Neral Jaye's evening was setting up to be a most pleasant one as she padded barefoot to her room in nothing but a simple white gown. The house now was settled and quiet for the evening, save a few members of the house staff that preferred to do their work in the quiet hours before the rush of the day or those that were simply nocturnal and lived for the night in general.
But the members of her family proper, regardless of how they had come to live under her roof and bond to one another were retired for the evening and the rest of the night would be hers to spend. She walked the long hallway to the master bedroom and opened the door to find her mates in the oversized, custom bed, that, even with its size didn't take up enough of the room for it to so much as begin to feel crowded.
On that bed lay Deres, her husband by ceremony, and Bryana, their mate equally and in every other way that mattered. His broad, sculpted chest with sparse, dark hair made for a most attractive sight. His blue eyes and close-cropped hair coupled with the power of his body to give him the look of a rugged merchant sailor who rushed to cut and trim himself back to respectability once he made port.
The obvious power of his body served to remind her in its own way of the power he possessed that could not be so readily seen. As a child of Erette raised in a land thought mythical by most, he returned with an understanding of magic, science, and how they could co-mingle that was unmatched in any of the kingdoms in the known world.
Forbidden magics that included nearly everything beyond those that could heal were not unknown, as Bryana herself could attest. A mage herself, she'd learned the darker elements of the craft hidden from most in one of the secretive mage guilds that dotted the lands and whose members plied their skills for profit. A gifted outlaw, Bryana Lia was set on a collision course with General Jaye after having been hired to mold the officer into one that could kill her queen.
Happening upon the plot by chance, Deres used his own skill to unravel it and, in so doing changed her mind and soul in a way that bound her to both of them. Time and the circumstances of life had turned that binding into a union of three as one. With the freedom to choose restored to her years before she had chosen her path with finality, which led her to laying upon the bed in a black bra and panties with rather exquisite embroidery that accented her long frame and served to compliment the dark, intricate tattoos that covered much of her body.
Some served as marks of the guild she once served while others, like the serpent the eyes and viper like fangs of which started just below the belly button before coiling around the small of her back and down her left leg with a depth and shading that made it look alive. Her eyes were a lighter shade of blue than his and her blonde hair flowed downward in soft waves. She and Neral were, in some ways very different women, but that simply made their passion more intense.
Neral could freely admit that one of her joys was watching those she loved be close, from the easy smiles they have for one another, to the shorthand language they developed together to show emotional intimacy. From the way Tessa, House Mistress for the House of Jaye would bicker gently with Cassea Voss, the House's representative at Court, with the latter 'advising' the former about the best way to do things, to the way Neral herself could simply talk the evening away with Traymis Elan, a soldier that, by circumstance was now tied to Deres. That was something in and of itself since the archer was often shy and reserved.
All these instances were little things that showed her that it was more than just a group of people under a single roof. They were united with one another as much as with their House.
Bryana and Deres had also made a bit of sport over the fact that, in the privacy of their chambers, she loved to watch her loves together very nearly as much as she enjoyed being in the tangle with them. "All is settled?" Deres asked. "Khylen is finally asleep?"
Neral sighed, but it was a happy sound. "After the nearly third full reading of her story of choice, yes."
"She's been looking forward to your voice doing it for days," he told her.
"And I'm glad that I could accommodate tonight." Then worry crossed her features. "I fear I spend not enough time with her. I fear she might forget I'm her mother."
"Utter foolishness," Deres said lovingly. "If you were somehow lost to her already she would not have been giddy about the prospect of your rendition of
The Grand and Fluffy Dragon
."
Bryana turned to her, "Aside from that, she has some sense of how important her mother is. After all, she sees you with the queen. She sees men in full battle armor who fear nothing stop everything to salute you. She may not fully understand what it means yet, but she knows her mother has an important role to play in things."
"That matters little when I promise her a trip to the park and circumstance demands I break my word to her."
"Bryana is right. She knows. We explain. We all explain when she wonders when you are not here to do those things yourself, but she knows. I believe she has your sense of duty even now."
Bryana slid in again. "Her understanding is the least of your concerns anyway, Neral."
"Oh?"
"Were I you, I should begin to fear for the security of my position. I have seen the two of you at the park together and she already marches better than you."
"How dare you?" If the grin didn't betray her feelings, the cartoonish level of affront did.
Bryana shrugged. "Things are how they are."
She drew closer to the bed. "At least she has a mother for when I cannot be there to be her mother."
"She has many mothers here," Bryana countered, attempting to maintain some semblance of humility. "She has no shortage of strong women here to draw from and to help shape her."
"But there is one she goes to first." The loving softness in Neral's voice was unmistakable. "There is one hand she reaches for as readily as my own."
Bryana shrugged again, but the softness was contagious. "Must you watch everything? She is my child, too. I did not birth her but my heart does not know the difference." Bryana's tone softened "Her eyes are bright, her mind is sharp, and she is a joy even with her mother's stubbornness. She is mine, too."
Neral had known that it was so for every day of Khylen's life up to now and it gave her a sense of security in many ways both spoken and not. She positioned herself at the edge of the bed as she wondered, "And just what is it that the two of you are chatting about?" She rested her head in her hand under her chin and displayed herself, enjoying the fact that both seemed to be entertained following the outline of her with their gaze.
"The usual things, Neral," he began, ticking them off casually, "the events of the day that we did not manage to talk through at the dinner table, plans for tomorrow, how we barely tolerate you..." The devilish grin that accompanied the last made her smile. Then again, most things about him did. Their meeting was certainly an unconventional one and their courtship even more so in many ways, including Neral willingly adding a love spell to the mix.
Agreeing to marry him in return for his aid in the plot against the queen in order to give him the status he would need to return home to Erette and have a successful life, she had initially agreed to love him via magic because it would make her married life simpler. There was also the truth that touching the magics of submission as she had with Bryana when the latter had attempted to reshape Neral's mind, she found that she enjoyed the sensations. All the days since had shown her that he was her match even without the magic and that his love of her at first sight of her on the streets of the upper markets had been true. The three of them had built a fine life over the years.
Bryana had interrupted him before they could continue. "We spend so much time talking about how difficult she is to live with though. Sometimes I wonder why we bother?"
"Perhaps you admire my prowess as a warrior and you take as much pride in that and in my position as I do?"
Deres and Bryana exchanged looks. "Unlikely," he said.
Bryana put on her best indifference. "You can hack away with a sword? So can anyone. Let's see you take their sword from them at ten paces without touching them."
