“Jadis, may we speak for a moment?”
Aurea’s voice caused Jadis to pause as her three selves strode down the corridor. She’d just parted ways with Sorcha, the two having spent the rest of their date just talking as they walked the winter gardens. Having opened up to each other, Jadis was feeling pretty good about where their relationship was headed. They’d not gone any further than some kissing, but that was fine. Jadis wasn’t in any kind of a rush, and it didn’t feel right to try and push things along between them to something physical when they were still working their feelings out. But that was what the date had been for, and Jadis was looking forward to spending more time with the little witch.
For the moment, however, Jadis was intending to meet up with Aila and see what she’d accomplished as far as mercenary recruitment. At least, that had been her plan before the blonde high priestess had called out to her.
“Can I help you?” Jay replied for her triumvirate, all three of her selves turning to look at the beautiful woman.
“I hope so,” Aurea smiled demurely as she approached. “First, though, I wanted to let you know that we managed to negotiate a reduction on the restrictions surrounding your detainment.”
“You have?” Jay asked, surprised. “With who? How?”
“With the emperor, of course,” Aurea explained as she came to a stop directly in front of Jadis. “We did make a deal to leverage the temple’s influence in your favor, did we not?”
Indeed, they had. Thinking back on their meeting in Glitnir, Jadis had promised to have a fair number of children with a variety of women in exchange for the temple helping her out of the legal and political swamp she’d managed to get stuck in. Now that she’d had a meeting with Prince Kestil, Jadis wasn’t entirely sure she need have bothered. It seemed like Kestil was going to be getting her out of trouble through his own power, no need for the temples to intercede.
Then again, considering how manipulative Kestil appeared to be, it was probably a good idea for Jadis to have more than one avenue to get out of the trouble she was in. If the temples were going to back her, that would be a big help if the second prince decided to back out of his promise to her. Plus, even if the prince did fulfill his end of the bargain, having the temples exerting their influence to help her could make for some good cover. If asked, she could say that she didn’t have much to do with Kestil and was just relying on the temples to aid her while she was in a bind. Being able to put that kind of distance between her and Kestil felt like a good idea to Jadis.
“Well, that’s great,” Jay responded to the high priestess with a grin. “What kind of restrictions were lifted?”
“The number of guards following you when you leave the temple district will be reduced. Oswin argued that considering how strong you are, it made more sense to have only a few elites escort you rather than a whole detachment of soldiers.”
That was a surprise. Jadis had thought it would only be Lyssandria and Destarious’ temples aiding her when Aurea and Sholto had negotiated the deal. Oswin’s involvement hadn’t been mentioned, though Jadis supposed Aurea had said “the temples” would help her. She just hadn’t realized that meant all of the temples.
“That’s very nice of him to help,” Jay said in a mild tone. “I’ll have to thank him next time I see him.”
“He also negotiated a better curfew time,” Aurea continued. “You won’t have to return until the midnight hour, instead of sundown.”
That made Jadis genuinely pause in shock. She tilted her heads in confusion, eyeing Aurea with a bit of suspicion.
“…Really? That’s… actually very generous.”
“I’ve got to ask,” Syd probed the blonde woman, “Were Eir’s parents involved in that decision at all? Because I know they are planning some kind of a ball…”
“There were a few unexpected petitions that showed up both on our desks as well as in the emperor’s court,” Aurea admitted. “The various parties who signed them were enough to loosen the hold, if not release you completely. I’m not sure why he’s being so stubborn on the matter, but from what Oswin told me, Prince Hraustrekr is being unusually harsh in his judgement of you and your actions. His opinion has a great deal of sway with the emperor, and I believe that his insistence that you remain in custody is the only reason why you haven’t been freed already. You wouldn’t know what is causing him to take such a contrarian stance, do you?”
“Not with any certainty,” Dys answered in a semi-truthful way. “I have the impression it has something to do with my association with Magistrate Vraekae, which translates to my association with Kestil. Kind of a misunderstanding, I guess.”
