“Just remember to relax,” Braden said. “You don’t want to keep your muscles all tense or it will all be pointless.”

  “Alrighty, gentlemen,” the old woman said as she came back into the room, “I have your room keys ready, here you go.”

  “Thank you, my lady,” Nayveth said as he accepted the bundle of keys she transferred into his hands. “Please, add the entire expenditure to the Kenefick account.”

  “Yes, of course!” The woman’s eyes went wide as she gave Nayveth a closer look. “If there’s anything else I can do to make your experience more comfortable, Mister Kenefick, please let me know.”

  “Yes, yes, thank you,” Nia’s brother said, and he gave the woman a friendly smile before he turned to distribute the keys amongst us.

  He handed me one, then one for Braden and Gawain, and the last one to Varleth and Almasy. When Nayveth stood empty handed, I realized he intended to pair up with me for whatever activity laid ahead.

  I eyed the water mage skeptically as he led us toward the door behind the podium with an air of familiarity, and as I followed him, we entered a hallway full of doors with big numbers painted on them in pink. I glanced down at the key in my hand, and I noticed the tag with the number two marked on it, so I held it up.

  “This one says two,” I informed Nia’s brother, and he smiled as he took it from my hand to unlock the second door.

  “Thanks,” he said, and he handed the key back to me as the door swung open. “After you.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see the other guys heading to their designated rooms without hesitation, and no one seemed worried about leaving me alone with my fiancée’s older brother, so I took a deep breath and stepped inside the mysterious room.

  This feels like a trap, Dio observed, which made me wonder how much he could sense through our bond while he was inside his crystal.

  The space was dimly lit by a gas lamp hung from an exposed beam on the ceiling, which illuminated two tall tables covered in white sheets and a slow trickling water fountain sculpture against the far wall. A shelf near the door held bottles full of mysterious liquids and creams, as well as towels and washcloths.

  “What do you think?” Nayveth chuckled as he watched me scan the room. “Any guesses so far?”

  “Nothing I care to voice out loud,” I murmured in a hesitant tone as I stepped around the tables to the far side of the room.

  “Hmm,” Nayveth mused as his sharp blue eyes danced with mischief. “A careful man. I like that.”

  Then my fiancée’s brother tugged off his jacket and laid it along a low bench I hadn’t noticed during my first inspection. I gave him a quizzical look, but when he started to remove his shirt, my eyes jumped to the ceiling and stayed locked there.

  “Uh, Nayveth,” I stammered nervously, “I’m not sure what you think is going to happen, but, uh… I love your sister.”

  “Relax, Gryff,” Nayveth replied with laughter in his voice. “Look away for a moment if it makes you uncomfortable, but I’ll be under the sheet shortly either way.”

  Suddenly, a knock sounded at the door, and a woman’s voice called through the portal. “Hello, are you ready for your massage?”

  “Massage?” I asked in disbelief. “That’s what this is?”

  “How many times do we need to say relax?” Nayveth chuckled, then he raised his voice to address the person on the other side of the door. “Just a moment longer, sorry!”

  I shook my head in bewilderment at where my mind had almost started to go, but then I turned my attention to pulling off my clothes. When I was completely undressed, I pulled back the sheet on the table, and then laid with my chest down on the cushioned surface. I covered myself with the sheet, and when I glanced over at Nia’s brother, he was in a similar position.

  Nayveth’s head was facing the same direction as mine, and he flashed me a smile before he called the masseuse in.

  “Now, Gryff,” he asked again, “are you ready?”

  “Yes, Nayveth,” I replied with a grin, “I think I am.”

  An old woman, different from the one who’d given us the keys, entered, and then closed the door behind her. I craned my head to watch her movements over my shoulder as she pulled a step stool from some hidden nook, and then she trotted over between the two tables where Nayveth and I were laying. She had the same wispy silver hair and similar features to the woman we’d first encountered, which made me wonder if they were related.

  “My name is Madam Evanora,” the woman said in a crackly voice. “Do I have your permission to begin?”

  “Yes, of course,” Nayveth confirmed, so Evanora moved her stool closer to his table.

