Page 59 of All's Fair in Lion and War
Penny nodded and gestured for them to follow her to the back room where the women’s locker room was attached to the showers.
Mira stood slowly, helping Dyna get up and follow her. The younger woman still hadn’t spoken. But she seemed to be able to move without help. Penny could only imagine what they might have had to deal with.
She returned to Tara’s side to help make sandwiches after all three of them had made their way to the showers. Naomi and the other women came over and helped.
Dawn spoke first. “So they’re all magick-benders? All three? What does that actually mean?”
“No, Mary is human—”
“Col has said that they can do amazing things. There were temples dedicated to them. They protected tribes and healed people. From what I’ve gathered, they functioned as the liaisons between the Reylean’s gods and the magick that controls the bond between their human form and their beast. It’s also the same magick that creates thesoul bond.” Naomi grabbed a peanut-buttered piece of bread, folded it in half, and took a bite. “They were like priestesses.”
“So like Harry Potter stuff? Or what? What should we expect?” Katherine put a sandwich on a plate with a little bag of chips and an apple. “I mean I have a beast now, so I get that part. And Knox and I are bonded. But can these women do…like…spells?”
“Col never talked about it like that, but honestly I don’t know. He said that the magick-benders were able to heal things that their individual inner-magick couldn’t.” Naomi grabbed a bag of chips, popped it open, and started eating. “I really wish we had cell service in this underground tank. Or a built-in computer system.”
Penny walked around her and gave her a wide I-know-something-you-don’t-know-yet smile. “We will in the bunker I’m having designed for us up by the cabins. We will have state of the art, everything.”
Naomi covered her mouth and tried not to squeal with delight. The babies were all sleeping at the same time. That was rare.
Penny slapped Naomi’s arm.
“I know.” Naomi grinned back at Penny. “I love you, you know that.”
“They’re going to start on it as soon as the snow thaws. We’re going to put it down into the hill back a bit from our cabin. Bomb proof concrete and steel doors that will hopefully hold up decently well to dragons. Not sure there’s really anything that’s trulydragon proof.” She air-quoted those last two words.
“Probably not, unless you have access to some kind of adamantium from an alternate world.”
Penny snorted and shook her head. “Nope. My connections do not run that deep.”
Naomi snapped her fingers, dramatically feigning disappointment. “Darn.”
“Mmmhmm. I know. It’s too bad. We live with men who can change into beasts, you’d think it wouldn’t be too much to ask for an indestructible metal ore to exist.”
“Ya’ll shut up. You’re going to freak out the new girls.” Dawn waved toward the hallway.
Mary was standing there towel-drying her hair and staring. But then she shrugged and waved at Charlie and Ryder who were sitting over in a corner by themselves.
“Who are the guys?”
“Charlie is Katherine’s…dad, but not by blood.”
Mary nodded. “Gotcha. The sexy snack in the other chair?”
“That sexy snack is mine. His name is Ryder.” Ava came around the corner from the front storage closet with an armful of extra blankets. She wore a just-try-me challenge face.
Mary held up her hands. “Wasn’t trying to poach. Just admiring beauty when I see it.”
Ryder ran up to Ava and took the blankets from her arms. “Where do you want these?”
She pointed to the cots they’d set up on the other side of the room.
He gave her a quick peck on the mouth and sauntered off, fully aware he was the topic of conversation, but perfectly happy to keep his snout out of it.
Smart man.
One of the babies mewled. Penny wandered over to the cribs with Naomi right on her heels. She tucked a couple of blankets and then fixed Erik’s flailing arm back into his swaddle. He made a couple more little noises, but settled right back down.
“Is it anything like you thought it would be?”
