The Duelist 9, page 11
“Dad,” he said formally, and I bit down on the urge to say ‘Rylan’ back to him in the same tone. “I want to apologize.”
“Oh?” My eyebrows raised.
“I was… stupid. Reckless. I caused a lot of problems for you and… and everyone else. And I want to say I’m sorry. I’ll do better in the future.”
I had to wonder if Jenner had put Rylan up to this, or if this was a sign of my son beginning to come into his own as a young man. Either way, I was impressed by his ability to admit his faults and commit to improving.
“That was very grown-up of you, Rylan,” I told him, and I saw the small, relieved smile that tugged at his mouth, even as he tried to remain serious. “I accept your apology. It’s an important trait, being able to admit when you’ve made a mistake, or when you were in the wrong about something.”
Rylan nodded firmly.
“Mr. Jenner said… he said it’s not a moral failing to screw up,” he told me. “But it is a moral failing to refuse to admit when you do.”
“Very true,” I agreed. It seemed the koala-man was fully back to his ‘font of wisdom’ self, which was a relief. “I’m proud of you, buddy.”
“So everything’s okay?” Rylan grinned at me.
“Everything’s okay,” I promised. “And since you’re willing to discuss things like a grown-up, now, I want to talk to you about you maybe going to the Academy on Leen. So you can study animal husbandry and stuff. I think it would be really good for you to get a proper education.”
“The Academy?” Rylan’s eyes became enormously round. “But-- but it’s so expensive!”
“Don’t you worry about money.” I waved him off. “We can afford it. And I want the best for you, alright?”
That was the whole point, wasn’t it? Leaving the world better than you found it? Giving the next generation the best possible start?
“It’s so far away, though…” Rylan sighed and seemed to deflate a bit.
“You wouldn’t be going forever, and we could always come visit in the Manta,” I pointed out. “Anyway. This needs a proper discussion, and we don’t have the time for that right now. But I want you to think about it, and really consider it. So, let’s put a pin in it for now, alright?”
“Alright,” Rylan confirmed with a nod.
“Nova and I can leave you two be, if you want privacy for this,” Zoie pointed out as she reached over to ruffle Rylan’s hair fondly.
“It’s not that, love,” I said to her with a smile. “We’re having a party tonight!”
Rylan, Nova, and Zoie all stared at me with identical expressions of delight.
“A party?” Rylan asked, and I nodded.
“Something to celebrate,” I said. “Jenner’s better, Zoie’s pregnant, and our diplomacy is actually going really well. We deserve a bit of fun.”
“Hell, yeah!” Rylan cried out and punched his fist in the air.
Just like that, he was back to being an excitable kid.
“Why don’t you go find the others and tell them,” I suggested. “Arvid’s already making a start on the food, but I bet Shay would like help with decorations.”
I hadn’t been sure exactly how to steer the conversation from ‘your brother nearly-- and technically did-- die’ to ‘let’s have a party,’ but if anyone could cheer my phoenix-wife up and help distract her from her concern, it would be Rylan.
And, sure enough, he snapped to attention, saluted me with a grin, and sped off to go find Shay and the others, which once again left me with Nova and Zoie.
“If we’re having a celebration this evening, you might want to clean up a little, my love,” Zoie advised me with a cheeky smile.
“Messy,” Nova agreed with a nod.
“I’m not that bad!” I said, but my defensive tone was only half-real. “I’m rugged! I look like I actually do work!”
“And you do,” Zoie said. “But working men also bathe and shave. Especially if they have a big event in the evening. Isn’t this party half a diplomatic endeavor, too? To make up for what happened with Luhrmann?”
“Yeah, farting in a guy’s face isn’t the most refined way to encourage diplomacy,” I snorted. “But it was pretty damn funny.”
“Stinky,” Nova remarked, and her green nose wrinkled.
I wasn’t entirely sure if she was referring to the farting or me as I was right now. Probably both.
“I thought you liked my natural musk,” I said haughtily as I crawled back over to the pillow nest and rubbed my face into the crook of Zoie’s shoulder.
