Jadis blurted the first thing that came to her mind as soon as the initial stun had worn off.
“Why are you apologizing?”
Eir looked up, her eyes flickering between the three of Jadis’ bodies since all had spoken at once. She finally settled on Syd, since she was the closest.
“Because I’ve unintentionally forced you into an awkward situation with my family. While I have freely given you all of my love and wish to be the mother of your child, I had not intended to trap you into matrimony.”
Eir’s anxious words kickstarted Jadis’ brain into moving at faster speeds. That was what her elf lover was worried about? She was afraid that she would look like she’d trapped Jadis into a shotgun wedding?
The thought almost made Jadis want to laugh. Not because she didn’t want to marry Eir. Quite the opposite. She fully planned on marrying her elven mate, as well as all of her lovers. She just didn’t know anything about the local customs for such matters and was otherwise content with the personal bonds made between them for the moment. She didn’t need a ring to prove her love for Eir or Aila or any of her mates. They were hers and she was theirs. That was more than enough for the time being.
But had Eir maybe expected more? Jadis didn’t think that was the case, not with how her priestess has always acted. Eir’s parents apparently expected more, though. Probably because they were nobles. Jadis had known Eir was the daughter of a noble family, but that had always been a kind of unmoored fact floating in the background. It just hadn’t mattered that much to Jadis. Now, though, it seemed it had become a factor. Eir’s parents had expectations when it came to their daughter. Ones that were causing said daughter some distress.
Syd took a few steps forward and knelt down so that she was level with Eir. Cupping the woman’s face in her hands, she gave her sweet elf a tender kiss to reassure her.
“I can promise you that the thought of you trying to trap me in a marriage has never once crossed my mind,” Syd told Eir, her forehead pressed against the elf’s. “What absolutely has entered my thoughts on many, many occasions is how much I want to marry you. Trust me. I’m not even a little uncertain about that particular life goal.”
“Really?” Eir asked, her voice so small she almost couldn’t be heard.
“Absolutely,” Syd nodded before giving Eir another kiss.
While the kiss lingered, Aila approached Jay and leaned against her side. Glancing up, she asked her a clarifying question.
“So you’re going to marry Eir just as her parents are requesting?”
“Oh, absolutely not,” Jay waved the idea away with one hand. “I mean, yes, I’m going to marry Eir. But either I’m marrying you first, or we’re going to do some kind of group union thing. You’re my first wife, after all.”
That perfectly blunt statement prompted a wide-eyed, startled look from Aila. But Jadis pushed forward, wanting to get all of her thoughts out while she had everyone’s attention.
“Also, I want to do it right. I have no idea what the courtship traditions are like around here, but I don’t want to skip any steps. I know what I’d be doing back where I’m from, but I’d like to follow the steps you all would expect, too. I’m not going to leap ahead just because Eir’s parents are trying to force us to.”
“Are they trying to force us?” Syd asked, breaking the kiss to address Eir.
“Ah, sort of?” Eir said, blinking as she reoriented herself from what had become a fairly passionate kiss. “Um, my parents are… traditional. I’m also their only child. When I told them I was joining the temple, they were displeased since it meant I wasn’t likely to produce any heirs of my own that might hold our family’s noble title. But now that I am, I think they are excited by the opportunity and are pressing harder than they normally would.”
That made some sense. Jadis knew Eir was an only child, and if her parents were nobles, they probably did want heirs to ensure the family line continued. That meant the whole push was probably just an overreaction that could be sorted out with an open conversation. Jadis was more than willing to have that conversation with the two, though she had hoped the first meeting between her and one of her lover’s parents didn’t have so much anxiety hanging over it.
“Hold the cart,” Kerr spoke up, capturing everyone’s attention. “I feel like we just rode right by a massive fucking street sign without comment. You’re planning on asking us to marry you? All of us?”
Dys stared at Kerr, giving her the best “are you stupid” look she could muster.
“Well, yeah. You’re my bonded slut, remember? You’re basically my second wife already. Aila’s pretty much already my first wife. We live together, work together, and spend almost all of our free time together. I want you to have my kids. Of course I want to marry you and the others. Duh.”
“I—uh, Ah—I, okay, yes!” Kerr stumbled over her words for a moment. “Yeah, obviously! I just… We haven’t talked about it that way just yet, so I guess you just plopping it out in the open like a wet turd kind of threw me off, okay?”
Jadis was not impressed by Kerr comparing her intent to marry her lovers to a particularly squishy bowel movement, but she pushed past the horrible metaphor to focus on the important part of the conversation.
“Look. I love you. I love you, too,” Jay said as she turned her gaze to meet Thea’s, who looked immediately bashful at the attention. “And I love you, Eir, and you, Aila. You are all my girlfriends and my lovers and my mates. And, once we figure things out, I hope you’ll be my wives. You do not have to answer that question right now. I’m not officially proposing or anything. Like I said, I want to do it right and this isn’t romantic at all. Going to need a candlelight dinner at a minimum. But yes. I do think of you all that way, if that fact wasn’t clear before now.”
“And just to be equally as clear with you two,” Dys said as she turned to look at Sabina and Bridget, both of whom startled at being focused on, “I feel the same way about you two. We just haven’t made anything official yet and I was waiting for a better moment to have that conversation. But yeah. Sorry this is kind of being brought up in an awkward way, however, I’d like our relationships to be moved to the next level. If you want to have the conversation in private though, we can—”
“Yes!”
Jay paused at Sabina’s loud outburst. The smith was practically dancing on her toes, but at Jadis’ momentary lapse she visibly reined herself in before explaining herself.
