Chapter Five #2
“No. She didn’t care about that. I just gave him a horrifically gross, sexually related death and put it in her mind and her daughter’s. They can’t say his name anymore without visualizing him bleeding to death out of the stump of his dick.”
Ambera’s eyes widened. “Wow. That would do it.”
Wylda blinked. “Where was the rest of it?”
Elodie laughed. “Stuck in a knot hole.”
The ladies grinned. Ambera said, “That would definitely not be something she wanted to remember. Nice.”
They laughed, and Elodie looked down at her very boring clothing. “This won’t do. Let’s see if I remember how to do this.”
She held her hands out, and shadows wrapped around her. She copied a design she had seen in a magazine, and then she let her power relax and settle inside her body again. “There. How did I do?”
Delphine stared. “Wow. I didn’t know you had a figure like that.”
“It doesn’t get out much.” Elodie smiled. She was dressed in dark blue silk that was pleated and wrapped in layers that moved when she did. It was easy to wear and made it easy to conceal her ears. No one was looking at her head.
“Wow. That’s... lovely.” Ambera stared.
“It flares when I spin.”
Delphine laughed. “Can you hold it?”
“It is the fabric. This is the shape, made of the material of the ugly outfit. I like the boots.” She stuck her foot out and looked at her toes.
Wylda laughed. “Nice boots.”
Delphine chuckled. “Right. We are going to be late if we don’t leave now.”
They headed out, and to Wylda’s surprise, they walked down the street to a large building. They talked and laughed and then checked in on the main floor.
They got visitor badges and stepped into the elevator. They knew they were on camera and made sure that their pointy ears were all tucked away. It was only polite.
When they walked toward the boardroom, Wylda peeled away and walked down the hall. “Hiya, Orvis! I look all grown up.”
Orvis looked up and grinned, then paused and smiled again, warmly. “You look lovely, Wylda. Wait. Why can I say your name again?”
“Elodie is with us now. In the boardroom. So, the stars and light are together. We are good.”
“And powerful.”
“Yeah, that, too. Are you meeting us there?”
The dark elf came out of his office and looked at her with surprise in his gaze. “You are here.”
“I am with Delphine. She’s my buddy.”
He smiled slowly. “You are performing at my party?”
“Yes, but I may get my friends to help. They are good at dancing.” She smiled.
Orvis looked between the two of them. “Okay, this is weird. Stovos, why are you talking to her like she’s delayed in understanding?”
He blinked and stood straight. “Her speech patterns.”
Wylda smiled. “I speak all the languages. Sorting them to reply takes time.”
He switched to elvish. “You are serious? You can speak all the languages?”
She replied in elvish. “I can. I can also speak in all the languages of the realms. It is just difficult to sort the language because some words are different but the same in different places.”
He blinked. “Wow. Oh. That explains why you were singing in Japanese.”
She grinned. “I have to go to the meeting now.”
She turned and scampered back down the hall to the boardroom. She found the empty chair next to Elodie and sat in for the presentation. She waved at Nessa, and her boss blinked and grinned back.
They sat and listened to the presentation that explained the nature of the clinic and the financial need for financing and equipment.
When the participants were standing, some had left for other meetings, and a few were making arrangements to go to lunch. Nessa had hugged Wylda, and she got the notice, “You can go in late today. Sarah is willing to pitch in.”
“Are you sure? I can head there right now.”
Nessa grinned and glanced behind Wylda. “I am sure.”
Wylda turned and saw a man from the Asian investor contingent who was going to be providing funds, with the caveat that Nessa treat some of their people on their soil.
The man looked at Wylda with intensity. “You look different.”
The voice was extremely familiar. “Oh. Hello, Lord Rez. You look... different.”
He looked her over. “You are stronger.”
“That happens as people get older.”
“You aren’t yet thirty.”
“No, but it has been an eventful few years.” She smiled ruefully.
He focused on her face. “You are well?”
“I am. I am with those who fell with me and now am complete.”
“I need to speak with you privately.”
She looked around and said, “Unlikely. Oh, the spell worked until today, by the way.”
He smiled. “I know. I regret the means of application.”
Wylda blinked slowly. “Oh. That. It worked.”
“I was unaware of your inexperience. Your movements on stage created a certain image.”
“Yup. That’s the idea.”
“I went too fast.”
“I didn’t have a speed camera on you.”
“I had too much to drink.”
“That is likely true.” She felt her cheeks pink.
“I wish to apologize.”
Another woman from the briefing came up. Wylda remembered her. “Stiila. Hello.”
