Page 45 of Fool's Bargain

When I raised my glass in a toast, I was positive the gift I planned to give them on Christmas morning was the perfect choice, but despite the festive air, there was an undercurrent of foreboding that I couldn’t shake. Something still worried Theo too much for his happy demeanor to be completely convincing thanks to our meld, but I didn’t want to ruin the night by confronting him. Whatever it was, it could keep. I had no intention of letting anything distract me from having the first truly happy Christmas I’d ever had.

21

Zarya

Afrisson of excitement crackled through my limbs when I slipped out of my dreams and rose to wakefulness. I’d stayed up until the wee hours, talking with each of my lovers to create the perfect designs for them all. The final designs that covered the pages of my sketchbook were all unique renditions of the starfish I’d given Theo. The five-armed creatures were the perfect representation of the bond the five of us now shared. They represented strength, patience, love, and regrowth, things all five of us had in common. Not to mention they each seemed to like glomming on to me while we slept, much like the creature did to its food. I was more eager than ever to get back to tattooing, but now the desire was less a frantic need to hold on to my success and more about integrating the four of them into that life.

We’d ended the evening flush with a depth of connectedness greater than what we’d shared before. When we’d finally come back together on my living room floor, not a shred of my earlier restlessness had remained. We’d shared a five-way meld that drove home to me how very right we were together, and I’d lost myself in the best way, surrendering for the first time to the certainty that we belonged together in a way that Bodhi and I never had. Today was the day I’d take it the final step and blood meld the other three.

Christmas had never been an occasion for hope before, but it was today. Even though I’d dated Bodhi through one full holiday season, I’d begged off the family gathering the first time too, opting for anEndless Summer-style surfing trip up the coast at the end of which was a tattoo convention I hadn’t wanted to miss. Bodhi had cut our adventure short to fly home from San Francisco, letting me keep his truck to keep going and drive our boards back after the new year.

My absence during those gatherings had only been an issue with him the second year, after I’d developed a clear pattern of avoidance. I had no reason to avoid it today and every reason to enjoy it because now I felt like I actually had something worthwhile togive—and four people I loved without question to give that gift to.

Before I opened my eyes, I reached for the bond within, surprised to find only a thin thread linking me to Theo, alongside the vibrant glowing one that tied me to Ione. My bonds to Dorian and Kyril had become so faint I could barely tell they were there. Convinced it must just be an unfortunate dream as I regained consciousness, I opened my eyes, reaching across the bed but finding the other side empty.

That I was eveninmy bed was unusual and I sat up, heart pounding at the disorientation. I was sure we’d fallen asleep on my living room floor again, replete from the enormous meal and making love with only the flames from my gas fireplace and a single strand of Christmas lights strung across the mantelpiece to illuminate our entangled bodies. I’d nearly offered my blood to them that night, but I’d wanted to do it in the light of day, when my mind and body weren’t clouded by lust, when I could be sure my eyes were open as wide as my soul as we shared a meld.

Ione grumbled next to me, reaching blindly for the blankets and rolling closer to wrap herself around me. When she failed to find me lying there, she stilled.

“Zar? What’s wrong?” she asked, her croaking rasp tinged with alarm.

“Have you seen the guys?” I hopped off the bed, trotting into the other room. My living room had been tidied, the furniture moved back to where it had been, all remnants of our three-day tryst gone. All the blankets and pillows had been folded neatly and stacked.

I looked for a note, for any sign of where they were or why they’d gone, all the while struggling not to let a dark maw of despair swallow me whole.

“This isnothappening,” I gritted out, my throat already closing up. It had been too good to be true, Iknewit.

“Zar, they wouldn’t just go,” Ione said at my elbow. She touched me and that was all it took for the dam to break. I was already sobbing when she pulled me into her arms.

“Why can’t I ever have something good that lasts?” I wailed against her naked shoulder. She pulled me down to the sofa and wrapped us both in a soft blanket, holding me close like a child.

“Hush, sweetie. Thiswilllast. They wouldn’t just go like this. Even if they did, they owe us both an explanation, so we’ll find them and beat it out of them if we have to.”

“They didn’t leave anything like a note, and you guys don’t carry cell phones. Did they go back to the Haven? Will you take me there?”

Her lips pressed into a line and she shook her head. “Non-nymphaea can’t easily enter except on certain days, even with an escort. But you are bound to them. We can use your link to find them. If they’re in the Haven, we’ll get there. Focus on your bond to Theo since it’s the strongest. I will guide you with a meld. Try to see through his eyes.”

She turned to face me cross-legged on the sofa and pulled the blanket over our heads. Within the soft cocoon, I followed suit, facing her with an anxious look. I had no idea what I was doing but her determination transferred through the tight grip she had on my hands. I fixed my gaze on hers and nodded.

When she bent her forehead to mine, I focused on opening my mind, but like the other times, it wasn’t until she pressed her fingers to the pressure points along both sides of my jaw that the connection gained true power. She flowed into me, her consciousness tugging at mine and directing my wayward attention toward the bond I had with Theo.

Our blood meld stretched like a glowing cable and I grasped hold, my consciousness flowing into it as though I were merely a conduit for two energies that were already predisposed to merge together. I gasped with the sudden sense of being not just somewhere else, but someoneelse.

When I opened my eyes, I saw first a room, as orderly and pristine as an institutional office, though cast in shades of glowing purple. It had four walls and four arched windows, beyond which stretched orderly rows of pruned trees. There was no door, but on either side of me stood Dorian and Kyril, both looking distinctly irritated to be here.

In front of me rested a broad block of a desk with a clean, empty surface, and behind the desk sat a... person? I wasn’t sure whether it was a man or a woman. Neither one, I suspected, but whoever it was, it scrutinized us with a look of both irritation and curiosity, its purple gaze finally landing on me.

“You are beyond my reach now, but the other two will remain in my custody until I decide what to do with you. No one breaks my rules without consequences.”

It made a flicking motion with its hand as though brushing away some errant dust and a moment later the view changed. My awareness snapped back to the blanket tent I shared with Ione and the pressure of her forehead against mine.

I threw off the blanket and surged out the door, running down the stairs to the pool, Ione calling after me. But I wasn’t about to stop.

Theo stood with his back to the pool, hands at his side, staring up at the sky as if in prayer.

“Theo!” I called, and he dropped his eyes to me, stretching out his arms as I leaped into them. “What the hell happened? Where are they?” I had a million other questions but they died when he kissed me.

“Let’s go inside, lover. It’s too cold out here to talk.”

---