Chapter 10
The flare of magic around us ebbed, and the burlap sack hung empty in Vergis’s hand when we got where we were going, which was…
a gazebo on a lawn behind a large two-story house with a flat roof topped with solar panels.
It looked to be the only house for miles and miles, only tall trees and mountains in the distance.
“Home, sweet home,” Kinnek said as he walked down the gazebo steps, Vergis in his wake.
“Where are we?” I looked around.
The lawn the gazebo stood on wasn’t pristine; no manicured grass-scapes here.
Rather, there were wildflowers and moss and butterflies as well as bees zipping from one flower to the next.
A winding garden path led from the gazebo to the house, and Inkiri made me follow Kinnek and Vergis while he brought up the rear.
“Welcome to Canada,” Kinnek said. “More precisely, our home. Vergis’s daddy built that gazebo.”
“Huh,” I said, but there wasn’t any more time for talking, because the back door of the house flew open, and Fellisse took the stairs two at a time, then jogged toward us.
“You are back!” He gave us all a toothy smile before zeroing in on me. “And Rory is better, thank the ancestors!”
Fellisse was hugging me before I could so much as wave at him, but he was being pretty careful and pulled back quickly.
“Uhm, thanks. Good to see you too,” I told the big, oceanic bagu.
“It’s very good to see you indeed, Rory. You were right, then, Kinnek?” Fellisse asked before giving Inkiri a hug, rubbing cheeks with him.
“So it would seem. Muffin, go inside and make sure the bath is ready for Inkiri and his mate. I’m sure a bit of soaking would do them both good.”
Vergis rolled his eyes and mumbled something I didn’t catch.
“Kinnek’s bath is wonderful,” Fellisse told me and Inkiri. “There is a steam bath too. Human engineering fused with bagu sensibilities, Nokim calls it. He’s been taking notes and asking about the plumbing.”
Kinnek sighed. “Ah, the plumbing! It made Charlie grumble like you wouldn’t believe, but he’s proud. As well he should be.”
“It is very kind of you to open your home to us.” Inkiri dipped his head in Kinnek’s direction.
“Ach, it’s nothing.” Kinnek pushed his hair back behind his shoulder. “Not when I am so deeply in your mate’s debt.”
Fellisse tilted his head. “What?”
“Much to talk about,” Inkiri said.
Kinnek clapped his hands and beamed. “We should all soak together so we can talk and get to know each other better.”
My jaw dropped, but before I could ask for clarification on whether any swimsuits would be involved, all the bagua broke out in grunting agreement, and I was led toward the house and what would be my first public and naked soaking.
Lissir and Nokim were the next people to hug me, almost the moment we got into the house.
“That’s more than enough,” Lissir said as he pulled Nokim off me. “Have you no shame?”
Inkiri just clicked, relaxed and content.
“It’s not like it would matter much, seeing how Inki has marked him.” Nokim pointed at the necklace. “And even I with my poor sense of nose—I mean, my poor sense of smell—can smell they shared pleasure.”
Inkiri broke out in a growl-purr, sounding smug. I tried not to turn crimson.
We were in a large mudroom lined with metal shelves on one side. I spotted bagu shoes and coats, some looking warm enough for winter, some clearly just raincoats, snowshoes, and several pairs of skis. We really were out in nature, then. I wasn’t sure I liked that.
“My mate doesn’t want another,” Inkiri said. He definitely sounded smug. “He made sure everyone heard when he took my barb not an hour ago.” Well, weirdo-husband-who-liked-to-embarrass-me smug, but smug all the same.
Nokim huffed. “I didn’t even mean to join your senfesmen. I’m simply so happy that he saved my life all over again. I’m grateful.” His blue eyes focused on mine, then he grinned. “He also explained to me that banana bread is awesome, and Charles agrees, so that’s good.”
Lissir tilted his head. “I cannot argue with the quality of your banana bread.”
Lissir’s fiery eyes darted over me as if he wanted to make sure I was back to normal, but when I did the same to him, I noticed marks on his bluish gray skin.