“I see,” Aurea frowned. “It is a shame how at odds those two brothers are. If only they were able to get along, then I think they could accomplish great things working together. But I digress.”
Aurea waved a dismissive hand, reorienting the conversation away from talk of the princes and politics.
“I was hoping that you’d have some time tomorrow to make an appearance at one of the smaller temples here in the city. There are many adherents of Lyssandria who are eager to meet you and, if you are willing, we would like to make that happen sooner rather than later.”
As part of the bargain Jadis had made, she had agreed to do some small events to help the temple. Jadis wasn’t sure she was really suited for the kind of thing Aurea was asking her to do, but she didn’t think it would be fair to refuse when the temple had clearly called in some favors to help her. Besides, talking to a few worshippers of Lyssandria in a small temple didn’t sound that bad, on a conceptual level, at least.
“They aren’t coming here to the main temple?” Jay asked, motioning at the halls around them. “I figured most worshippers would want to come here if they can.”
“We’d rather have you go to them,” Aurea shook her head, causing her blonde curls to bounce. “It’s a better image to have you visit the smaller temples that the common populace frequents rather than hold you to the High Temple. You are not meant to be locked away for only the select few to meet but seen and heard by all. Wouldn’t you agree?”
While she could argue that maybe Aurea’s sentiment stemmed from her having an inflated opinion of Jadis due to her being a Nephilim, she had to admit that being placed on a pedestal inside the high temple was absolutely not something she wanted. Nodding her agreement, Jadis quickly arranged an outing with Aurea to go visit one of the smaller temples. The engagement did mean that Jadis had to slightly alter her plans for her next date, but not so much that it would cause problems, especially since the curfew restrictions had been lightened. Tomorrow would be a busy day, but there would be enough time that no obligation would be shirked and she’d still be able to go on her date.
With her business with Aurea concluded for the time being, Jadis sought out Aila as she had originally intended. Her lover was in the temple library, of course, and was reading one of the books that Jadis had borrowed from the Metethys archives.
The Lyssandria library wasn’t anywhere near as grand as the one in the Metethys temple, but it was significantly cozier with overly cushioned chairs, sweet-smelling flowers, and even a trio of musicians softly playing music from a balcony. Definitely a better place for relaxation, if not for research.
“Reading up on the big baddie?” Syd asked as she plopped down onto the floor next to Aila.
It was at moments like these where Jadis sincerely wished she was shorter. The large chair Aila had claimed as her own looked sinfully comfortable and would have been just the right size for two people to share, presuming they didn’t mind getting somewhat intimate. As it was, though, she would have only crushed her redheaded lover under her big butt if she had tried to squeeze into the seat.
Being a giant wasn’t always easy.
“Yes, I am,” Aila murmured distractedly as she finished whatever passage she was reading in the book written about the Demon Lord. “It’s really quite interesting. There are a good deal of details in this research that I was never aware of.”
“You’ll have to fill me in when you’re done,” Jay sighed as she settled onto a divan that creaked ominously but felt like it was going to hold up. “I don’t know anywhere near enough about this Demon Lord guy. Actually, is he a guy? Or what?”
“Yes, he is male,” Aila answered dryly as she closed the book. Her hand brushed through Syd’s hair in a proprietary way, sending a pleasant shiver down Syd’s spine. “But that’s beside the point right now. How did your date go with Sorcha?”
Taking a knee behind Aila’s chair, Dys leaned around the side opposite of Syd and gave her favorite freckled woman a kiss on the cheek. Leaning her head against the redhead’s, she wrapped one arm around her waist before answering her question.
“It went well. We got to clear the air between us, got to know each other a little better. You know, she was actually kind of scared of me?”
“I’m not surprised, no,” Aila mused as she continued to run her fingers through Syd’s hair while leaning into Dys’ embrace. “You can be quite imposing, and not just because of your height.”
