Birgit

  “You all have my deepest apologies for what happened last night,” Jabari said, bowing deeply to the members of the team gathered around the campfire for breakfast. “I had a serious discussion with Azrielle as soon as I learned what she did and returned her to her plane. I think she did not understand the seriousness of her actions and seemed quite remorseful once I explained how unacceptable her behavior was. And while I will understand perfectly if you do not wish me to re-summon her to complete this hunt, I believe it would be good for her if she had the opportunity to atone for her actions and demonstrate that she is capable of behaving properly.”

  “I am not sure we should allow her to rejoin us at all, ever,” Princess Vedika replied hotly.

  Birgit shared her sentiment. It had been such a shock to wake up and find her on top of Niles like that. He said he was fine after the incident, but she could tell it upset him. Birgit tried to comfort him, but he had been very stiff and unresponsive to her efforts.

  “I do not think we need to go to that extreme,” Prince Advick objected. “It would be impossible for Jabari to contract and train a new guardian familiar in time for the field study, and with all the teams already formed now, we may not be able to replace him. Plus, I am sure Niles has survived far worse situations than having an attractive young woman climb into bed with him.” The prince gave Niles a knowing grin.

  Vedika whirled to face her brother. “Do not make light of this. That seraph all but assaulted Niles in his sleep. That is completely unacceptable. How would you react if Niles had done the same to me?”

  The vehemence behind the princess’ words surprised Birgit. Was it really the situation that upset her, or the fact that it involved Niles?

  “Perhaps since Niles was the aggrieved party in this, we should allow him to decide,” Sinja suggested calmly.

  All eyes turned to Niles, who shifted uncomfortably before finally giving his opinion. “I’m willing to give her a second chance. I can understand having difficulty adjusting to the different standards of a new world, and she was very professional and effective during the hunt yesterday.”

  Vedika still looked like she wanted to object, and Birgit would much rather not have the seraph around Niles either, but at least Niles had the sense to turn her down decisively last night. She had been afraid the seraph was slowly winning him over with her persistent, aggressive flirtation.

  In the end, Jabari they allowed to re-summon Azrielle, who contritely took on her role as familiar guardian, while keeping a respectful distance from Niles throughout the day, though Birgit caught her giving him furtive glances, whenever there was a break in the hunt. The two familiars played roles for the hunt that kept them separated most of the time, so it was no problem for them to maintain that distance.

  Niles’ role was to lead the way until they were close to a crystal and then fall back to stand with the mages, as their last line of defense and a source for magic as needed, while Azrielle’s part was to keep an eye out from above and get more directly involved in combat. Birgit knew Niles chafed at being held in reserve, but now especially, she was glad of it.

  Once again, they worked as a team instead of splitting up. It meant they harvested fewer crystals than they could have otherwise, but throughout the day their teamwork continued to improve, which was their primary goal.

  The area Niles picked was a very lucrative one, with over half the crystals large in size. This meant the challenges they faced were more dangerous, but still not as dangerous as they expected to find during their field study. It was a good introductory hunt for them as a full team, and all was going well until they encountered a rare space crystal. Niles pointed it out, sitting on top of a large mound of dirt that rose almost as high as some of the stubby trees around it.

  They circled the mound at a distance first, but saw no sign of a guardian, but of course, space-tainted creatures could be very hard to pin down. They decided to just have Azrielle fly up and get the crystal, hoping she could get away before any threat materialized. She reached the crystal unopposed, but the moment she touched it, small red shapes burst out of the mound and began swarming down its sides.

  Birgit realized with horror that the mount was a giant anthill, and the creatures boiling out of it were ants the size of her thumb. Normally, there was only a single guardian per crystal, but there were exceptions.

  Azrielle immediately flew into the air to get away, but a portion of the swarm of ants used their space-tainted magic to appear right on the seraph herself. A moment later, she began screaming. Birgit was not sure if it was from fear, pain, or a combination of both, but Azrielle was driven into such a state that she lost control of her flight. She also either forgot she could return to her home plane or feared she would bring the creatures with her, because she simply plummeted from the sky.

  Niles was in motion before Brigit even fully registered what had happened. Dashing under the falling seraph, he did not so much catch her as break her fall. Immediately, he began pulling the bugs off her and crushing them in his bare hands. But even as he crushed them, Birgit saw more of the large insects crawling onto him and, no doubt, biting, but he ignored them as he tore the creatures off Azrielle.

