Valgar
He put it off with inspections of the castle and the grounds, but two days later, Mar stopped him before he’d have abandoned the table where all three of them were breaking their fast together.
And yet, his lady would not allow him to shirk his duties for long. What he hadn’t expected was to have her confront him in front of Quincy.
It should not have surprised him, given that he’d experienced their exchange the previous night from both sides, but it was always a wonder to witness Mar’s gift at work.
***
AND IT WAS, IT COULD be nothing else with Mar in charge of organising the outing.
She seemed to have charmed both Quincy and his pets, who went along for the ride, enthusiastic like puppies but easily constrained by their master with a single word and sometimes even a look. Was that magic? Valgar wondered, watching his omegas laugh together.
Quincy’s long dark hair had come loose from the leather band he used to keep it back and Mar reached out and touched it with an ungloved hand, the pleasure of the texture echoing through the wide-open bond.
A moment later, he sensed Quincy’s reluctant joy, something almost close to embarrassment that made Valgar look at his face.
He was flushed, which could easily be the effect of the cold on his pale skin, but...
His omega raised his eyes across the outcrop where they had sat to picnic and Valgar realised he was smiling. How could he do otherwise when their happiness was flooding him? He concentrated on Quincy now, trying to push the emotion through the tentative connection between them.
At first, the omega startled, pulling back. Then he exhaled and something loosened; nothing like the way Mar was shining at him, but a window opening, a tentative welcome.
He wanted to reach out, to hold, to— He swallowed thickly, both disconcerted and apologetic. He had not touched Quincy in a sexual manner since they had bonded, and he did not intend to.
But it had not occurred to him until this very moment that he wanted it at all.
Mar’s amusement made him turn to her. She raised her eyebrows, plush lips curved. Valgar licked his lips and made himself turn to his second omega. “You needn’t fear—”
“You—”
They both stopped speaking, and Quincy surprised him by glancing at Mar for help. She took his hand and squeezed, nodding. “But I... I don’t want to hurt you,” Quincy said to her, low enough it was a struggle for Valgar to catch over the wind.
“Are you here to take something from me?” she asked, soft but brutal.
“No! Of course not.” He snorted. “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
She let him go, lifting her chin. “Well, then, remember anything you choose to please yourself will please me too.”
For a moment, Valgar didn’t understand her, and then he saw it, as obvious as the pristine snow covering the dark peaks. Quincy’s tentative hope, echoed at once by Mar’s implacable confidence, and in answer... In answer because they could sense each other through him.
His surprise alerted them both: Quincy’s look wary, Mar’s apologetic.
“It was not my secret to tell,” she explained, and she was sorry to have wrong-footed him, but not to have done it.
For the first time, it occurred to him that adding a third person to their relationship wouldn’t just cost them something, but him as well.
It was nearly a relief.