“I do!” she said with a laugh. “But there’s such a concept of ‘too much of a good thing!’ You need to bathe!”
I sighed like that was the most monumental task I’d ever been set, as if my cat-wife had asked me to climb the tallest mountain in Aventoll and pluck a star from the sky for her.
“The things I do for love,” I groaned. “But if I need a bath, you do, too. Can’t risk you getting ill, now, can we?”
Zoie huffed a little, and her ears twitched in mild irritation.
“I’m perfectly fine,” she told me. “Varthan women often work and fight right up until they give birth. It’s good for the kits, and keeps the mothers in good health!”
“All the more reason why we can’t risk you getting sick,” I said. “We want to keep you in good health.”
“You and the babies!” Nova trilled.
As I got to my feet and took one of Zoie’s hands, Nova took the other, and we pulled her upright.
“I’m still perfectly able to stand up by myself,” my cat-wife grumbled.
“I know you are, love,” I said, and I kissed her forehead. “I just don’t want you to push yourself too far because you’re afraid we don’t think you’re capable. It’s not that we think you’re weak, we just want to help you because we’re all stronger together.”
“Stronger together,” Nova agreed and nuzzled Zoie’s shoulders.
The siren-woman and I led Zoie to the spa room, because if she was going to insist on my cleaning up, she might as well be pampered a little, too. When we entered, I saw one of the tubs was already mostly-filled with water, but no bubbles indicating any soap had been used.
That, I realized after a second, was where Nova had been sleeping.
“Do you find it comforting to sleep under the water?” I asked her. “Do you ever sleep on land?”
“Not often,” Nova admitted, and she spoke quite slowly. Not to the extent of the Omish, and not in the same way, with drawn-out syllables, but it gave the impression that each word was chosen very carefully. “Water is… quiet. Comfortable.”
“It does look peaceful,” Zoie agreed as she began to fill up a larger tub with water and pour soap into it. Soon, thick white bubbles were floating across the surface, and I watched appreciatively as my cat-wife undressed and slid into the warm water with an appreciative purr.
She crouched down so only the top half of her head was visible above the surface, and her black hair floated out around her like tendrils.
“It’s lovely, you should both come in,” she teased.
Nova looked initially a little apprehensive at going into soapy water, but she made a happy trilling noise when she sank in and bobbed over to Zoie to nuzzle her.
“Alex!” the siren-woman then said. “Come in! Is nice!”
Well, with two gorgeous women asking me to come join them in the bath, who was I to refuse?
I only realized as I was taking off my pants and saw they were kind of stiff in that gross, sweat-soaked way just how much I really did need a bath. I half-expected the water to turn brown when I sank into the tub, but luckily it seemed alright.
“Come here, husband,” Zoie cooed. “I’ll shave you.”
“Zoie--” I began.
“Please,” she said, and she bobbed over to me, with Nova following closely behind her. “Everyone will be fussing over me for the next several months. And you just won a difficult Duel. You saved Horus and Jenner. Let us take care of you for a moment. You’ll need your strength for tonight to go smoothly.”
“Tonight’s a party,” I mumbled, but I had to admit she was at least half-right. Tonight was a party with an explicit diplomatic intent.
So, I floated in the water between Nova and Zoie, and Zoie showed Nova what shampoo was. It seemed Lakuna people had no need for soap, and their hair and skin stayed clean and healthy so long as they kept hydrated enough. Then, while the siren-woman washed my hair, which was a much nicer sensation than I’d ever considered it would be, Zoie straddled my lap and shaved me.
“Love is more than the physical act of sex,” she said as she worked, and I wasn’t sure if she was speaking to me, to Nova, or to herself. “It’s about caring for your partner in all things. Little acts of service like this can say more than an entire day spent in a bed.”
“Devotion,” Nova supplied as she rinsed out my hair.
“Exactly,” Zoie said in an approving tone. “More than physical attraction. Being committed to the person inside.”
“I am very committed,” I murmured. “You better let me pamper you a little after this.”