  The cries of Advick’s familiar pulled Birgit’s attention back to the mound and the rest of the swarm of ants. Turning, she saw it completely covered by the swarming insects. Unlike the seraph, it did not hesitate to return to its plane. Sinja’s spider shot a mass of webs in front of the swarm, but the bugs simply disappeared and reappeared on the other side.

  Realizing she was just watching as the seemingly unstoppable swarm approached, Birgit began casting. Luckily, Vedika had been less distracted, and she cast a column of flame that she swept across the front of the oncoming wave of insects. Fortunately, they were not smart enough to get out of the way. Moments later, her brother added his own column of flame to the mix. Sinja shot a ball of fire that exploded deeper into the swarm, with Jabari doing the same shortly after. Embarrassed that she was the last to contribute, Birgit added to the battle with a wall of flame that rolled out in front of them, consuming the remaining insects.

  “Healing,” Niles shouted. “Azrielle needs some healing, quick.”

  Turning, Birgit saw Niles running toward them, carrying the seraph in his arms. Niles set her down gently in front of the mages, her body limp. Angry, red bites covered every visible inch of the seraph’s skin. So red and swollen was her face that was completely unrecognizable. Birgit might have thought her dead, but one of her hands clung to Niles’ arm as he stepped back. He stopped rather than pull free, as Jabari knelt over his familiar and began casting a healing spell.

  Niles had not escaped the ordeal uninjured himself. Angry red welts covered him as well, but he ignored his own injuries to focus on Azrielle. Vedika began a healing spell to cast on him, but he asked her to use it on the seraph, offering her his magic to make it even stronger. Though Birgit could see the red, swollen bites on Niles beginning to fade, they were not healing as fast as his wounds normally did, and they had to be extremely painful.

  “Are you alright?” Niles asked the seraph, leaning over her once enough magic had been cast to erase all the visible bites.

  “Niles… you saved me,” the seraph groaned weakly.

  “It’s what I do,” Niles said with a smile.

  It was late enough in the day that they decided to make camp, everyone being rather shaken by their last encounter. Azrielle seemed to bounce back quickly from the experience, though she continued to keep her distance from Niles as they set up camp. Once the wards and tents were all put in place, Azrielle walked up to Niles, almost shyly, as he talked with Birgit and Vedika by the fire.

  “Niles, may I speak with you in private for a moment?” She asked, her head bowed, but her eyes peeking up at him. “I promise not to try anything.”

  “Okay,” Niles drawled suspiciously. He got up slowly and followed her to the edge of camp, out of earshot if they talked quietly, but not out of sight.

  “What do you think she wants to talk with him about?” Birgit asked Vedika quietly

  “She is probably going to offer to ‘thank’ him for saving her,” the princess grumbled, her eyes fixed on the pair.

  Birgit watched them as well. They stood an arm’s length apart, and periodically one of Azrielle’s hands would slowly reach up, almost of its own accord, to touch Niles, only to return quickly to her side as if she had caught it in the act. As they talked, Azrielle went from staring demurely at the ground to looking Niles in the eye and gesticulating passionately. Niles shook his head several times before the conversation seemed to shift, with Niles doing more of the talking. Several times, Azrielle looked over toward the fire, and Birgit got the impression the seraph was looking at her. When Niles was done with whatever long narration he was giving, there was an animated exchange between the two, and Azrielle suddenly lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him.

  Beside her, Birgit saw Vedika tense and start to rise, but the seraph let go of Niles quickly and stepped back. Turning, Azrielle dashed into the elves’ tent. She had a huge grin on her face, so evidently she was happy with the outcome of their talk.

  “I swear, if Niles goes into that tent after her, I will pluck her feathers,” Vedika growled.

  But Niles did not enter her tent. Instead, he walked over to the fire where everyone else was gathered. “We’re going to do some sparring if anyone wants to join us.”

  “All that was just to ask you to spar?” Vedika asked suspiciously.

  “No, we talked about other stuff, too,” Niles answered, but did not elaborate.

  Prince Advick gladly volunteered to join them, and Azrielle emerged from the tent a moment later with her helmet and a practice sword. Birgit offered to make dinner, and Vedika offered to help, while the two elves retired to their tent.

  “Do you think Azrielle has some new ploy to win Niles over?” Birgit asked as they began adding ingredients to the simple stew they were preparing.

