Summoner 16, page 7
“This is your wife?” the metallogue asked with his mouth hanging open. “That’s awesome, Gryff! Congratulations!”
“Leave it to Gryff,” Gawain chuckled. “We all think he’s dead, and it turns out he was off getting married.”
“Wait,” Layla interrupted as her hazel eyes nearly popped out of her head, “did you say married? Where was this information earlier?”
“Took you a minute, huh?” Varleth teased. “Maybe if you listened while you were staring, you would have heard the first time.”
“Maybe if you didn’t have such a big head, you wouldn’t be so grumpy all the time,” Layla retorted as she stuck her tongue out at him. “Chill out and relax a little. It won’t kill you, you know?”
“Quit yapping by the door and come sit where an old man can hear you,” Maelor complained from our table. “I ain’t as young as I used to be, and I sure as goblin shit ain’t about to stand around talking while there’s good ale to be drunk.”
“No one’s stopping you from drinking your ale,” I laughed, but then I motioned for the newest additions to our group to sit down.
Once we were all crowded around the table once more, we all ordered another round of drinks, and I got some potato skins. The crispy, greasy, cheesy treat was one of my all-time favorites, and I hadn’t had it since leaving Mistral.
Surrounded by friends with a delicious meal in front of me was like a dream come true.
My friends drifted into small groups to catch up with the other members of the team who returned from Vay, and I overheard snippets of the conversations between them. Even though Varleth and I had been gone the longest, we had all just returned from a mission, and there was a lot to discuss.
Braden and Cyra were in the midst of telling Layla and Maelor about monsters seen in battle, and Arwyn and Nia described the library of the Guardians to a rapt Ashla. Meanwhile, Erin and Mati giggled as they leaned their heads together over a piece of jewelry my roommate’s girlfriend had purchased in Desacino.
Gawain, Orenn, and Varleth discussed the properties of high-quality swords, and Freya sat quietly with her head tilted to one side while she listened curiously. I winked at my wife across the table, and the corners of her lips twitched up into a smile.
“So, Gryff,” Orenn said during a lull in the conversations, “how did you meet your wife?”
“Oh, this is a good story,” Cyra piped up as she pulled away from her conversation with the other summoners in our group to focus on the new topic.
“It all started with me trying to get back to Mistral, really,” I began, and then I proceeded to recount my adventures in the land of the shapeshifters.
“Wow, you stole a whole ship?” Orenn guffawed when I finished my tale.
“Sounds like you had a few too many close calls to me,” Maelor grumbled.
“Everyone knows shapeshifters aren’t real,” Gawain argued. “They’re just legends used to scare children into submission.”
“Trust me, I thought the same thing,” Nia insisted. “It’s hard to argue when you see it right in front of your face, though.”
“I don’t see anything but people.” Gawain shrugged.
“Yeah, me, neither,” I agreed, “but my wife is still a shapeshifter. That doesn’t make her less of a person.”
“Yeah, don’t be a prick, Maddox,” Layla added.
“Can it, Bethel,” Gawain warned, but there was a playful edge to his voice.
“Make me,” the petite summoner retorted hotly, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face as she stuck out her tongue.
“So, that’s it, then?” Ashla asked, and as she shook her head in awe, her braids flickered over her shoulders. “You’re married, just like that?”
“It doesn’t change anything,” I said in a reassuring tone. “I’m still me, same as always.”
“Of course, it does,” the ice mage insisted with furrowed eyebrows. “You’re married. It’s not like we can just pretend everything is the same.”
“You sister wife?” Freya asked, and silence fell across the table.
Orenn’s eyebrows were raised so high it looked like he’d suddenly sprouted a small crop of hair, and his mouth hung open in shock, but he didn’t say anything.
“I beg your pardon?” Ashla responded to the warrior princess with a confused look.
My cheeks burned as I searched my mind for the right thing to say for this situation.
“What I think she means,” Arwyn said before I could speak, “is ‘are you my sister-wife?’ but maybe Gryff can clarify better. He is more fluent in the clan language than I am.”