  I watched curiously while the old woman slowly ascended the step stool until she stood over Nayveth’s exposed back. Then, as I stared in rapt fascination, Madam Evanora’s arms began to glow, and the muscles started to pulse until they bulged and the veins ran rigid lines down her skin. The tiny, frail old woman had bulked up to the point of resembling a wrestler, and she cracked her knuckles before she started to massage Nia’s brother.

  “That’s the spot,” he groaned in satisfaction as the muscular old lady dug into his shoulder muscles.

  “So, the masseuses are augmentors?” I asked.

  “They… sure… are,” he replied brokenly between Evanora’s manipulations. Judging from the water mage’s facial expressions, the sensations were quite intense, and I was starting to wonder if I would enjoy the experience myself.

  “Hmm.” I folded my arms across the edge of the table and placed my chin on the back of my hands. “I always thought augmentors were a super rare class of mages.”

  Madam Evanora stepped down from her stool and trotted over to the shelf with quick movements, but in the meantime, Nayveth was spared from the jarring rubs.

  “The Silver Lion is family owned,” Nia’s brother explained. “The family that runs it is rife with augmentors, and whenever they finish their time with the military, most of them wind up working here.”

  “It’s true,” Madam Evanora confirmed as she returned to the step stool with a jar of oil clutched in her hand. She climbed back up to Nayveth’s back and dribbled the liquid all over his exposed skin. “The Silver Lion has been in my family for generations.”

  Then she returned to her ministrations on my fiancée’s brother’s back, and he groaned and squeaked as the old woman dug into his body like a baker kneading bread.

  A few moments later, Madam Evanora scooted her stool over to my table, climbed up, and gave me a questioning look.

  “Do I have permission to begin?” she asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” I replied. I hid my hesitancy since I didn’t want Nayveth to think I was weak, but I wasn’t sure if I was going to like getting a massage. I would endure a lot of things in the name of Nia’s love, though, so in the end it didn’t matter.

  “So, tell me, Gryff,” Nayveth said in a casual tone as he rolled onto his side and supported his head in one hand, “what makes you think you deserve to marry my sister?”

  Madam Evanora ground her thumb into the back of my neck with the force of an iron hammer, and I gasped as she wiggled her digit into my muscles.

  “I, uh, you know,” I stammered out as I tried to speak between the bone grinding pulses, “well, I love… her more… than anything.”

  “More than the woman you’re already married to?” he countered with a coolly arched eyebrow. “You are married, are you not? To a woman named Freya?”

  “Yes, I mean no,” I argued, but then Madam Evanora dug into my ribs in such a way that all the air was expelled from my lungs in one big gasp. I rolled over and held up my hand to request the woman pause, and then I turned back to Nayveth and sighed. “What I mean is, yes, Freya is my wife, but no, it’s just different with Nia than it is with Freya. I love them both, equally and differently.”

  “How will I know you will put my sister first?” Nayveth countered. “You married this other woman before her, maybe you intend to have Nia serve as an underling to Freya.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” I scoffed. “Nia and Freya are the ones who made their own choices, we are all free individuals after all. Nia isn’t going to be an underling to anyone, and neither is Freya. They love each other just as much as they love me, so it just works out.”

  “The two women in your life get along and love each other? No jealousy or competition?” Nayveth shook his head with obvious doubt. “Highly unlikely given everything I know about women.”

  I resisted the urge to correct his number to seven as Arwyn, Layla, Cyra, Ashla, and Erin flashed across my mind, but I held my tongue.

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” I said, and I laid back down on my stomach to allow Madam Evanora to continue. “Everyone gets along, and they planned the whole wedding together. Maybe I’m just lucky like that.”

  Then the inhumanly strong old woman dug into my body with a renewed vengeance, and it was hard for me to get a single word out. Nayveth watched me with an expression of sick glee as I moaned and winced through the massage, but once it was over, I did notice a marked improvement in the flexibility of my muscles.

  Once Madam Evanora completed her task, she returned her supplies to their respective places, and then gave the two of us a small bow before she dipped out the door.

