Page 51 of Bright Soul

“Braza says it’s important. Apparently, Auric et Vess is here,” I said.

He stared at me in shock. “Auric? Here?” He muttered something I was starting to notice as his go-to curse in the dimensional language, but then he nuzzled into my hair, breathing in the scent of me with a sigh. We held tighter to one another for a moment before getting up.

I turned on a lamp and tidied the bed while he dressed in his old leather armor and answered the door bare-chested to let Ben in. I identified the scraps of colored fabric on the floor as the remains of my clothes and shook my head, going to don the black shirt of the set of clothes I’d gotten for Phaeron. It fit onme like a dress, the hem stopping mid-thigh. Not bad for the inevitable walk of shame across the hall.

I emerged from the bathroom and caught the end of a backslapping hug between the two men. I hung back a moment, oddly touched. Ben and Geo had seemed to be growing into close friends. Maybe this was a glimpse of a future where I was dating an inseparable trio. As long as Geo could finally accept Phaeron.

Ben turned and spotted me, making grabby hands in my direction. “Morning, babe.” He had a hug for me too before tucking to my back and resting his cheek against mine. His clever hands slipped under the hem of my oversized shirt.

I felt him smile. “I see I was right. When Geo told me what happened, I kind of assumed.” His thumbs brushed up and around where the band of my panties should be.

“He punched Phaeron for no reason,” I said, still pissed that was Geo’s first reaction to seeing him awake.

“I greatly deserved it, actually,” Phaeron put in. His fingers traced his jaw, where a bruise was starting to bloom on his gray skin. “Your safety is his duty, and I have been a threat to it. I am surprised he’s not here now.”

His yellow gaze cut curiously to Ben, who I felt shrug. “We had a long chat about you after the powercore sent word you both were safe in the library. I think he doesn’t know what he’s feeling after seeing you and Cress fighting.”

“Phaeron wasn’t in control,” I argued.

“Yeah, but we’re talking about someone who’s been a rock more hours than not lately. Just remember that he’s not the bad guy, all right? He’s just figuring himself out. That rock loves you as much as I do, babe, and that’s saying something.” He gave my bare hips a squeeze and planted a kiss on my cheek.

If we hadn’t had an audience, I’d be tossing this shirt aside…hell, Phaeron had already seen us going at it, so modesty wasn’t the best excuse either. The dimensional cleared his throat asI considered. “I expect you have a reason for disturbing our peace?” he prompted.

Oh, right. A living legend of a dimensional was here.

“Yeah, this dimensional man appeared out of nowhere while there was a fight with some of Myuna’s creatures outside of the hospital. He made the unnaturals disappear with a flick of his wrist and said he wanted to speak with you, Phaeron. He also idly threatened to make our friends vanish one by one if we did not find you.”

There was a knowing glimmer in Phaeron’s eyes. “You barely need to say more. What color was his skin? Did he have one blind eye?”

“Blue. And…yeah. I believe one of our friends correctly summed up his appearance as ‘creepy fuck.’”

Phaeron snorted a surprised laugh. “That does sound like Auric. Don’t worry, he’s all bark and little bite, as you humans say.”

“You sound positivelyancientright now, Big P,” Ben commented.

He rolled his eyes. “When Cress is properly dressed, we shall go.”

GEO

The blue-skinned dimensional held a cigar while seated on a granite wall next to a set of steps that led up to the hospital, smoking without a care in the world. I was posted several yards away across a concrete courtyard. My obsidian wings andwide stance blocked a second, smaller staircase right before the hospital doors. I stood next to Madigan’s red-armored form and brandished warhammer.

Behind us ranged several more defenders, including Bianca with her crossbow and the rough-voiced shifter she’d come to spend most of her spare time with. We couldn’t be sure this man wasn’t another puppet of Myuna’s and about to make a move to teleport us all in front of the goddess. He hadn’t spoken to us much at all to dispel the notion, only demanded Phaeron and refused to move, creating this stalemate of wills.

A curl of shadows, distinctive on this bright winter day, crossed the sky and took form next to me. I swung my head around, surprised to see only Cress and Ben take shape from curls of black and purple magic. When I looked back toward the unknown dimensional, Phaeron had already taken form and was speaking to him in the language of Soiluire.

“Oh, wow, he looks much cooler in person,” Cress commented. “Also, hi, Geo.”

“Hello,” I gritted out.

It was a relief to see her whole and hale again, but that feeling was quickly pushed aside at my annoyance with her so willingly disappearing with a man who’d harmed her so badly. Magical influence or no, Phaeron was still the cause of the mostly healed wounds and bruises that’d peppered her body. I should’ve pummeled him further so he felt a fraction of the pain he’d inflicted on her.

She glowed, beaming like she held some sweet secret. A glint of her usual curious awe at learning something new about the supernatural community shone on her face as she watched the two dimensional men interact.

The newcomer spoke in a voice nearly as gravelly as mine. He’d leveraged himself to his feet with his tail alone, and I registered it as a natural weapon. It was a muscular coilcompared to Phaeron’s whip-thin version, heavier with a layer of back-facing spikes and a cluster of them at the end like a club. He rested it around his feet while he grasped forearms with Phaeron, bowing his head in a brief show of deference.

“That’s Auric et Vess,” Cress explained in an undertone. Even Madigan tilted her head to listen in. “He’s from the Vrassorm tribe, the rarest of the three types of dimensionals. They usually have power over cold or the Void, and the stronger they are with either, the more potent the poison is that they store in their tail spikes.”

“What is the Void?” Madigan asked.

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