SFC Book III – Chapter Four – Creation
The bell dinged on the door of Excellent Inventory Unlimited.
The cousins were there—Flip, Flap, and Flop as well as Earl, who closed one eye to stare at Settie. “Uh oh. There goes the neighborhood. Softie!”
Gundrik Softgrumble, better known as Softie, slammed his hand on the counter. “Bugger me blue! And I thought today was going to be rather festive, the first snow, a quiet day, a little Sin Gambit after lunch. But no. Sister!”
“I know!” a voice came from the back. “Just send them in. And don’t disturb us!”
Softie gave Gray an ugly look. “You know, lover boy, you give me an awful ache, and I haven’t seen one shekel from you. Not one. Can’t run a business if the customers don’t pay.”
“Nothing for me?” Settie asked.
“My sister’s nemesis? No. Don’t want one coin from you. It’d be cursed. Like you are.”
“But aren’t we all?” Settie said.
Settie grabbed Gray and pulled him through the shop, behind the counter, and into Emerilia Stone’s workshop.
Softie’s loud voice followed her. “No! We’re not all cursed!”
“I might be,” Earl said, sounding alarmingly serious. “Maybe my curse is that I don’t know I’m cursed.”
“Earl, if anything, you’re my curse.”
That made all the cousins laugh.
Gray couldn’t ask what Sin Gambit was because he was seeing staring at the vast cleavage of Emerilia Stone—she had been naked for some reason, but now, she was wearing a rope that she’d only just cinched closed. As dwarf, she aged differently—not that Gray understood how that worked, she appeared to be a middle-aged woman, beautiful and comfortable, with inky black hair except for a tuft of white above her forehead. Her eyes were sparkling brown, but no, he wasn’t looking at her eyes. He was looking at the soft, smooth pale skin of her chest.
And she caught him. “Well, now, it’s been a long time since a man look at me like that. And the temptation is there. Vast temptation. But no.”
Before Gray could stop himself, he was looking at the wide little woman’s core, a pretty spinning ball of purple light, sometimes, red, sometimes blue. She was getting mana.
“No,” she said again, her eyes on his. “Oh, Grayson Fade, what am I going to do with you?”
Her core brightened. All around them, the energy in the air grew more intense.
Because Settie was feeling lust, and her core was drawing in the magic in waves.
Gray remembered what had happened the last time the three of them were together in that room—the kissing, Gray had been naked, branded, and then Settie had grabbed his cock, stroked it, and they all had come dangerously close to bonding. Or maybe just orgasming all together. It had been arousing beyond words.
Settie swept off her hat and mask and set them on a table.
“Not there,” the Widow Stone growled. “There’s a coat rack.”
The captain cleared her throat. “Yes, of course.” She hung up her things, including her coat as well as Gray’s.
She spun. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? I didn’t come here to flirt—”
“Such disappointment will be hard to bear, Captain, but I will endeavor to soldier on without watching you slobber over the boy. Shame on you. He’s a thousand years too young for you.”
“But too young for you, Emerilia,” the captain sniffed. “And after what I tell you, I might have to pull you off him. Or maybe I’d like watching you fuck him silly. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a threesome…like that. With a man. But let’s get him on the table before we go into it.”
Gray took off his uniform jacket and set it aside. He was in his shirt, pants, and boots. “Should I strip? Or would you two like that too much?”
Both women exploded with indignation.
Settie was far louder than the dwarven woman. “I’ll have you know that my interest in you has been, and will always be, professional. You and I will never cavort in such a fashion.”
Emerilia sighed. “Yes, yes, yes, so much lust and love in the air. Let’s not flirt if we can help it. Not sure we can. No need to strip. Take off your boots and shirt. I’ll need to see your brands. Godsblood, I never thought my life would be as interesting as it is. Let’s get to it.”
Gray took off his shirt and got on the table in the center of the room. A fire burned actual wood in a little fireplace off to the side. It smelled like incense and oils, such a comfortable smell, but what really soothed him was all the flavors of mana, drifting like a comfortable sweet-smelling smoke. The Widow Stone enchanted items for a living, working with mana, fixing things, and helping people. She didn’t seem to mind dealing with poached mana, which could get her and brother killed if the Watchfire families found out. Only licensed kill squads could collect the magic from the demons in Old Town.
Emerilia touched his chest where his brand was. She closed her eyes. He felt her core reach out to his. “Okay, captain. I am surprised to see you two again, on this day, and so soon after Soulshred Week, and the work I did on your Quelling friend. Can’t go a day without seeing me, Miss Sevanya?”
“Captain,” Settie said stiffly. “It’s Captain Sevanya. You will address me as such, Emerilia.”
“You call me by my first name? I want the same. What does Gray call you? Oh, yes, Settie. I doubt that is your real name.”
“It’s not,” the captain said.
“Ironic that the fates keep bringing us together. I’d say it was the will of the gods, but they’re dead. Well, most are dead anyway.” the Widow stopped talking.