  Vedika sighed. “Probably, I should have never agreed to let the elves join our team. They are good mages, but there are too many complications.”

  “What should we do?”

  “For now, we should just keep our eyes on them and make sure Azrielle does not get Niles alone. I have seen him look at her a few times, and I think he finds her attractive… Do you know what sort of women Niles fancies? I know he escorted your friend Hilaria to that first dance, and I have even seen them flirt a little. Is there anything between them, or has he said anything to you about being attracted to anyone?”

  “Hilaria has always been a bit of a flirt, but I am sure they are just friends,” Birgit answered. “He has not mentioned being attracted to anyone in particular.”

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  “Does he have a lover back in his plane, then?”

  “No, I am quite sure he does not. He did, but it ended badly a few months before I summoned him. I think it was a very painful experience for him.”

  “Ah,” Vedika mused, tapping her chin. “That might explain why he is so willing to spend such a large amount of his time here just for gold. But if that happened a few months before you summoned him, and it has been a few more months since, he may be starting to get lonely. Perhaps we should try to find him someone else before that seraph convinces him to get involved with her. It is almost too bad that you are interested in my brother. Were you interested in Niles, you might convince him to sign a marriage contract with you that would keep him at your side forever. Or do you already have a long-term contract?”

  Birgit nearly froze as she stirred the stew, trying not to give away how close she had been to striving for a marriage contract with Niles. “Um, no, we do not yet have a long-term contract, but we have been talking about it. Niles is considering what conditions he wishes to include.”

  Vedika hummed thoughtfully. “I wonder what it will take to entice him. He has to realize what an incredibly valuable resource he is. He could demand just about anything, even if he cuts back his time here considerably. That is the advantage of adding a marriage clause to a contract. It ties a familiar to our plane as a resident, not just an occasional visitor. I think if he were my familiar, I would try to tempt him into a marriage contract.”

  Birgit stopped stirring. “You would?”

  The princess thought for a moment and then nodded. “I would. He is more handsome than at least some of the suitors who have sought my hand, and I do not know about you, but when I absorb his magic, it makes me all warm and tingly. I cannot help but wonder what it would be like to absorb his magic while being intimate. Besides, I really do not care for any of my current marriage prospects. That is the trouble with being a princess. I cannot become king, queen, or even royal consort, so the best I could hope to achieve through a marriage would be the title of duchess, which in many ways would be a step down. To be honest, I have all but given up on marriage. My hope is that my brother will become king, and he will allow me to stay on as his advisor, destined to never marry, sating my desires through a series of illicit affairs with stablehands and visiting dignitaries. So, the idea of marrying Niles is actually quite appealing. If your long-term contract negotiations do not work out, I hope you will give me a chance to present my offer. I promise I will still share his magic with you so that we can both continue to grow our potential, as I hope you will continue to do if you arrange a long-term contract with him.”

  Birgit was stunned. She talked with the princess often of late, and Vedika was always down-to-earth, but Birgit had never heard her be quite so earthy. Was there more to her wish to sleep by Niles than her desire to absorb his magic? Should she consider the princess’ offer? But what if her brother did not become king? Or what if Birgit decided she would rather have Nile than the prince, even if he became king? Would the princess be mad if she chose to marry Niles instead of becoming her brother’s consort?

  “What are you two talking about?” Birgit was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly knocked over the stew pot at the sound of Azrielle’s voice behind her. Had the seraph heard any of their conversation?

  Ignoring the question, Vedika asked one of her own. “Why are you not out sparring with Niles and my brother?”

  “They are just finishing up, and I wanted to come and talk with you,” Azrielle answered, surprising both women.

  Vedika’s eyebrows rose. “What did you want to say?”

  “I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted,” the seraph said, bowing politely. “I am sorry for what I did, and it will not happen again.” Taking a seat across the fire from them, she continued. “I just wanted Niles magic so badly, and on my plane, the best way to get a man to give you what you want is to lie with him. I thought it was the same on all planes. But Niles explained it is more complicated on his plane. He told me on his plane that you have to truly love a person to lie with them, and lying with someone just to get what you want is considered very bad. He said that he liked me and that we could be friends, though. And he is happy to share his magic with his friends. I kind of wish he loved me like he does you, though. He is such a wonderful man. Did you see how he saved me today? I…”

  “Wait, he said he loved me?” Vedika interrupted, echoing Birgit’s thoughts.