“That’s what she said,” I confirmed with a sheepish grin.
Ashla’s mouth opened slightly, and then she gave my wife a patient smile. “I don’t even know how to respond to that, I’m sorry.”
“Holy Maker of all that is good,” Layla gasped. “Sister-wife?”
“She definitely looks like she’s serious,” Erin observed.
“Yes.” Freya nodded curtly as her gold-flecked eyes moved slowly from Layla, to Ashla, and then to Erin, and she spoke in the best Mistral I’d heard from her yet. “You are sister-wives. I see the way you look at my husband, and the way he looks at the three of you. You are strong warriors of Mistral, and you will make beautiful babies for our husband. I approve.”
The three women blinked at my wife in stunned silence.
“So, um, it’s a clan thing,” I stammered as I tried to ease the tension at the table. “Multiple wives and that sort of thing.”
“I see.” Ashla steepled her hands, and a thoughtful expression settled over her features.
“I’m not so sure I’m ready for all that…” Layla bit her lip and sent a worried look my way. “I love you, Gryff, and your babies would be so cute, but…”
“There’s already so much going on,” Erin murmured. “Midterms will be here before you know it, and I’ll feel so bad if Gryff gets bad scores because he’s spending so much time with us…”
“It’s fine, really,” I said in the most reassuring tone I could manage. “I’m going to be crazy busy catching up before midterms, but I can always make time for you, too.”
“Exactly.” Ashla suddenly grinned and clapped her hands together. “You won’t say no even if it drains you. We should give you some time to readjust. Sister-wives and all of that sounds like fun, but it’s going to take some time to ease into. We can be patient, right ladies?”
My heart pounded in my chest. I didn’t want to lose them because of some silly cultural differences between her and Freya, but I didn’t want them to feel pressured into something they weren’t ready for, either.
Freya waited with an expectant look on her face as the girls discussed her proposition, but I could tell her patience wouldn’t last for long.
“I agree, let’s wait until after midterms,” Erin suggested. “We will have plenty of time to think it over before then.”
“Does that mean we can’t have sex?” Layla asked with her head tilted to one side. “I don’t like that idea. I miss Gryff a bunch… in like… all the ways I can miss him…”
“Gryff needs to focus on school,” Ashla pointed out. “And so do you. We’re all going to be busy over the next few weeks, but it won’t be forever.”
“You make choice?” Freya asked with obvious eagerness. “You want to be sister-wife and bear Gryff’s children?”
“Gryff, tell her what I’m saying,” Ashla insisted as she leveled her chocolate eyes on my wife.
I cleared my throat and spoke her words in the language of the shapeshifters an instant behind her, and the translation was so smooth it was almost as though they spoke directly to each other.
“Freya, you are wonderful and generous, and I can see us being close friends, but this is not a good time to make big decisions… We want to think about it, and talk with you and Gryff in a few months. Gryff will need our help and support as he gets back to school, and now that he’s back for good, we will have plenty of time.”
Freya was silent for a long, tense moment, and then she took a deep breath and gave my girlfriends a stoic nod. “Very well. You have two months to think.”
“Now, can we please change the subject?” Varleth drawled. “Anything other than Gryff’s private life?”
“What about our new friend, Freya?” Erin questioned. “Can we talk about her? I’m dying to know what it feels like to actually fly!”
“How about his wedding?” Cyra asked with a teasing smile. “Maker, how I wish I could have seen Gryff’s face when Freya told him they were married.”
“I’m just upset I wasn’t there,” Maelor confessed in a sad voice that made my gut wrench. “I always wanted to see Gryff get married and start a family.”
“Don’t worry, Maelor,” Nia said as she gave my adopted father a sweet smile. “You’ll have the best seat in the house at his next wedding.”
“Think it’s doomed to fail, huh,” Varleth snickered. “Wow, Gryff, you inspire so much confidence.”