“Hey, are you okay?” I pointed to a scab on his left hand, and he looked down and lifted his arm so the friendship bracelet on his wrist jingled.
“Yes, it’s nothing. Fellisse finally let me take the bandage off only this morning.”
I took a step toward him. “That happened in Esaka, right? I… Sorry. I ruined one of the new shirts you got me.”
Lissir reached for my hand, his brows arched. “You cannot be serious. Nokim took a bullet to the chest, and through your magic, you saved him from dying. Again. Yet, you are sorry about a shirt?”
“Was a nice shirt,” I mumbled.
The three bagua around me fell silent for a heartbeat, but then they all started clicking at me.
“We’re all soaking together, yes?” Lissir asked, and that seemed to be that.
“Yes,” Inkiri said. “Our stay with Donna, short though it was, has been interesting. Oh, Sadir, she suggested I make you some tea?”
I wondered whether tea would get me out of the communal soaking. I had a hunch that it wouldn’t.
“We can do tea later. Or some nice coffee, maybe.”
Nokim bounced on his feet. “I’ve been experimenting with toffee syrup. Is Donna well? We promised to help her with getting to Dublin.”
Inkiri nodded. “Yes. She asked for all of us to come visit.” My smug mate seemed to grow that much smugger. “I think Rory impressed her.”
Lissir put a hand on his hip. “He is very impressive for someone so small in stature.”
“Delicate,” Inkiri said.
I cleared my throat. Part of me wanted to change the subject, but then, wouldn’t a trophy mate be delicate? “Ink met Donna’s chicken. Hit it off right away.”
We headed deeper into the house, following Fellisse and Kinnek.
Nokim hummed. “I remember Donna’s chicken. It pecked Vergis in the foot.”
So the two of them had a history. That made sense.
The lintels and ceilings in the house were high enough that none of my guys had to duck or hunch over while they walked. It was pretty spacious too, with honey-colored wooden floorboards and white wallpaper.
Given that the ceiling height reminded me of the hotel in Esaka, the bare walls surprised me, but then we rounded a corner.
My mouth fell open. “Wow.”
“Charles said Kinnek did the walls,” Lissir said. “As well as all the other paintings in the house, of which there are many.”
I’d been impressed by the hotel, but this was, without a doubt, even more stunning.
The wallpaper’s white faded into the colors of Aer.
At the far end, I could see sunset pinks and purples, and three moons shimmering like pearls in the sky, but at this end, flowers bloomed and a silent river looked so realistic that I could almost hear its gurgling.
Nokim leaned over Lissir’s shoulder and pointed at a bird sitting on a tree branch, copper feathers splayed and beak open as if it were about to sing.
“Rory, do you recognize this one?”
I nodded and grinned back at him. “Kind tack bird? The phoenix thing from my brooch?”
He nodded. “Kintek, yes.”
Vergis poked his head around a corner ahead of us. “Can you move it, please, Princess? Kinnek wants to get in the water.”
“Yes! Finally a nice, quiet soak with all the sentenmen!” Nokim was bouncing with excitement, his eyes almost as wide as his grin.
“Getting naked with everyone, yay.” I tried not to sound too skeptical, but this was still very new. But my guys were okay, they were all here, and it was hard not to feel a bit gooey about that.
Inkiri was either oblivious or eager to get soaking as well, because he just followed the others, towing me along with him.
I turned my head when something in the mural caught my eye—a bagu, half-hidden by branches and leaves, with his back to the viewer, sitting on the soft grass not too far away from the kintek bird.
I wondered who he was. The light blue horns weren’t Kinnek’s. But then Inkiri put an arm around my shoulders, firmly grounding me in the here and now, and I looked away.
“Come on, sweet thing. Let’s soak with the others and celebrate that you’re back with us.”
Lissir hummed. “We are very glad about that, Rory. Everyone was waiting for you to wake.”
I blushed and didn’t say anything. If I’d spoken, all those tears would’ve spilled free, and I didn’t want to upset Inkiri by crying twice in one day.