In the silence, Settie did something unexpected. She caressed Gray’s hair, her fingers gentle, as they petted him.
Gray was suddenly so relaxed. Being with the two women together felt oddly familiar and comfortable.
“I don’t believe it,” the Widow breathed. “Not just bonded. Not just the fourteen resonances in his vast core. An intermingling.”
“Precisely,” the captain said. “He bonded with the Quelling elf you brought back.”
Amaranthis Tal’Vessra,” the Widow whispered. “Her brands did nothing but hurt her. It was sad, her life and her death, very sad. Why is there such despair in the world, Settie?”
“I don’t know, Emerilia,” the captain said in a ragged voice. “Maybe it’s because all the gods are dead.”
“Not all.” Emerilia’s hands were soft on his chest as they moved toward his belly. And the captain continued to stroke his head. “I thought he could handle multiple bonds. It seems I was right.”
“He has access to both Rynnanatha’s and Amaranthis’s spells, and from the bond, the two women are also as gifted with each other’s abilities. This…this…this can’t be.”
“Oh really?” Emerilia said. “It can’t be? Just because something is new doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist. Why did you bring him here? And why not bring his partners for me to look at their cores?”
“I…it was…” Settie didn’t have an answer. Her voice turned harsh. “Is he going to be okay? Is this going to break something in him? Or the two girls. It’s important. I have to know.”
The Widow chuckled, “Because you don’t want your tools breaking. I understand. But that’s not all. You want to know if he can do more than two, and if, with a third, it might bind them all more, giving each other powers beyond imagination. And what if you bonded with him, Settie? Would he get all of your many skills? And would you get his? It would be a force beyond what the world has seen since Akazel the Bound, but even then, he and his seven wives didn’t share spells. Who knows about this?”
“No one,” Settie said. “I’m trusting you, Emerilia.”
She stepped back, and yet, she kept one hand on Gray’s belly. Being touched like that, by these two powerful women, was so comforting. The energy in the room was different, more motherly than sexual.
“Trust.” Emerilia’s laugh was sharp. “Trust. Us trusting one another. After our history together. With you being who you are.”
The dwarven woman stopped talking.
Gray opened his eyes to look at her face.
Emerilia was staring at Settie. “You know, Settie, I do trust you. I know what kind of creature you are. And I know you want forgiveness, are desperate for it. I’m not sure I can ever really forgive you, but your greatest sins weren’t against me, were they?”
It took forever for the captain to respond. “No.” That word came out harshly.
The two women stared at each other.
Gray didn’t think that quiet was good. “What’s Sin’s Gambit?”
“It’s a game,” the Widow Stone said in a quiet voice. “My brother likes it. Three sets of tokens. The point of the game is to capture your opponent’s avatar token. It’s a game of strategy.”
Then Emerilia changed topics abruptly. “Kiss him. I want to see how his core reacts.”
“Me? Why don’t you kiss him?” Settie said rather viciously. “I did it last time.”
Gray laughed. “Ladies, ladies, don’t fight over me. I can kiss you both.”
The Widow squeezed his belly a little. “What your bonded say? Your bondeds. Your harem.”
“I think you need at least three women for a harem. I was kidding about the kissing.”
“But what would Rynn and Ames think of you being kissed?” the Widow asked.
Gray quoted Rynn. “Lust is more fun than envy. That’s what Rynn would say. I don’t know about Ames.”
“Please,” Settie said in a rough voice. “Please, don’t make me, Emerilia. There has to be another way. I can’t…my heart can’t…”
From her voice, it was clear the captain was close to breaking down.
“Because it’s not lust with him, is it? It’s love.” The Widow was speaking as gently as she could.
“It’s temptation,” Settie whispered. “I can’t…it wouldn’t...please.”
“I won’t make you, Settie.” The Widow trailed her fingers up his skin as she walked up toward his head, until she was touching his neck. “To think, today would be the day I would get my turn kissing Grayson Fade. If you don’t mind.”
Gray had to smile. “Why not? In a world where magic is tied to sex, kissing is bound to be part of the game.”
“Yes,” the Widow smiled, her eyes so bright. “Kissing is bound to be part of the game of binding and bonds. My core is already bound to my dead husband. This should be safe.”
“Should be?” Settie asked in a hiss, her whole demeanor had abruptly changed. Sure. because she didn’t want to appear weak in front of her enemy, and the Widow Stone was her enemy. She’d basically killed Emerilia’s husband during the Hunting.
The Testing. The Training. The Hunting. There were three parts to getting onto a kill squad. Gray and his squad were still in the Testing.
“Should be,” Emerilia affirmed. “Tell your wives I’m sorry.”
Gray felt his breath catch. Was he really going to kiss Emerilia right in front of Settie, who was frowning, though something was going on with her core. It was bright with golden mana.
It seemed so.