Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) (22 page)

Naiads and naiaders don’t,
he said calmly as if it didn’t matter, though disappointment pinched at her.

I want to see YOUR pattern.
She let go of his hands, backed up, and hummed with pleasure. His pattern of raised scales was nearly silver, curves and angles with white dots as punctuation above the topmost straight line. She wanted to touch but didn’t quite dare be so intimate.

She had no clue of the sexual mores of Lightfolk, or of Waterfolk, though Jenni and Aric were married, and the royals were royal
couples.
So much to learn.

Glancing at him, his expression now hard for her to read, she sent mentally,
Do patterns matter to Merfolk? Do they indicate status?

He nodded.
Very intelligent. Yes, you must have noticed my white circles, they show that I have elven blood.

Really! How cool.

He continued on,
My blood is considered tainted by many mers since I am only ninety-two percent mer.

She snorted and it didn’t go right and she sucked in water or air and thrashed around until Lathyr came and grasped her, swam them to shallow water and lifted her head from the water, where she really seized.

“Breathe with me. One-two-three. Air, now, one-two-three.”

It took several minutes for her to calm and get the hang of air breathing again. “That’s, that’s...” she sputtered spit—so uncool!

“I’m sorry if I presumed.”

She grabbed his shoulders and her hands slid off the slickness, so she went for his hair. “That’s so stupid, to judge a person by their skin, their pattern...their elemental purity.”

Now his expression appeared remote. So she took a hard grip on his hair and tilted her head and kissed him.

His lips were damp with tastes of the water he’d been in...the slight floral-jasmine hint of the pool they swam in now, a trace of salt from the chamber in the basement that her tongue swept from his lips, and a tang of fish....

She pulled back. “Koi? Really? You’ve been in the koi pond?”

“It is more natural and always better balanced magically than the pools here. The koi pond is easier to transport to and from in our droplet form. Which I also need to show you.” He stepped back and away from her, and her arms dropped. She didn’t know if she’d offended him, if he was as attracted to her as she was to him. His skin seemed paler, and had a pearly sheen that she hadn’t noticed before, exciting. His features appeared sharper.

Best to be blunt. “Did you like the kiss? I did. Would you like to kiss again, or have sex?”

Chapter 23

LOUD TITTERING AND
small guffaws came from the edge of the pool. Kiri looked over and saw the brownies—the couple who lived with Jenni and Aric and the ones who took care of the Castle. The two males bowed and the females curtsied.

“Now you are formally living in Castle, we formally introduce ourself,” said the browniefem. “I am Melody. My new mate, Dade. We assigned here at Castle. You stay here so should know us.”

“We are assigned here to the Castle, and you are staying here because you are now naiad and Waterfolk, so you should know us, and that we are here to care for you,” corrected the brownieman. “We would like to know which room or suite we should prepare for Kiri Palger...or whether she will share your rooms.”

Kiri’s heart thumped behind her hardscale.

“Kiri must always have rooms of her own for sanctuary, here,” Lathyr said austerely. “Prepare the secondary Merfolk suite.”

“Yes, noble Sir.”

“Meanwhile, I need to demonstrate the droplet-form to Kiri and help her practice it,” Lathyr said.

The brownies bowed and curtsied again. The Emberdrakes’ couple vanished with little pops, but Kiri thought they’d actually dematerialized themselves and sped through the walls.

Melody stared at them, her eyes protuberant. “Lathyr not...
do
not belong in chamber on
this
floor. We move you to water elemental room.”

Another chuckle and a wink from the brownieman. “We’ll make the water suite nice for you both.” Then they sped from the pool area into the hallway. And Kiri became aware that Lathyr was stroking her long hair and her back in a soothing matter.

She smiled up at him and he leaned down and brushed his mouth across hers, nibbled at her lips and said, “Yes, I like kissing you. Yes, I’d like to have sex with you. Yes, we should practice your droplet form.” Again he separated himself from her. “And once you are good in each form, we will find what kind of naiad you are.”

She blinked in confusion, still wanting his lips on hers, and her second set of eyelids came down and went up, distracting. “What do you mean?”

“You might be more comfortable living in a stream, or a pond, a spring or a lake, a river. Whether you live better in fresh or salt water. We must determine that.”

“Oh.” She looked around the beautiful room, felt the flow of water against her legs. “Not a swimming pool naiad.”

