Julius smiled broadly as he greeted them. “Hallie did say you were one to ignore society.”
Helen’s lips thinned at Julius’ words and she sighed. “Please forgive him. Julius has a habit of saying the wrong thing.”
“He’s right,” Sean said. “I do what makes my wives happy. If that means society gets it’s panties in a twist, so be it.”
“‘Panties in a twist’?” Hallie snickered. “Goodness, I like it.”
“He has some odd idioms,” Myna giggled.
“Now that we’re all here, we can have the feast,” Julian said.
Julian directed everyone to their places, and Sean was a little confused about how the table was divided. Julian sat at the head with Toivo Bloodheart to his left followed by his wife, Timithy, then Julius. Mageeyes sat to his right with Sean, Myna, and Hallie filling out that side. Sean would have thought the couple should sit together, but he didn’t question it.
Dinner turned out to be a seven-course affair. It left Sean nearly stuffed, even with the smaller portions and pauses between each course. The conversation at the table was mostly small talk, with discussion about how the snow had stopped again earlier that day. The other topics were anecdotes about Bloodheart’s previous attempts to catch Mageeyes’ attention and failing.
Timithy asked Sean a few questions about Forged Bonds and his inventions. Sean was happy to explain some of the devices and, when asked insightful questions, he was happy to expound on them. Sean was so engrossed with the conversations that he was only dimly aware of Hallie speaking softly with Myna.
“Sean,” Julius said, leaning forward at the end of dinner, “it’s clear that you’re an Outsider. I’m also fairly certain you’ve had a hand in our sister smiling. Both my brother and father will only say that an Agreement binds them. Is it possible to take this Agreement and hear the full story?”
“It’s balanced by your life,” Sean said. “I always caution people about taking it.”
“Hmm,” Timithy said, obviously thinking. “It’d take a Lord or similar to really enforce that Agreement on their own. Otherwise, you’d have to drag it to one of the Queens.”
Sean just looked at the two brothers with a patient expression.
“I wish to take it,” Helen said. “My husband has, and I know he’d feel better being able to speak with me about it.”
Sean bowed his head. “That I can fully understand.”
“I’ll do it,” Julius said. “If the others already have, I see no reason to hold back.”
Timithy looked pensive for a moment, then looked at Hallie. “Is the Agreement worth it, sister?”
Hallie wore an enigmatic smile, not replying.
“The silent treatment?” Timithy laughed. “You haven’t done that since I asked about your diary. I haven’t tried to find that in ages, either.”
Hallie’s smile became sharp. “I can stop you now, brother of mine.”
Timithy’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh ho, a challenge?”
“No. I will crush you if you dare enter my room.”
“Quite right,” Helen nodded. “You are much too old to try sneaking a peek at her diary now.”
“True,” Timithy chuckled. “Very well. I’ll take this Agreement.”
Sean exhaled slowly. “If you all want to. Ven, secure the room, please.”
Ven landed on the table. “It is being done.”
“A Messenger Fairy,” Timithy said, leaning forward. “Is that a crossbow?”
“Yes. We are part of his guard,” Ven said, turning to Timithy.
“Wait,” Julian said. “Are you driving our Fairies away?”
“We asked them politely on the condition that we’ll tell them if you call,” Ven said. “They haven’t taken the Agreement, so they are being removed.”
Julian blinked at Ven, then looked at Sean. “Intriguing, and a very good idea. You’ve done this before?”
“Every time I tell the story outside of my own home,” Sean replied. “Maybe we should get some extra drinks first. It takes a while. I’ll give you the full story now instead of the abridged one from earlier.”
“Word is sent,” Ven said before he flew to the rafters.
“First, the Agreement,” Sean said. “I, Sean MacDougal, offer…”
Chapter Twenty-four
Since the adamantine hadn’t come in yet from Fredrick, Sean was working on the bows again. He knew what he wanted them to do, but condensing that idea down into a rune was eluding him. If he could figure out the first step, he was sure he could add on to it.
“Okay, come on, Sean... what should you try next?” Muttering to himself, Sean rubbed at his face.
A knock on the door announced Glorina. “Sir? We’re about to start midday sparring.”
“Coming,” Sean exhaled.
“We can train without you if needed, sir,” Glorina said, misunderstanding his frustration.
“Huh? No, training you all is fine,” Sean told her as he got up. “The bows are just pissing me off still.”
“Oh, okay,” Glorina exhaled in relief. “None of us want to upset you.”
“Doubt you can,” Sean replied as they left the workshop. He stopped, not expecting everyone to be there, nor the extras. “Ladies, Nola, Hallie. I didn’t know we had guests.”
“Myna told me about your family sparring,” Hallie said. “She said it would be okay if I joined occasionally. I didn’t know she wasn’t here until I arrived a minute ago.”