Stiila smiled. “Have we met?”
“It was a few years ago. Wylda.” She extended her hand to Stiila and was engulfed in a hug instead.
The whisper in her ear, “I remember you,” made her smile.
Stiila leaned back and said, “You are looking pretty nice. Do you live in town?”
“I live where my car is. Delphine has opened her house to me.”
Stiila paused. “What?”
“I am what is called an unhoused person. Every time I got a place to myself, it was under attack. I stopped having safe places. Oddly enough, I feel safe at Delphine’s.”
Lord Rez frowned. “What do you mean you have no home?”
“Never had the need for one. Well, not for the last two years. They were looking for me and occasionally finding me.”
Stiila muttered, “You could have found a shelter.”
“I couldn’t get a job with a shelter address. I tried. I had to open a post office box and use the street address to get through the AI filters when I applied.”
“Oh.”
Lord Rez was bristling with outrage. “You have been on your own for the last two years?”
“Yes.” She smiled.
“I need to speak to you.”
She looked at Stiila. “Please excuse us for a moment.”
“Hey, he’s going to be my son-in-law one day.”
Lord Rez stiffened. “No, I will not. Wylda, a moment please.”
Wylda nodded, and he took her hand and led her out of the room to a nearby empty room.
“I did not know you were undefended.” Lord Rez looked at her and gripped her arms.
“Of course I was. Now I have Delphine to help me.” She smiled to gentle the fierce look in his eyes. “Congratulations on the engagement.”
“I am not engaged. She is a kijin like me, and it was a joke when she was born.” He looked embarrassed and said softly, “I would like to correct my first impression.”
“How so?”
“I would like to please you. I have learned much about women and how to please them. I will not hurt you again.” He stroked her shoulders and leaned in to kiss her.
She blinked as his lips stroked hers, and shivers started to move across her skin. Her form was trying to change to suit him.
She stared up at him when he backed away. The light pressure had been nice. Beyond nice. She had nearly shown him her other form, here in a building with her friends watching from across the hall.
“Um, this is a bit of a surprise.” She blinked at him.
He smiled. “I have thought about you every day and every night. I imagined you safe and happy. That was not the case?”
“Um, sometimes it was, and sometimes it wasn’t.”
He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I want nothing more than to whisk you away right now.”
“Not wise. Elodie and Delphine can follow me anywhere.”
“Yes. Their auras are impressive. What are you again?”
“A star, born to mages who tried to sell me to a warlock, then I ran away and ran for fifteen years. It’s how I met Stiila.”
“I met her when she married one of my ogres.” He smiled.
She smiled. “I like your horns.”
He shuddered, and his glamour rippled. “Don’t. I am on the edge of control with my other half already.”
Wylda cocked her head. “Your other half? You have two consciousnesses?”
He inclined his head. “I do. Do you still have wings when you wish?”
“I do.”
“Will you allow me to court you?”
She stared at him and remembered his features, his excitement, her pain, and his regret. “Why?”
“Because you are smart, you are sweet, and you didn’t attack me after our coupling. You simply got up while I was dazed and left.”
“Yeah, I should have thought that through. You live around a lot of ogres.”
He quirked his lips. “I sent them after you. You evaded them, and their embarrassment was extreme.”
“Oh. That makes sense now. I hid and got out of the country a few days later.”
His eyes widened. “You were still there?”
“Yup. So, I blessed the people who were hiding me, and they got me to the airport.”
“Blessed how?”
“Pregnancy where there had been none. I can force harmonious matches between magical races with ease. It is what the wild magic was designed to do.” She smiled. “What I was designed to do.”
He blinked and nodded. “The tengu and his wife.”
She looked at him in surprise. “Yes. How did you guess?”
“Tengu don’t have daughters. They did.”
She grinned. “Yes. Most of the blended ones end up as girls but with their father’s attributes.”
He smiled and stroked her neck. She leaned into his fingertips, and he looked pleased.
“I have to get back to my friends.”
“Why?”
“Because they are staring at us and are about to come in through the door, if not the glass. Could be either.” She smiled brightly.
“I am going to be at the party for Stovos. You will be there?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Will you save me a dance?”
Wylda stared at him. “You dance?”
“I do, and for you, I will.”
She grinned. “I look forward to it.”
He leaned down and kissed her softly.
Wylda whispered against his lips, “I prefer you with horns.”
He grinned. “Me, too, but this form lets me meet you where you are. When I heard about the warlocks coming after you, I was worried. Their elders have been chastised, and the perpetrators will recover in a decade or so.”