“I hope not. That would be a failure of the transformation, and I’m sure that isn’t true. You are a fully magical water elemental.”

Her mouth turned down. “And I won’t be able to live in Mystic Circle.”

“Not in your house without a pool.”

“And not here, not for long,” she said mournfully.

“No.”

“So, I will have to find my own spot.”

“That is so. We will all help you.”

“Oh, all right.”

He transformed from legged-mer to full human, keeping his paler, sparkly skin.

“Do I sparkle, too?”

“What?”

“Your skin. It has a sparkle. No, more like a sheen.”

He glanced down at himself, frowned. “I don’t see that.”

“One of the first things I noticed about you,” she insisted.

“Hmm.” His muscles flexed in his chest and upper arms. “Highly magical water elementals have more of a sheen to their skin and scales than others. That I sparkle...” He shrugged. “I gained new powers with the magic in the spring, but not enough for a permanent sheen, due to my elven blood, probably more like an occasional flicker.”

She didn’t think so, but didn’t contradict him.

“Also, we met in the evening, so it may be better seen in the twilight.”

“I suppose so.”

He walked up the ramp to the poolside and as he did, he dried off. Must be a neat water elemental trick.

“How do you do that?”

“What?”

“Dry off?”

“One absorbs all the water on one’s body into one’s skin. Were Jenni here, she’d sizzle it off with fire.”

“Oh.” Again she kept her gaze on his face, well, no lower than his nipples. As a human he had them, but as legged or full-mer they were behind that other skin, hardscale.

“It is best to practice droplet form out of the water with young mers. In the water, you might disperse too much. In the air, you hold together more.” He grimaced. “Especially air as dry as this.”

The conservatory and pool—the whole Castle—was a whole lot more humid than outside.

“Become human, Kiri,” he prompted.

It took but a thought and the fins on her arms, legs and spine disappeared as well as that other, harder, almost armorlike flesh encasing her own. Though when she studied herself, she remained blue.

He faced her and offered her his hands. When she put one of hers in his, he linked fingers.
We will mind-speak in droplet form also.

All right.
Nervous, she shifted her feet.

First, feel me dissipate. I am separating my molecules into the water droplets in the air around me.

Uh-huh.
Her brain hurt if she tried to think about how that worked. Like everything else in her life, it could be answered in one word,
magic.
And if it worked, she didn’t need an explanation, right? Or she could learn one later.

She looked into Lathyr’s focused face, saw him begin to vanish, or turn invisible, disturbing. And her fingers began to lose his grip. Then he, as human, was gone. For a moment a colorful mist remained near, then it, too, was lost to sight.

I can move in this fashion, slowly through the air, faster if I find water, streams and rivers above or underground. Faster still with a storm.

“And the more humid the area, the faster you can go.”

That is correct.
He faded in right before her as if he’d never moved, in his legged-mer form.

“Um, you just spread your molecules out, and put air molecules between them?”

That is correct.
His hands were holding hers again and he lifted each of hers to his lips and kissed them. A nice little erotic shiver went through her. Romance and sex. Later. Concentrate on the now.

“What happens if something comes in between your molecules?”

Usually we are moving in this form, and keep together by magical bonds. If something threatens, we can contract or expand, or move around the other body.

“Uh-huh.”

Mental communication, please. It is better that you learn.

Very well,
Kiri projected stiltedly.

Yes, you DO very well, Kiri, never think you do not. You are fully naiad, fully magic, lacking nothing. You must not doubt that.

If I do?

His body rippled in a Waterfolk shrug.
You will be...a crippled mer, not reach your full potential.
He paused.
What is your goal as a mer?

The same as when I was a person,
she replied automatically
. To be the best I can be.

He smiled, kissed her lightly again, as if he’d known that all along
. Perhaps you need a more solid goal, like visiting the Pacific Water Palace. It is the most beautiful of them all.

A naiad could do that? A Colorado mountain stream naiad? A Denver crick naiad?

Yes. Freshwater Waterfolk are Waterfolk all the same, though the oceans hold many dangers for the unwary, so they might wish an escort.
He squeezed her hands again.

She didn’t say she’d follow him anywhere. Right now she felt like that, but mostly because he was her lifeline and she was afraid.

It is difficult for two mers to disperse together, but it can be done. Again, breathe with me.

She stared at him with wide eyes.
How can we breathe if we disperse?

Our breaths slow, you do NOT think of organs such as lungs or heart, but beingness.