“If it’sss a problem, I can go,” Nola said.
“Nola, you’re never a problem,” Sean told the Lesser Naga. “Hallie, Myna went to work on the new bathhouse with the others, but if you want to train with us, that’s fine. You and Nola will help give them challenges they aren’t used to.” Sean did feel a little bad for the cooks, as this was the only time they got to train. “Glorina, Mona, Lona, I’ll be sparring against you three the most, with Hallie and Nola cycling in between fights with the others.”
“Are we using Talents?” Quinna asked.
“Hallie would lose a lot, but Nola might be more capable than you suspect,” Sean said. “Let’s do a few rounds without them first. Then, we’ll see.”
“Sean, might I fight you first, without Talents?” Nola asked in Naga. “I also have word from my Lady.”
“Pair off. Glorina, I’ll fight you after I have a round with Nola.” Sean turned back to Nola and switched to her language, “I’m listening.”
Shifting to the farthest edge of the fighting, Nola raised her hands and coiled onto her tail. “She will likely speak with you on Nineday. The Lord will be summoning everyone to a party on Tenday— the summons will be going out today. She expects him to have something planned for the party.”
Sean attacked, feinting a strike with his left hand, before kicking with his right leg. “Okay. She expects him to go after me?”
Nola took the kick with a soft hiss, glad Sean was at least tempering his strength, if not his speed. “Yes. He has been on his side of the manor with Solanice and Carver for the last tenday, and we do not know what he is planning. She will do her best to find out, but you might be blind again.” She lashed out with her whole body. Circling him, she jabbed quickly.
Sean slipped the grapple, weaving through her coils and blocking the majority of her jabs. Lips thin as he had to focus on escaping her trap, Sean considered what he should do. Once he was free, he nodded. “Good attempt. Does she think I can provoke him?”
“Unlikely, but maybe. He has been unstable since Evan’s death.” Nola hissed as she threw herself at him— not to entrap, but to bull rush.
Sean avoided the attack and caught her around the middle. With a grunt, he pitched her away from the others. He followed up right away and had her arms tangled with one of his while the other went around her throat. “Give, or I’ll squeeze,” Sean told her, applying a bit of pressure.
Nola’s tail hit the ground three times and Sean let her go. “You are fast enough and strong enough to vex me,”
Nola told him with happiness in her voice. “I enjoy these moments.”
“She let you come spar so you could tell me without it being obvious?” Sean asked as they went back to the others.
“Yes, but I also wanted to spar. I was surprised to see Hallie Bloodheart, and more surprised to see her foot healed.”
Sean gave Nola a questioning look. “If you want to know, Nola, I can tell you if you take the Agreement.”
Nola’s tongue flickered for a moment, the long, forked appendage tasting the air. “After sparring?”
“Should be fine,” Sean said. “Now let’s be nice to the others and speak so they can understand us.”
“Underssstood.”
~*~*~
With sparring over, Sean trailed the others toward the bath, explaining his story to Nola. Nola’s eyes were wide and her tongue flickered more frequently, but otherwise, she seemed calm.
Sitting down on the bench to get his boots off, Sean was still talking when Nola pulled her simple dress over her head. Sean was a little shocked that Nola was mostly snake. There were no breasts or other human female parts that he could see.
Nola hissed in laughter. “I am not like your wives, Sean. I am Lesser Naga.”
“Sorry,” Sean was quick to apologize in her language. “I just knew Darragh and Misa, and it suddenly struck me upon seeing you without the dress.”
“Ah. They were intimate?” Nola asked.
“There were sounds from their room,” Sean said.
“Humans can stimulate us, but few would enjoy doing so,” Nola shrugged. “You were explaining about leaving Oakwood after the attack?”
“Sir, is everything okay?” Glorina asked as she handed her outfit to Prita.
“Yeah, fine,” Sean said quickly.
“He wasss asssking about how different I am,” Nola explained with hissing laughter. “He expected boobsss.”
“What?! No!” Sean said, his cheeks heating.
The staff began to laugh, and Sean covered his face.
Hallie leaned over to Tiska and whispered, “You can all laugh at him without repercussions?”
“We are family to him, even if we are staff,” Tiska replied, not bothering to whisper. “He doesn’t mind, and actually, he encourages us.”
“I do,” Sean said as he lowered his hands. “Hmm... ladies, can I enlist your help?”
A dozen sets of eager eyes all focused on him as he stood up. “Hang on,” he said quickly. “Not for me. It strikes me that we wash each other’s backs, and Nola has a very long back. She’d fit under all of the showers at once.”
Quinna was the first to understand. “I’ll help, sir, if Nola is willing to let us help her.”
Nola’s tongue flickered as Sean stripped off his shirt. “All of you will wasssh me?”
“It’s what we do,” Prita smiled.