“I mean, I’ve been thinking we were already dating for a while now really but I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to make it awkward by saying anything because if we weren’t dating and I only thought we were then me saying something could have made you or me or someone else uncomfortable and I didn’t want that to happen! Ah, but, since you are bringing it up now, I absolutely want to be your girlfriend and talk about marriage and maybe have kids and a house and—oh! You need to ask my father for permission before we go that far if we want to be proper, but I’m sure he’d approve of you and so would my mother if she were around but that’s beside the point. Yes, I want to date you!”
“I’m, really, really happy to hear that,” Jay replied, feeling a blush heat her cheeks due to the smith’s unfiltered words. “I’m sorry we didn’t have this conversation sooner, honestly.”
“It’s okay!” Sabina quickly brushed the concern away. “It’s not like we’ve had a lot of time to ourselves to talk lately!”
“Ahem,” Bridget cleared her throat to catch everyone’s attention before Sabina could start rambling again. “I would, uh, like a more personal conversation about us dating later. You know. Romance and all that shit. But, um, I may be pregnant with your child from last night for all I know, so, yeah. I’m kind of onboard with the whole being your mate thing. Kind of thought that was obvious by now, too…”
“Yes, it was,” Jay smirked. “But it’s nice to have it said out loud. And we’ll have that talk in a little bit, alright?”
Bridget nodded, her own face turning a darker shade of green as she blushed, though she was doing a better job of controlling her reactions than she used to. Probably Aila’s influence, if Jadis had to guess.
“This has got to be one of the weirder conversations I’ve ever witnessed…” Sorcha mumbled from her seat on the sidelines. “Not sure I should even be here for this, kind of feels like I’m intruding on some pretty personal business.”
“You’ve literally watched us fuck on multiple occasions,” Kerr pointed out. “You could probably paint a picture of Jadis’ cock with your eyes closed by now. This isn’t that much more intimate.”
Jadis wasn’t entirely sure she agreed with Kerr’s assessment, nor did it look like Sorcha bought the excuse either, but either way the therion’s comment had brought up another point that she wanted to address.
“So, I wanted to ask you all out on dates,” Syd started as she took Eir by the hand and led her to one of the couches to sit. “I mean, personal ones. Just the three of me and one of you. Individual dates. I know we spend literally all our time together, but I don’t think that’s the same thing as going on a date. We’ve got something like two weeks here in the capital at a minimum, so now seems like a great time, so long as you all agree.”
“Also, I do mean all of you,” Dys said as she pointed first at Alex, then at Sorcha. “Alex is basically my lover now, even if we’re still working things out, and I want to get to know you better, Sorcha. I’m not sure where things are going between us, but I want to feel things out, if you’re okay with that.”
Sorcha’s big eyes got bigger at Dys’ words. Her gaze swiveled back and forth between the different women in the room, seeing no censure or suspicion but instead curiosity and open interest. After a moment, she made a loud gulp to clear her throat and waggled her head in a way that made her big ears flop.
“I, um, I would like that, yes. Yes. Let’s go on a date.”
“Awesome,” all three of Jadis’ selves smiled. “Now, let’s talk about the actual logistics of all this, huh? I’ve never been in a multi-partner relationship so I don’t have a clue how we’re supposed to work out who goes first. Thoughts?”
As the group started talking, Jadis grinned widely. It felt good to get her feelings out in the open. She had wanted to make sure everyone was on the same footing and understood how she felt about them, but had been beating around the bush somewhat because she didn’t want to do it the wrong way. A ridiculous fear, one that she should have known better than to fall to. Taking bold action, be it on the battlefield or in her relationships, was always the best course of action. Direct communication, even if it was blunt and risked hurting feelings, was better than no communication at all. Looking at the faces of her lovers and companions, Jadis was fairly certain they felt the same way. Certainly, the conversation could have gone worse. And by the way no one had balked at the idea of marriage and had instead seemed excited by it, Jadis’ mood was soaring higher than a dragon could fly.
The debate on how they were going to handle their dating schedule was mostly led by Aila, to no one’s surprise. That didn’t mean that the others didn’t have input, but she kept the conversation moving by rejecting the silly ideas and turning the group’s focus onto the more tenable ones. Jadis had expected Kerr to have more input since her people more frequently had large, harem-style relationships as a part of their society, but she ended up not having much to say on the matter. In most therion harems, the head of the group would just say what they wanted and that was the end of it. Since Jadis didn’t want to do that, Aila directed them to some other ideas.
In the end, they settled on chance. Letting D’s domain be the arbiter of what order the dates went in felt appropriate, so Kerr retrieved some dice from her pack so they could roll for who got to go first and then go from there. While they sorted out the order, they also talked about what exactly the dates would entail.
The problem with being in the capital was that their options were somewhat limited. Not through any fault of the city, of course, but because Jadis couldn’t leave the temple district without a ridiculously large escort. Plus, the restrictions of her parole wouldn’t allow her to be out of the district after nightfall. That meant whatever dates they went on, they were pretty much stuck with staying in or around the temples. Not that Jadis felt like they couldn’t enjoy themselves without going out on the town; the dates were about spending time together, not exploring the city. Still, Jadis chafed at the idea that she was limited in what she could treat her girls to because of stupid politics.
Thinking of both politics and being chafed, Jadis caught Eir’s attention as the women continued to work out their plans.
“How exactly are your parents planning on having me attend a ball?” Syd asked quietly. “I mean, I have to be inside the temple district before nightfall. They know that, right? They know about all this shit with the prince and stuff?”
“They do,” Eir nodded. “And I assure you, they have a plan. My parents are hardly the most influential nobles in the empire, but they are… persuasive when they want to be. Before your detainment ends, there will be a ball, and you will be attending it. I have no doubt of it.”
From the way Eir spoke, Jadis had no doubts about it either.
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