“No,” Nia snapped, and she gave the banisher an icy glare. “I’m talking about when Gryff and I get married.”
“Y-You and Gryff are getting married?” Layla looked lost as her amber eyes flicked between me and Nia. “Is everyone getting married?”
“I’m not,” Gawain huffed. “I do not want to bring a child into a time of war. Besides, we’re still young. Now is not the time to settle down.”
I smirked. “I thought that way, too, but then I realized I could die any day. Hell, everyone thought I was dead for months. If we don’t enjoy life while we’re here, then what’s even the point? There won’t be anyone left to fight, and the Archons will have already won the war against humanity.”
“Ooh, we get to go dress shopping!” Erin gushed, and she bounced up and down excitedly. “I’ll help with everything, Nia.”
“Me, too!” Mati offered with a cheerful smile.
“I’m not sure how much time I can spare away from my research,” Ashla said in a hesitant voice, “but I want to be there, for both of you, every step of the way.”
“Is no one going to tell me whether or not you have more wives?” Layla demanded as she slammed her hands down on the table and gave me a mischievous look. “Who else did you marry? Cyra? Arwyn?”
“Not yet,” Arwyn laughed, but a self-conscious flush tinged her neck.
“I’m going to wait until we can do something really crazy and different,” Cyra mused. “I’m in no hurry to make it formal, I just want a chubby little mini Gryff to love on.”
“Just like that?” Layla looked between the two women with an incredulous expression. “You’re going to be sister-wives?”
“What does the cute little one say?” Freya turned to give the petite summoner a curious look, and I couldn’t help the laugh bubbling out of my chest. “She said she wants to be sister-wife?”
“No, well… not yet,” I stammered in my wife’s language.
“I want Layla to be my sister-wife,” the warrior princess announced in a decisive tone. “I like her fire.”
“What did she say about me?” the petite summoner questioned with a nervous air.
I looked between Layla and Freya helplessly. I wanted to steer the conversation away from any more embarrassing confrontations, but it seemed like an impossible task. While I’d started to dread having to translate everything, there was one advantage to having cultural differences.
I could blame all the awkward things on the language barrier.
“She likes your fire and stuff… I’m sure it’s just a clan thing, I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” I assured her before I gave my adorable, devilish lover a teasing smile. “Why? Do you want to be sister-wives with Freya?”
Layla’s auburn eyes widened. “Me?”
“Who else?” I chuckled. “Obviously, Nia and I are getting married, so you can connect the dots there.”
“What about everyone else?” She wrinkled her nose and glanced hesitantly at my other women.
“This is exactly how I envisioned my first night home,” Varleth drawled in a sarcastic voice. “Please, keep having your highly personal conversation with the entire group present, by all means.”
“What’s the matter, Varleth?” Layla snickered. “Want to keep Gryff all to yourself?”
The gypsy bristled, but the corners of his lips twitched up into the faintest hint of a smile. “Absolutely. Gryff is all mine. Fight me.”
“I will fight for Gryff,” Freya announced with her chin held high.
“Now, that would be entertaining,” Gawain commented. “Shapeshifter versus gypsy. Myth versus mess.”
“Fuck you, Maddox,” Varleth chortled. “You’d know if I was a mess. I’d wear an excessive amount of cologne to mask it.”
“Ouch.” Gawain blushed, but his beady green eyes were full of amusement. “How did I ever survive without your wit?”
“It must have been incredibly taxing,” Varleth shot back with a sideways smile.
“I missed this,” Layla sighed and leaned her arms on the table. “It was so quiet and boring, I wasn’t even enjoying pranks anymore.”
“Thank the Maker for that.” Gawain sniffed.
“I feel different now. Better.” Layla’s eyes lit up and she grinned. “Ooh, I want to design a super powered stink bomb stronger than anything I’ve ever made before.”
“Atta girl,” I cackled. “That’s the spirit!”
The combination of alcohol with the heartwarming reunion made me giddy, and warmth spread throughout my body as a heavy buzz settled over my head. I also sent a silent thank you to the Maker for the shift in conversation.