BEINGNESS!

Think of your essential you, your soul.

What of my body?

It will follow your soul, your magical essence.

And magic will hold me—all of me, physical and...whatever...together.

Absolutely. Breathe with me.

She did and her breaths were loud.

Perhaps it would be easier for you if you close your eyes. Ah.
He paused.
Do you meditate? A human once told me that dispersal sounded like meditation.

“You talked about this to a human?”

He gave her a half smile.
He was much evolved spiritually.

“Uh-huh,” she said uncertainly, then bit her lip.
Sorry for speaking aloud. Yes, I’ve meditated.
Since he was holding her hands, she couldn’t cross her fingers with the fib. She had. Well, she’d given meditation a shot—several times.

We just want you to learn, Kiri, not to be troubled by success or failure. We all have failures.
Then his brows came down as if he might even be listening to himself and applying the knowledge.

Kiri closed her eyes. Again the warmth and humidity of the room pressed on her, as well as the green and growing smells of the plants, the rich humus of earth, the tiny whiff of smoke that indicated the brownies had lit a fire in another room. The tiles under her feet were warm, too, and she sensed the thickness of the floor, the basement space below.

Deep breathing. Right. She could do this. Shannon’s instructions echoed in her mind from college and made her smile. Shannon had been better at meditation than she, and Shannon meditated a lot. She’d continue to do so while pregnant and it would be good for the baby.

The thought of Shannon, of her words, of her image in Kiri’s mind’s eye, sitting cross-legged opposite her, relaxed Kiri. Relaxation, letting go, was key. Pretty much the antithesis of gaming, of work, where she had to be on her toes every minute. She wished they were doing this lying down on a mat. No, she didn’t. If they were lying on a mat, she’d roll over and touch the merman.

Stop. Thinking. Wound too tight. She’d heard that before
. Relaxing every muscle,
she said to Lathyr.

Also good.
His voice held humor, amusement at them both, trying hard to relax? He wouldn’t laugh at her. She’d noted that before and it was an important quality for her in a man. In anyone. But especially in a man she wanted to be intimate with.

Lathyr didn’t laugh enough at all, she didn’t think.

She breathed with him. Very slowly. Maybe too slowly for a human. Don’t question that, let...that...notion...go. Thoughts drifted through her mind and she didn’t follow them to logical conclusions, but allowed them to fade.

Come with me,
Lathyr said.

He wasn’t holding her hands. Don’t panic!

Can you feel the air around you?

She did. She blinked. Did she blink? No. She had no eyes. Don’t panic! But the air sparkled, or fizzed and popped. Or just sat there, pretty little globes of...air stuff.

Move with me,
Lathyr said. She could “hear” him in her mind. She had a mind.

Wow, this was strange, experiencing the world with no eyes or ears or nose or...

She panicked. And fell straight into the pool, slapping it hard for instant sunburn. Well, she was all the way back in her body.

“Are you all right?” Lathyr asked, pulling her close, obviously using words because her mind had shut down to telepathy. Damn.

She whimpered with pain.

“Dunk in the water and change into legged-mer,” he ordered, brows coming down.

Grumbling, she did, and the sting dissipated. The water soothed, the water cradled...water was her friend.

When she bobbed up again, Lathyr was smiling. He framed her face with his lovely, long-fingered hands. “You did it! You became droplet form on your first try and you
moved.
”

“That’s good, right?”

“Absolutely. Now we will try again.” He slid his hands down her neck, shoulders, arms until he linked fingers.

“Right now?”

“Yes, right now.” He bent a frown on her that was belied by his gleaming eyes. “Breathe with me.”

So she did, and got into the right rhythm, and her mind slowed and her eyes blurred and sight became some other sense, and she dispersed.

Come with me,
Lathyr said.

And she did. She followed him through the house. Melody glanced up sharply at their passing. What did Kiri look like to brownie eyes? Was it different to other eyes? Could humans see her? Maybe not see Lathyr since he was expert, but her? She nearly lost it and decanted into human form, but Lathyr soothed and they moved on. Slowly. Slower than walking. Geeze. And it was taking a lot out of her, too; she could feel the energy drain. She hovered just inside the door when he passed through.

She’d felt safe inside the Castle, the place where she’d transformed. Just like she always felt safe in her house. Somehow she’d felt as if nothing terrible could happen in the Castle...but
outside
in the scary world... She could lose herself.