“Didn’t you bathe last time you sparred?” Sean asked.
“No. I wasss called back before the bathing,” Nola said. “I haven’t usssed one of thessse before.”
“She’ll fit in the middle of the tub with us, too,” Glorina said. “The middle is normally wide open since we all sit to use the jets.”
“True, and it’s nice, warm water, too,” Sean nodded as he dropped his pants. “What do you say, Nola?
Blinking, tongue flickering, Nola nodded slowly. “I am intrigued. But pleassse, be gentle with my ssscalesss.”
Handing his clothes to Prita, Sean went to the first shower. “Okay, let’s get the temperature you want first, then I’ll get them all turned on.”
Hallie watched Sean and the others, a little lost. A noble from birth, her family was a little odd in their acceptance of the Messenger Fairies. When she heard Sean’s family did the same, she was happy that he was accepting. Now, though, she was trying to understand him. His view on staff being family and his willingness to help Nola fit in was a little harder to wrap her head around.
Tiska glanced at Hallie and grinned. Her words were a bare whisper, “Rethinking? Myna told us what you told her.”
Hallie’s head whipped around to stare at Tiska. “She did?”
“They are very selective and we will guard him vigorously,” Tiska said softly, but not unkindly. “He is too far away and has the showers to hear over, so he doesn’t know yet. He can be stone dense about women. Myna told us all about it, and we’ve seen it ourselves.”
Hallie blinked, knocked mentally off-balance by a maid being so forthright with her. “Oh.”
“Why?” Tiska asked softly, watching Sean as he started to turn on the other showers now that Nola had approved of the first.
Hallie swallowed. “Why do you?” she challenged back.
“Because he is our god,” Tiska said simply before she went to wash Nola.
Standing there for a few moments longer, Hallie watched the others all happily grab soap to clean Nola. She was lost in thought and questioning her idea of trying to get Sean married into her family.
“Hallie, do you want to help?” Sean asked with a grin from his spot in the middle of the soap party.
Blinking slowly, Hallie was moving before she realized she was. There was a smile on her face as she approached. She exhaled slowly as she set aside the questions to enjoy the moment.
~*~*~
Sean grinned as Nola slipped into the tub, keeping just her head out of the water. “Well?”
“I am in luxury...” Nola murmured as she let the hot water soak her. “I think my family would fight to experience this.”
“No fighting needed,” Sean laughed. “Just relax. We’ll all be joining you shortly.”
“Yesss,” Nola sighed as she closed her eyes.
“Sir, will you get my back?” Glorina asked, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Sure.”
As he finished washing Glorina, Mona asked him to get her back, so he turned to do that. Minutes went by and Sean laughed after he finished Prita’s. The staff had asked him one by one, and he had just kept going until they were all done. He had missed Hallie’s back being washed by Tiska and the disappointment on Hallie’s face at that.
“All done,” Sean laughed.
“I’ll get yours,” Prita grinned.
“Fine,” Sean said, turning his back to her.
When he was finally done being scrubbed, Sean rinsed off and headed for the tub. He felt a little melancholic that none of his wives were present, but he was happy that the others had all had their time, too. Seeing Hallie and Nola in the tub was a little odd to him, but he took it in stride.
When he reached the bath, he was about to climb in when he froze. Nola was coiled into a twisted shape— she covered a number of the floor jets, which let him make out her shape. His eyes shot open as his brain finally gave him the final piece he needed for the bows.
“Sir?” Tiska asked.
“I know what I need,” he said, looking up at her. “Thank you, Nola!” He bolted for the towels, quickly drying off. “I need to go. The idea is there. It’ll work now!”
None of the staff spoke up, but both Nola and Hallie were confused as he quickly dressed and rushed out.
“Did I upssset him?” Nola asked.
“No,” Glorina giggled. “He’s been struggling with an enchantment. I think you just gave him inspiration.”
“How?” Nola asked.
“He was looking at your body,” Rumia said as she also did so. “You’re in a figure eight. I don’t know why that’s important to him, though.”
“It would be on its side from where he was,” Rosa said slowly.
“I am glad to have been helpful, even if I do not underssstand it,” Nola said.
“More helpful than I was,” Hallie sighed. “This bath is amazing. I’ve used it twice now, and I want to use it all the time.”
“We bathe twice a day,” Lona grinned. “Before work and after sparring.”
“Twice a day?” Nola asked with a wistful sigh. “I am jealousss.”
“Me, too,” Hallie ag
reed with a soft sigh as she leaned back against the water jets.
Chapter Twenty-five
Leaving his workshop with both bows in hand, Sean was grinning. “Sorry for the delay.”
“Our bows? You finished them?” Aria asked.
“I’ve gotten the first big step done. I bet I can tweak them to be better in time.”
Noble Solutions Page 22