  Nayveth wrapped the sheet around his waist, crossed to the shelf, and then grabbed a couple of the towels stored there. When he tossed one over to me, I was surprised to find it slightly damp, and warm.

  “You’ll want to wipe the oil off,” he explained with a wry smile. “Otherwise, you’ll smell like an old lady all night.”

  “That bad, huh?” I laughed and used the gifted towel to wipe the oil and sweat off from my back. Then I pulled my clothes back on as discreetly as I could while Nia’s brother did the same.

  By the time we returned to the foyer, the rest of the guys were also emerging from their rooms, and the relaxed smiles and slow movements showed how much they’d each enjoyed the experience.

  “Thanks, Nayveth,” Gawain said as he passed by the ashen-haired water mage on his way out the door. “That was the most relaxing massage ever.”

  “Really?” I asked in an incredulous tone. “You enjoyed it?”

  Nayveth chuckled, and he leaned in to whisper conspiratorially with Gawain. “I made sure I got him Madam Evanora.”

  “Oh, Maker, that’s perfect,” Gawain snickered. “I bet he’ll have bruises for a week!”

  “What’s wrong with Madam Evanora?” Braden asked as we ducked out the door to the street outside.

  “She has no self-restraint,” Nayveth explained with an amused expression.

  “Yep, just what Gryff needed,” my roommate replied, and he clapped me heavily on the shoulder.

  “Not nice.” I gave them a stern look. “Maybe I’m sensitive, did you ever think of that?”

  “Oh, you’re definitely sensitive,” Varleth confirmed as he joined the group. “Why else do all the girls like you?”

  “I really don’t think you want anyone to answer that question,” Almasy said as he walked up behind the banisher. “Do the math, kid, and don’t make me say it.”

  “Alright, alright,” Varleth muttered as he held up his hands in surrender. “I didn’t even realize what I was walking into, thanks, Almasy.”

  “Any time, kid,” the pilot replied. “Any time.”

  “Since that’s settled,” Gawain interjected with a haughty air, “can we continue on with our itinerary?”

  The fire mage’s demeanor made me think he was trying to impress Nayveth, but I couldn’t say I was in a different boat myself since I wanted Nia’s brother to like me, so I gave my friend a pass on being a stuck-up ass for the moment.

  Almasy snorted. “Is this a bachelor party or a tour guide?”

  “We’re supposed to meet the others at the Gargoyle soon,” Braden pointed out.

  “Then let’s get going,” Nayveth declared in a heroic tone. “Everyone, to the carriage!”

  I glanced around at the empty street and then shot the water mage a puzzled look. “What carriage?”

  Just then, as if by magic, the carriage we’d ridden up to the Silver Lion pulled out of a nearby alley. The driver was a short man in a black waistcoat and a round, flat brimmed hat, and he clipped the reins against the horses’ hindquarters and made a clucking sound to urge the pair of steeds forward.

  The carriage had barely come to a stop a few feet away from where Nayveth waited in the middle of the road before he yanked open the coach door and beckoned us in. I clambered inside quickly, and I slid across the bench to make room for my friends. Gawain, Varleth, Braden, and Almasy climbed in behind me, and everyone scooted around in an effort to make room, but it was a cramped fit. Then Nayveth came in, and he squeezed in beside me and the door.

  With our forced close proximity, the back of his head was practically smacking me in the face, so I couldn’t help but notice how similar his ears were to Nia’s, but I found myself more comfortable with her brother than I would have expected. Nayveth seemed really cool, actually, and I was looking forward to getting to know him more.

  I definitely needed to know more about his ability to talk to animals. When I’d first learned about Nayveth once Nia had opened up about her family, it sounded like he was somewhat of a pseudo summoner, so I was really curious to see how his magic worked.

  A short while later, we stopped in front of a tavern named the Gargoyle’s Goblet, and everyone climbed out of the tightly cramped carriage with grateful sighs and deep inhales of fresh air.

