Page 58 of Monster Married
Inkiri clicked and carefully rolled us onto our sides so he could hold me close and nip the skin of my neck.
“Are you satisfied, Sadir?”
I wiggled my foot, the one half in the air since I had my leg over his thigh. “Are we on a sleeping bag?”
“There are also blankets. It was cold when we got here. Donna says it’s been raining for a few days now.”
“Just to avoid any miscommunication, I wasn’t joking when I said I don’t like camping. Or the outdoors. Why are we in an effing tent?”
Inkiri clicked and ran his hand along my calf. “Vergis’s father has a theory about what your magic is. No, about what you are, I should say.”
I snorted and wiggled a bit, but Inkiri kept a tight hold on me, as he always did when he had his barb in me.
“That family is just full of theories. Also, when did Vergis introduce you to his dad?” Vergis’s family was far more interesting than talking about what I was. Magic me wasn’t anything I needed to hear any more about.
“That’s a story. We will tell you later.” And just like that, Inkiri ignored my heart’s desire. Well, it was really just some minor gossip to pass the time. “Vergis’s father thinks you’re what he calls a Loathly Lady.”
“Huh. Can’t be right. I’m not a lady. Let’s try a new theory.” We’d try no theories at all if I had any say in the matter. I kissed his collarbone as a distraction.
Inkiri clicked. “I think it fits, or makes up at least part of the truth. Kinnek—that’s Vergis’s father—says the Loathly Lady is a goddess of the land, a sovereignty goddess linked to the kingship of a place. Your magic started coming out when you made contact with the Stone of Destiny, which is also associated with kings. In addition, your magic seems to have grown stronger since you found me. Your mate.”
It sounded like he was going through a list of things.
“You have to let go of this idea that I’m a woman, Ink, I’m telling you. I don’t have a uterus, not even a hint of one. I’m not a goddess or a lady.” I snuggled against him. “I just hear that voice in my head sometimes.”
“That’s something Kinnek will be interested in.”
I wondered if Kinnek was maybe a good psychiatrist, because I was starting to wonder whether I needed one rather than a magic teacher.
“I need to sleep now,” I announced, and snuggled closer to Inkiri.
He accepted it with soothing clicks and pulled the blankets snug around us.
We woke again at the crack of dawn, which was a thing that happened when you slept in a tent out in the wilderness and just one more reason not to do it.
Inkiri put our clothes back in order and wrapped me in one of the blankets before unzipping the tent and allowing me to escape from it.
I froze. Right outside the tent flap, Vergis stood next to a bagu who was clearly Kinnek. They looked too similar for the bagu to be a stranger, although Kinnek had streaks of bluish silver in his hair, which was long and artfully braided in a way that made the silver look like a fancy dye job.
Both of them had their arms crossed. They could’ve been twins.
“I seem to have been right,” Kinnek said. He spoke almost without an accent and sounded more like Vergis than Inkiri with his British lilt; not a surprise. “Hello, Rory.”
“Hi there.” I considered how to get to my feet without falling over. Inkiri crawled out of the tent behind me and pulled me up into his arms, yet again solving my problem for me.
He clicked. “Your shoes are still in the bag, and the grass is wet.”
“They totally fucked.” Vergis gave me a nonplussed look.
My cheeks turned cabbage red. “You’re an ass.”
“Oh, and he’s plucky.” Kinnek grinned, which made him look like Vergis when he had one of his more suicidal ideas. “Plucky is better than catatonic.”
“You don’t know him yet, or else you wouldn’t say that,” Vergis grumbled.
“Now that is a very rude thing to say, oh son of my womb.”
Vergis shrugged. “You always said it can’t be an insult if it’s true.”