I wanted to give her the entire world.
“Maybe, if you behave,” Zoie said cheekily.
It was comments like this one that had my mind shift to other things. Somewhere along the line, around the point where the beginnings of my beard had been trimmed back to a tidier, more grown-up looking scruff, the fact that Zoie was straddling me began to take up more and more of my attention.
My hands slid up over her hips to cradle against her back, and I leaned forward to kiss her. Nova cooed beside me, and Zoie pulled away from me with a grin to kiss her, too. Nova made a surprised noise but then melted into the kiss, and Zoie stroked a hand through her midnight-blue hair.
“Amaya was right,” she murmured. “You are a vision.”
“You both are,” I said and dropped a kiss onto Nova’s green shoulder.
Zoie then leaned forward slightly and ground against me, which made me groan.
“Zoie,” I said breathlessly. “Are you-- I don’t want to--”
“You won’t hurt me,” she promised. “It is perfectly safe. Please, husband, it’s been too long.”
It really had. I’d been neglecting her, my first wife and oldest ally in Aventoll, and that just wouldn’t do, so I lifted Zoie’s hips up, and she sank down onto me with a grateful cry. The fingers of one of her hands clawed at my shoulder as she adjusted to me, and she leaned forward to kiss me, quick and desperate. Then her other hand tangled in Nova’s hair again, and she kissed the siren-woman, too.
“Mercedes,” I muttered, because the sight of them together was almost too much. I hadn’t realized how wound up I’d been until this precise moment, and I knew it wasn’t going to last long, but luckily Zoie didn’t seem to be very interested in dragging this out.
She wanted me, now, and I wanted her.
“So pretty,” Nova said breathlessly when Zoie pulled away from her, and then the green-skinned woman turned to kiss me, too. “So pretty.”
“I’m not pretty, I’m handsome,” I teased. “And you two aren’t pretty, you’re gorgeous.”
“Flatterer.” Zoie grinned as she moved against me, and we both gasped. She rested her forehead against mine, and I gripped her hips harder as she continued to move, with both of us hurtling toward release.
“Nova,” I said and turned to her to kiss her again. “Tell Zoie how beautiful she is.”
“So beautiful,” Nova said at once. “So strong. So brave. Like Alex. Fierce. Gor-jus.”
She mispronounced the slightly complex word, still unused to many of the words in Aventoll’s spoken language, but I thought it was adorable.
“I am so lucky that Alex found you,” Zoie said, and her breaths were coming in short pants as she cupped Nova’s cheek in her hand. “And luckier still that I found Alex.”
“I think I’m the lucky one,” I told her. “I-- oh, god, Mercedes. Zoie, I--”
Release was suddenly much, much closer than I’d realized, and I felt the urge to chase how sheerly good it felt until I fell off the edge.
“Me, too,” Zoie murmured, and Nova began to stroke a hand through the cat-woman’s jet-black hair while cooing encouragingly and planting little kisses on her shoulders. “Mercedes, me, too. Alex, love, I-- oh!”
With a sharp, almost surprised cry, Zoie tensed in my arms, and I sprayed inside her with a low groan shortly after. The only thing I was aware of, besides Zoie as she panted in my arms, was the sound of Nova giggling and the gentle sloshing of the water in the tub.
Zoie mouthed slow, lazy kisses over my collar as both of us came back down.
“I think we both might need another bath after that,” she said with a wry smile.
“I think you might be right,” I chuckled, and I kissed her before I pulled Nova over to kiss her, too. “And I think I might have been neglecting you, too, Nova.”
“Now that just won’t do,” Zoie purred. “We ought to rectify this error, husband.”
This time, when the siren-woman trilled, I could hear the intrigued, slightly aroused note underneath the cheerfulness of it.
However, my and Zoie’s plans were dashed when, a second later, someone began hammering on the bathroom door.
Chapter 9
The calm, sated atmosphere of the room was abruptly shattered by the insistent knocking on the door. I didn’t even get the chance to permit or deny entry before the door burst open, and Shay and Amaya rushed into the room.