  “Well,” Azrielle drawled, cocking her head to the side. “Now that you mention it he did not say which one of you he was in love with, but it would have to be just one of you, not both, because his people are monogamous, which is a fancy word they have then means they can have only one lover. That is why he kept turning me down. I can tell he finds me attractive, but one of you captured his heart first.”

  “But he said he loved one of us?” Birgit pressed.

  “Not in so many words,” Azrielle admitted. “But I could tell. I mean, why else would he turn me down? It surprised me when he told me he was not intimate with you two, and when I asked him why, he said it was complicated and that he was not ready yet. You see? He said, not ready yet, not that he did not want to. And what is more complicated than love? Look at how much time he spends with you and how devoted he is. Niles and I are not just simple elemental spirits, you know. We have lives on our own planes. It is exciting to visit a new world now and then, but we give up much to be here for long periods, so you must offer us something very precious for us to make that sacrifice. What are you offering him to spend so much of his life here? It has to be love for him to give up his own world and his life there for you. Honestly, I am a little jealous. You are so lucky to have won the affection of someone so special. But I will not stand in your way. Niles is my friend now, so I want him to be happy with whichever one of you he is in love with. I better go now and see if my mage needs anything. It was so nice talking to you. We should do this more often. I am sure we will be spending much more time together.”

  “She could not actually be right, could she?” Birgit asked as the seraph disappeared into the elves’ tent.

  “Considering what she did last night, I hardly think we can trust her judgment on matters of relationships,” Vedika answered. “Niles is amazingly devoted, though, far more than I would expect from someone just working for gold.”

  Birgit’s mind was reeling. What if Azrielle was right, and he was in love with one of them? What if it was her? She felt such a rush of emotion thinking about that. But what if it was Vedika? The princess had just said she would marry Niles, and that was before finding out he might be in love with her. Should she just offer to not renew Niles’ contract so he could marry Vedika if she was the one he loved? Both Vedika and Niles were her friends, and she wanted them to be happy, did she not? So why did that thought make her feel sick to her stomach? She was just going to go mad not knowing now.

  “Maybe we should just talk to him about this,” Birgit suggested.

  “No,” Vedika gasped. “We cannot do that. Think about it. My brother is overlooking the impropriety of us sharing Niles’ sleeping space if he is just a familiar sharing his magic, but if he were to discover that Niles was in love with one of us, he would never stand for it. Right now, we have only the wild speculations of an unreliable seraph, but no actual confirmation. Promise me you will say nothing to Niles about this, at least until after the field study. That is only a few weeks away, and we need to increase our magic potential as much as we can between now and then.”

  Birgit wanted to say no, but the princess made a good point, and it was just a few more weeks. “Alright, I will not talk to him about it.”

  “Good,” the princess said, placing her hand on Birgit’s shoulder. “We will have to make sure we avoid any situations or conversations that might bring the topic up as well. Niles seems very interested in crystal hunting and the field study expedition, so we should try to keep him focused on that. After the field study, we can deal with this, if this is even real and not just the flight of fancy of a flighty seraph, which it probably is. If he actually loves me, then it will be simple. If he loves you, though, that would complicate things, but I am sure we can handle the situation.”

  Any further conversation on the topic was cut off when they saw Niles and Advick approaching. As Birgit watched him, Niles smiled at her. Or was he smiling at Vedika? Or was he just smiling?

  “Something smells good,” Niles said, taking a seat between Birgit and Vedika. “How soon will it be ready? I’m starving.”

  Offering his hands, Niles turned his head to look at Birgit and then Vedika. Birgit wondered if he had looked at her first because he loved her, or just because she was the one stirring the stew. Oh, this was going to be maddening. But once Birgit clasped his hand, the flow of his magic into her had its usual warm, soothing effect.

  “When are you not starving?” Advick laughed. “I swear I have never met anyone who could eat as much as you and not grow fat.”

  “I think it’s all the magic these two drain out of me,” Niles said, squeezing Birgit’s hand gently. Had he squeezed Vedika’s hand, too? “It takes a lot of energy.”

  Birgit wondered what it felt like for Niles when she pulled magic from him. For her, it was a pleasant sensation, but was it for him? It made him hungry, but did it also make him tired, or even hurt him? He never complained about it, but would he?

