Page 58 of Room for Three
"How is this possible?" Jamie asked, though he wasn't sure if he was addressing his companions or the store itself.
The wall shimmered, and suddenly Jamie could see himself in the transparent surface—but not alone. Corin stood beside him, arranging books on a shelf while customers browsed the aisles. Azelon emerged from what looked like an expanded back room, carrying a tray of tea for a reading group gathered around comfortable chairs.
It looked... normal. Happy. Real.
"It's showing us what could be," Azelon said softly. "A future."
"But how would we actually get there?" Jamie asked. "The store can't just pick itself up and?—"
The vision in the wall changed. Now Jamie could see energy flowing between the three of them. Golden threads connected their hearts, their hands, their very souls. The energy pulsed brighter as their emotions aligned, as their desires merged into a single, focused want.
And the store responded to that energy, using it as fuel.
"Our bond," Corin whispered. "It wants to use our bond."
Jamie's heart hammered against his ribs. "Can we do that?"
Corin shifted on the bed. "If that's what you really want?"
Jamie looked at the visions still playing across the wall—potential futures where they were together, where the store thrived, where he didn't have to choose between the life he'd built and the love he could find.
"It is," he said, the words coming out stronger than he'd expected. "I want to make this work. I want to build something with both of you."
"Then let's do it." Azelon took one of Jamie's hands in his while he reached out for Corin with the other.
Chapter
Seventeen
The moment their hands connected, energy surged between them like lightning finding its path to ground. Jamie gasped as the bonds flared to life, golden threads weaving through the air around them, pulsing with their combined desires.
The store responded immediately.
Books lifted from their shelves, pages fluttering as they orbited the room in lazy spirals. The walls themselves seemed to breathe, expanding and contracting as the building prepared for something unprecedented.
"Focus on what we want," Azelon said, his voice strained with concentration. His markings blazed so brightly they cast dancing shadows across the ceiling.
Jamie closed his eyes, picturing the coastal village the store had shown them. Salt air and cobblestone streets. A shop front with wide windows displaying beautiful book covers. Customers wandering in for afternoon tea and literary discussions.
Through their bond, he felt Corin and Azelon lock onto the same image. Their magic intertwined—Corin's chaotic energyproviding raw power, Azelon's control giving it direction, Jamie's newfound connection to the store serving as the anchor point.
The building shuddered.
Then it moved.
Not the violent displacement Jamie had expected, but something gentler. Like settling into a warm bath while reality seemed to bend around them.
Through the transparent wall, Jamie watched the forest blur past them. Then ocean. Then a quaint village perched on coastal cliffs, exactly as they'd envisioned.
The store nestled itself between a bakery and a flower shop with the satisfaction of a cat finding the perfect sunbeam.
When the movement stopped, the sudden stillness made Jamie's ears pop.
"Did we just..." Corin started.
"Relocate an entire building using magical polyamory?" Jamie finished. "Apparently."
Azelon's tail flicked. "I'd prefer to call this a triad bond manifestation."