My phoenix-wife looked like she was on a warpath, and she came to stand before the tub that me, Zoie, and Nova were still sitting in and then pointed at me dramatically.
“Alex!” she declared, in her best ‘Incarnate goddess’ voice. I wondered vaguely if she’d been practicing. “You need to leave!”
“Excuse me?” I blinked up at her.
“You need to leave!” she said again, more insistently. “We have to do it right this time, my love! It’s only fair to you! You deserve that!”
This did not actually answer any of my questions, and I stood up to face Shay properly. Gooseflesh prickled over my skin as my body left the warm water, but I didn’t even notice as I gazed into her green eyes.
“Shay, what are you talking about?”
I couldn’t fathom what she was referring to-- what did I deserve that I didn’t already have? Wives who loved me? A place to call my home? Loyal friends and a large family? I even had a metric shit-ton of pirate gold to my name, now. I was pretty set.
The redhead spread her hands and gave me a meaningful look as she gestured to Zoie and then herself.
“You married Zoie and me according to the traditions of Aventoll,” she said. “And it was all either of us desired-- you are all either of us could ever have hoped for in a husband. You are kind and gentle, and you value our lives and our opinions.”
“You are,” Zoie agreed in a purr. She was still submerged in the bath up to her shoulders, but she gave me a coy, satisfied smile. “Though I have to agree with our husband, Shay. What’s the problem with that?”
“The problem is Alex is not from Aventoll!” Shay cried out, as if this was the obvious issue, but this only made me even more confused.
“Is… that a problem in Aventoll?” I asked. “Is there some law about Travelers not being allowed to marry like regular Duelists?”
“Oh, Mercedes, no!” Shay gasped, and for a moment she looked like she was worried she had offended me. “Of course not! You’re as much a citizen of Aventoll as any of us! As much a Duelist as-- as Gavlain Mec!”
“So, what’s the issue?” I asked. I didn’t want to belittle what was obviously something that distressed the phoenix-woman, but I still didn’t know what she was talking about.
Shay waved her arms as if she was announcing something that already should have been obvious.
“You are not from Aventoll, but you live as if you are!” she said. “We have shown no respect for your traditions, but you have been nothing but faithful to ours. That’s not a fair exchange!”
I blinked. “Shay, you and Zoie-- you didn’t force me into any of that.”
“Technically, you were somewhat forced into your marriage with me,” Zoie pointed out with a slight chuckle. “You clearly had no idea what was going on, and you looked so surprised when Gavlain announced our union and that you had obtained Dagmar’s old rank.”
“I can’t exactly say I’m disappointed by the outcome.” I grinned at my cat-wife. “Even if I was maybe a little unclear on the precise details at the time. Maybe.”
As I turned back to Shay, I reached out and took her hands in both of my own, and some part of me tried to physically will her to feel less upset as I continued to explain.
“You didn’t force me,” I said again. “I chose to marry you. I chose to honor the terms of my marriage to Zoie. You deserve someone who would recognize the traditions you’ve spent your whole life observing. This isn’t my world, here, it’s yours.”
Shay sniffed. I suspected between Zoie’s announcement, and whatever had stressed her out, and now my little speech-- which I guess had been pretty poetic, not to put too fine of a point on things-- she’d been on a veritable rollercoaster of emotions today.
So, I pulled her close, which meant she ended up standing in the knee-deep water of the tub. Not that she seemed to mind, or even really notice. She went willingly into my embrace and held me tight.
“I love how you want to respect the world I came from. I love that you’re so caring and want to be mindful of those who are different to you. But I don’t care about the world I came from. My life there was boring, I had no one I held anywhere near as dear as I do you, and Horus, and everyone else. I don’t need those traditions, because I have you. Whatever traditions you want to observe, we’ll observe them.”
“But I want to observe yours,” she protested. “I want to do it right, this time. Your marriage to Amaya, it’s a chance to… to make sure it’s every bit as significant to you as it is to us.”