“Well, I think she got over it,” Syd chuckled lightly. “Maybe not completely, but we’re definitely on better terms now.”
“It doesn’t… bother you, does it?” Jay asked, her voice taking on a serious tone. “I mean, me pursuing Sorcha. If you didn’t want her around, I feel like you would have told me by now, but you also haven’t really said much about me potentially dating her and having her join our more intimate group.”
Aila was quiet for a moment, her gentle ministrations not stopping as she thought Jadis’ question over. When she did answer, she spoke with a slow but confident air.
“She did at first, honestly. Sabina trusts her completely, which was enough for me to not say anything, but she did participate in at least two attempts to kill you.”
“That—”
“I know,” Aila stopped Jay from continuing. “Circumstances being what they are, I can see why you don’t hold a grudge against her. In fact, I think that’s one of your better points. You’re harsh against people who wrong you, but you are also quite forgiving to those who repent. Valtar would approve, I think. If redemption wasn’t possible, why would anyone ever try to be better?”
Turning her head to face Dys, Aila’s piercing blue eyes bore into her.
“That said, she did try to kill you. That’s not the sort of thing that I can so easily let go.”
“Do you want me to stop pursuing her?” Dys asked seriously. “If you don’t want her around, I’ll cut things off now before they go a step further. I won’t do that to you.”
Aila smiled, then gave Dys a gentle kiss on the lips that only lingered for a few seconds.
“I know. And that knowledge is a far bigger comfort to me than actually sending Sorcha away would be. Just, take it slow with her, alright? I want you to be completely sure about her before you get attached. I know you’re going to have to have children with a fair number of women, which I can accept. I want those women to be people that I trust, but more importantly, people that you trust. Be certain, is all I’m saying.”
“I promise,” Dys assured her sincerely.
“Good,” Aila gave her another peck on the lips. “Now, stop distracting me with your damn libido for a moment and I’ll tell you what Kerr and I did today.”
“Oh, I’m the distraction?” Dys gasped in mock outrage. “Someone as sexy as you dares to call me the distraction?”
Aila gave her a flat look.
“Okay, fair enough,” Dys sighed dramatically. “I am actually pretty damn sexy. Forgive me for my flaw of being amazingly attractive and I’ll do my best to contain my overwhelming aura of lewd debauchery.”
“Thank you,” Aila replied sarcastically before she recounted the details of her day.
She, Kerr, and Noll had spent more time together discussing potential candidates for the mercenary company, though they were more focused on support staff than trained combatants. There were a fair few good options, enough that Aila had scheduled a morning of interviews a few days out. Hans had also joined them, offering his own list of candidates that contained some promising individuals. Even Vraekae had stopped by their little gathering for a brief moment, though she’d mostly just done so to fill Aila in on what was happening in the court as far as Jadis’ case before the emperor went. It turned out that the magistrate had also been involved in the loosening of restrictions, so Aila had known about them even before Jadis.
It certainly did suck to have enemies, but Jadis couldn’t complain about having some stalwart allies to rely on.
The final bit of news Aila had to give regarded Nevan’s cousin, Íte. The gnome had reached out to her and provided some good leads on affordable property in the capital that could be used for a mercenary company, so long as they didn’t mind not being in the more central and affluent districts. Aila had assured Íte that they did not, knowing well that Jadis wouldn’t care, and had arranged a time for them to check those places out. Jadis had initially worried that they might not have the money to afford a new property in Eldingholt, but Aila had allayed those concerns. The company had plenty of funds due to the rewards the Dryads had given them. Maybe not so much that they could spend what they had injudiciously, but not so little that they had to worry about scrimping pennies.
It had been a good day, all in all, so far as Jadis was concerned. Relaxing into her comfortable spots while listening to Aila’s clear voice, Jadis idly hoped that the next day would go just as well. She had a date with Kerr to look forward to, after all.
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