“I think your wife is really cool,” Erin informed me with a sweet smile. “The thought of sister-wives sounds fun, too. Like a constant slumber party with all your best friends.”
“You like that idea, huh?” I grinned so hard my cheeks hurt. “You would make a great sister-wife.”
“Is that a marriage proposal?” Erin’s amber eyes twinkled with delight.
“Absolutely,” I replied with alcohol imbued ease, “but right now another wedding would be a bit more than I can handle. After things calm down, we can make whatever plans you want.”
“Sounds great,” she said with only a slight slur to her words, but I wasn’t going to take her drunken answer seriously, not until she’d say the same thing sober, anyway.
She flicked her bright orange hair away from her face. The cropped haircut had grown considerably since I’d last seen the mimic, and it seemed like it was in an awkward stage of constantly being in the way, but still too short to tie back. “Nia is going to be so beautiful in her wedding dress, I can’t wait to see it.”
“She sure is,” I murmured as my gaze flicked across the table to my ashen-haired fiancée.
Fiancée. Fuck, that felt good.
“We could go dress shopping later this week,” Cyra suggested.
“I want to go, too,” Erin chirped.
“Of course,” Nia replied with a smile, but I noticed the rosy hue to her cheeks. “Everyone is welcome to join me. I wouldn’t even know where to start, really.”
“We will figure it out together,” Arwyn said with a comforting expression on her gorgeous face.
“I still need to tell my father.” Nia frowned slightly. “The closer I get to actually having to see him and do it, the more difficult it seems to become.”
“Your dad is awesome,” Gawain interjected with a sympathetic smile, “it won’t be as bad as you think, I promise.”
“I just hope you guys have the same enthusiasm for helping me find a house,” I commented in a dry voice. “I’d rather fight an army of monsters than decide on a color of paint, but I can’t have my wives crashing in the boy’s dorm or living in a tavern.”
“I wish I could promise my full assistance,” Arwyn said in a reluctant voice, “but I will be so busy with research and resuming my classes, I do not think I will be able to help you find a house. I’m sorry, Gryff.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.” I winked. “Just focus on your research so we can end this war for good.”
“The research team are certainly heroes when it comes to the war against the Archons,” Cyra declared. “Between Arwyn, Ashla, and the other professors, I know we can find out a way to put those bitches to bed for good.”
“It’s so good to be back home,” Braden remarked. “I’ve really missed these gatherings.”
“You’re such a sweetheart, babe,” Mati gushed as she gave the muscular summoner an adoring look.
Gawain grimaced. “Gives me a toothache.”
“You’ll change your tune once you fall in love,” Layla quipped.
“Then I pray to the Maker it never comes to that.” The fire mage lifted his chin and peered down his nose.
“No need to pray,” Varleth drawled. “Just keep using that cologne, and you’ll repel all living things without lifting a finger.”
“Ha, ha,” Gawain barked. “You’re one to talk. That face of yours chases off everything within a mile.”
“Yet it still hasn’t worked for you.” Varleth smirked. “I think you like me.”
“I like to make fun of you.” Gawain sniffed. “Other than that, I can tolerate your presence.”
“That’s high praise coming from Mister Nose in the Air,” Layla teased.
While my friends continued their playful banter, my eyes drifted around the table to all the happy faces surrounding me. I’d waited for this moment for so long it was almost dreamlike. I wanted to capture it and keep it frozen forever, but then I thought of my upcoming wedding, and I realized I had a lot to look forward to.
Freya waved at me from across the table, and once she had my attention, she gave me a stern look, but I was surprised to hear her speak in her native tongue. “You said I would have many sister-wives. I have met Arwyn, Nia, and Cyra, but they are not enough. You need more wives so you can have lots of children.”
“What’s she sayin’ now?” Maelor asked loudly.
“Other than our names?” Arwyn chuckled. “That part was obvious enough.”
“I heard the clan word for sister-wife,” Cyra observed in a playful tone.
