Cris picked up a fresh bottle of wine, topped off Tess and my glasses and then did the same for herself.
She set the nearly empty bottle back on the coffee table and took a large swallow before saying, “Oh, wow! I was going to apprentice your son. That’s unreal, but surely Rowle can’t hold Alex once you find them.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“But he’s your son, surely he’ll side with you,” Cris argued.
“Yeah, about that.”
I hesitated.
“What are you leaving out?”
“You might as well tell her, Rafe. She needs all the information we have if she’s going to help,” Tess said.
I hesitated a moment longer, took a breath, and then let it spill. “Verðandi dropped a few other tidbits of information. It turns out that all of the Wanderers are direct descendants of hers.”
Cris hand went to her mouth. “Oh, my goddess. You’re descendant from a god?”
“That’s only half of it,” Tess said.
“There’s more?”
“Yeah, it turns out that both Tess and I are also descended from Rowle. He’s something like our great-grandfather, about six times over.”
“Shut the front door!” Cris exclaimed. “The man who keeps trying to kill you is your ancestor. That’s messed up.”
I shrugged and took another drink from my own glass before saying, “I don’t think he’s actually been trying to kill me or at least he hasn’t done it when he had the chance. He told me once that he thought I’d leave Verðandi, eventually, and join him. I don’t know why he didn’t reveal our kinship.”
“And you and Tess are cousins.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, there’s a bit of an ick factor there,” Tess said.
Cris turned slightly toward her and then nodded. “I figured you and Rafe had to be sleeping together. I remember how hot Cynthia got for him after they had practiced just one spell together. I couldn’t believe you could have been training under Rafe for nearly six months without jumping him.”
“Six months, hell, I didn’t let him go six days before I had him,” Tess bragged.
“There were, ah, extenuating circumstances,” I said.
“Oh?” Cris said.
“She had some pretty horrible injuries that needed healing. You know that healing spell works faster if you’re flesh to flesh,” I said.
“Oh, yeah, I know. Still six days, doesn’t show a lot of restraint on your part, Rafe,” Cris said.
“He tried, Cris, but I’m not one to take no lightly, especially when we were sleeping together practically naked.”
The two women smiled knowingly at each other and I felt like a piece of meat, a well-appreciated piece of meat, but a filet is still meat.
Cris leaned toward Tess and held out her glass. Tess leaned forward and they clinked their glasses together.
“Good for you, Tess,” Cris said.
“Ahem, I’m right here,” I said.
Cris turned and kissed me. “We know you are, Rafe. Don’t pretend you don’t appreciate the interest.”
“I’m just saying you could act a little more circumspect when I’m in the room with you.”
“Ah, did the big bad Wanderer get embarrassed at the attention?” Cris said.
Tess snickered and then covered by raising her glass to her lips and taking a sip of her wine.
“I’m going to order pizza before we fill up on snacks. What do you two like?”
“A supreme,” Tess said. “As long as there are no fish on it.”
“Got it, no anchovies. Rafe?”
“The same will be fine with me.”
“Good, that’ll make things easy.” Cris walked to the kitchen counter and picked up her phone. She called up an app and made a few selections before setting the phone back down.
“Pizza will be here in twenty minutes or there about. Tess, I imagine you’d like to freshen up before dinner. Grab your bag and I’ll show you around. Rafe, you come too.”
Cris led us on a short tour of her house and pointed out the guest rooms and guest baths. Tess dropped her saddlebags on the bed of the first guest rooms and then disappeared into the bath.
Cris took my hand and dragged me down the hallway to the master bedroom. She took my saddlebag and set it on the bed before putting me into another lip lock. I thought of pushing the door shut, but then realized that without my magic, I’d actually have to walk back to the door to close it.
When Cris finally broke the kiss, she leaned back and met my gaze. “That was nice.”
“Sure was,” I agreed.
“Do you think Tess would want to join us in the big bed?” Cris asked with a provocative smile.
“What?”
“Don’t act naïve and don’t pretend you haven’t been thinking about a threesome. Even without my soul reading ability, I know men. You all fantasize about two women. Besides, I won’t believe you’ve never thought about it or that you’ve never tried it.”
“Hey, just because I’m a guy–”
She raised a finger to my lips and hushed me. “If you’re worried what Tess will think, I can ask her.”
“Ask me what?” Tess said from the bedroom door.
Oh, crap.
“I was wondering if you would rather share our bed rather than sleeping alone,” Cris said bluntly.
“Cris!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t believe she’d just blurt out such a question.
I turned so I could see Tess’s reaction. At least she hadn’t stormed out of the room. She actually appeared to be considering the question.
“I appreciate the offer, Cris,” Tess said as she walked closer. “I’m obviously not as worldly as you are, but I must admit I have thought about a threesome. As interesting as it sounds, I’m not sure if I should tonight. You and Rafe haven’t been together in some time and you must want some time alone.”
She reached us, cupped my face in her hands, and kissed me passionately. When she pulled back, there was