  Maelor, Orenn, and Mur were waiting at a table inside, and I shook my head in disbelief that my friends had talked the bar owner into allowing a talking moose into his establishment. Although, the owner would probably get a lot more business if people knew the famous talking moose from Vay was there.

  The moose gets to have fun, but not me? Dio sounded very upset, and I could tell his patience was wearing terribly thin. I’d kept him in his crystal the entire time, since I wasn’t entirely sure how Nia’s brother would react to my familiar, but he had definitely earned a break.

  So, I grabbed my crystal and tossed it to the tavern floor as discreetly as I could, but fortunately the tavern was so crowded no one noticed the small poof of smoke or the brief flash of light. Once my kitten-sized monster stood on the wooden floor in front of me, I picked him up and stashed him in his customary roost.

  “About damn time ye got here,” Maelor greeted in a grumpy voice. “I been waiting here with this Orenn kid, and a moose. It’s not right, Gryff, it’s not right.”

  “To be fair,” I argued as I sat down next to him, “I didn’t even know I was supposed to be here until a short while ago. Did you know these assholes put a bag over my head?”

  “Yeah, they told me they wanted to do that,” Maelor laughed. “I bet you were freaking out. Surprised you didn’t try to kill ‘em, if I’m being honest.”

  “Hey, Gryff,” Orenn greeted with an eager wave. “Congratulations on getting married again! Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Absolutely,” I replied with a grin. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I finally have someone to talk to,” Mur exclaimed in the language of the clans. “Your friends seem nice, but they just kind of look at me when I talk.”

  “They don’t understand your language, Mur,” I explained gently in the shapeshifter’s dialect. “Give it some time, and we’ll all be speaking the same tongue.”

  “I want to learn Mistral,” the moose kid informed me. “Ashla sounds so pretty when she talks, the words are like music, but I never know what she is saying.”

  “So, Ashla joined the team researching you, huh?” I chuckled. “They’re bound to find a way to get you back into your human form with her on the mission. She’s a force to be reckoned with.”

  “She’s amazing,” Mur breathed, and he waved his muzzle excitedly.

  “What language are you speaking?” Nayveth asked as he and the rest of my friends scooted around the table with their hands full of drinks. “I’ve never heard it before.”

  “It’s the language of the shapeshifters,” I explained as I switched back into Mistral. “Mur is a moose man stuck in his animal form. We’re trying to help him get back to his human body.”

  “How did he get this way?” Nayveth eyed the moose curiously, and I could see the Kenefick intelligence in his observant scrutiny. “An experiment gone wrong?”

  “It’s hard to explain,” I said, and my brows creased as I tried to find the right words. “It was caused by an enemy with the ability to absorb the shapeshifter’s powers.”

  “One of those Archons my sister and you have been fighting?” He raised an eyebrow. “Her letters made these mysterious enemies sound very intriguing. I’ve been wanting to find out more ever since she went on the trip to the Southern continent.”

  “I didn’t realize you and Nia talked that much,” I said. “I don’t mean to sound offensive, but I haven’t heard very much about you, other than you live by the ocean with Mrs. Kenefick.”

  “I’m sure my sister did her best to respect my desire for privacy,” Nayveth said. “I didn’t write as often as I should have, but she never ceased to send me consistent updates. No matter how busy or chaotic her life got, she always managed to send a letter with all her recent experiences every month or so.”

  “Sounds like Nia,” I responded with a grin. “She’s pretty amazing.”

  “Quit yer yapping and get to drinking,” Maelor insisted as he shoved a mug of ale into my hands. “We’re not here to shoot the breeze, kid, we’re here to get drunk.”

  “Alright, alright,” I muttered, and I took a long swig from my cup.

  What is that beverage you all seem to enjoy so much? Dio asked as he eyed the occupants of the table curiously. I would like to try it.

  I snorted, and some of my beer shot from my nose, which caused me to gasp.

  “What’s that look for?” my father figure asked with narrowed eyes. “Talking to goddesses again?”

  “My familiar wants to try the ale,” I informed him in an amused tone.

  “Well, why can’t he?” Braden asked from across the table. “I want to see if he likes it or not.”

 

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