepping away, leaving Sean with soap in hand.
Forged Bonds (Binding Words Book 4) Page 25