  The stew was soon ready, and Niles ate three bowls full, along with four of the dried biscuits they had brought with them. He really did eat an amazing amount. The elves and Azrielle joined them, the seraph sitting across the fire from Niles, but she seemed to be quite happy. After they finished eating, Azrielle asked to sit by Niles and feed on his magic. He agreed, and they adjusted their seating arrangement so that Niles could hold her hand while Vedika shifted to placing a hand on his neck, prompting Niles to joke about keeping some of his old torn up shirts to make it easier for them to touch him. He acted like he was in good spirits, and the rift between him and Azrielle seemed to be gone.

  Birgit’s mind was racing, though, trying to analyze every word he said, every gesture made, and every look he gave, to find a hint of his true feelings about her, Azrielle, and Vedika. She realized she was reading too much into things, but she could not seem to stop herself. When it finally came time to turn in, Birgit felt as nervous as the first time she had shared a sleeping space with Niles, maybe even more so, if that was possible. She was torn between distancing herself a little more than she had been the last few nights, to sleep more like she had noticed Vedika doing, or sleeping even closer as she had a few times before she discovered Prince Advick might be interested in her. She finally settled for just holding his arm as she had been. Still, it seemed to take forever for her to fall asleep.

  Once she fell asleep, though, it felt like she had only been asleep for a moment when Sinja woke her to take over the watch. The elf retreated quickly once Birgit acknowledged she was awake by uncovering her enchanted light enough to produce a dim glow. It was just enough for Birgit to see her surroundings as she sat up and prepared to wake Niles. Looking down at her familiar, Birgit was shocked. Vedika had rolled over, almost on top of him. She was pressed so close to his side that her lips were only inches from his neck, and even though they were covered by a blanket, Birgit could clearly see Vedika’s arm draped over his chest. Their legs looked intertwined as well, but the blanket made that hard to tell. Had that happened accidentally, or had Vedika moved there on purpose? Was Vedika trying to entice Niles with designs on a marriage contract? Birgit knew that sometimes mages would try to tempt other mage’s familiars away from their contract holder, but Vedika would not do that, would she? No, it must have just been an accident, or maybe she was just growing more comfortable with Niles and was making sure she stayed in contact all night, like Birgit was.

  Carefully watching Nile’s expression, Birgit shook his shoulder gently. His eyes fluttered open, and she was pleased that he seemed surprised when he realized where Vedika was, so he must not have known she was there. He slid carefully away from the princess, who shifted, but did not wake. Making their way out of the tent, Birgit relieved Sinja and her familiar, taking over the watch.

  The wards did most of the work of alerting them to danger, so they really only took turns on watch to make sure there would be someone awake and ready if something tripped the wards. That left Birgit with plenty of time to talk with Niles as they stood together on a rise that gave them a good view of the camp. But Birgit could not think of anything to say. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but she had promised not to. So, instead, she stared up at the clear sky that revealed a magnificent view of the stars, while her mind raced.

  “Are you cold?” Niles asked

  Brigit’s mind had been so occupied that she hadn’t realised it, but unconsciously she had huddled closer than normal to the big hu man. “A little, I guess.”

  Niles stepped behind Birgit and wrapped his arms around her. “Is that better, or do you want me to go get a blanket for you?”

  The warmth of both his magic and his body washed over her, making her heart race. “This is… fine, thank you… so did your talk with Azrielle go well?”

  “Yeah, I think it did. We came to an understanding, and so far tonight she hasn’t crawled into bed with me, so hopefully it will work out. I think it was just a cultural misunderstanding. Once I explained things, she seemed to be fine with just being friends.”

  “Did you talk about anything else?” Birgit asked. She knew she was treading very close to breaking her promise to Vedika, but she could not help herself.

  Birgit felt Niles arms and chest move against her as he shrugged. “No, that was mostly it.”

  Birgit had to fight down the urge to dig deeper. Instead, she tried to relax and enjoy the starry night, and not think about the warm embrace. When their watch ended, they woke Prince Advick to take the next watch, but then they encountered a new problem.

  “What are we going to do about this?” Niles whispered, nodding to their combined sleeping mats with Vedika now sleeping right in the middle. “I hate to wake her, with this being her night to sleep all the way through. I guess we could just let her have the middle tonight.”

  “No,” Birgit whispered, taking Niles’ arm. “I think there is enough room on this side. We will just have to squeeze in a little closer than usual.”

  “Well, if you don’t mind.”

  “No,” Birgit said softly, hoping he could not see her blush in the dim light. “I do not mind at all.”