Page 81 of Infala: Claimed By Rivals
Olivia shrugged. “Okay, but I’m not very good at it yet.”
“We would disagree,” Rykker said with a wink.
Olivia flashed him a look of faux annoyance. “Anyway,” she said, looking at a tall decorative vase resting against the far wall, squinting with effort.
“I don’t see any?—”
The vase slid to its left, leaving several mouths gaping.
“Like I said, I’m not good at it yet. And it seems to flare up when I’m, uh, experiencing heightened emotions.”
“Remarkable,” Nijello cried out, furiously making notes on the display in front of him. “Absolutely amazing!”
Zoldana was equally impressed, but also very unsettled. “What about the Infala, Skrizzit? How is this possible?”
“On that, Overseer, I am unclear.”
She did not seem to like that answer from the man who knew more about the pigments than anyone in the city.
“Excuse me?” Lithos timidly chimed in.
“What is it?” Nijello asked, annoyed at the interruption.
“Well, it’s just that I actually heard of something like this when I was on my school research trip to visit the Bolaxian colony on the far side of the Jinarius moon.”
Nijello’s annoyance was quickly replaced by sharp curiosity. “Why didn’t you say so?”
“I am just the understudy. The assistant. It’s not my place to?—”
“Nonsense! Tell us what you learned on your trip, boy,” Zoldana cut him off.
“It was a primitive tribe. They try to avoid most technology. It makes for an interesting oral tradition though, passing down knowledge by story and song. Anyway, one of the stories mentioned a legend of this sort of thing happening. It was long before any of their time, but their oral record-keeping is impressive.”
Nijello added more details to his already copious notes. “And what did the story say of this event?”
“Just that it was unlikely, but not unheard of. Athruple, they called it.”
“What does that even mean?Thruple?”
Now it was Olivia’s turn to add to the topic. “Actually, we have that back home, though it’s got nothing to do with any magical ink bonding stuff. But a thruple is just a couple, but with three, get it? Th-ruple.”
Zoldana shook her head, processing the information as best she could, digesting this unusual but apparently not unique event. After a moment she let out a defeated sigh.
“Well, then. You three will meet with Nijello as needed for his studies. And Olivia, I ask that you help him understand your new gift.”
“Of course. But what about us?” she asked, nodding to her men.
A little grin cracked through Zoldana’s look of consternation. “It looks like you three have much to discuss.”
With that, she turned and walked out, followed by her Skrizzit and his assistant, leaving Olivia, Arkness, and Rykker to go home and figure the rest out for themselves. They rose and took their leave, happy to go do precisely that.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
A week had passed with the happy trio spending their days interacting with other citizens as they went about their lives, and their nights spent exploring the furthest reaches of their newly combined sexual bliss. Had it not been for the restorative powers of their runes, they might very well have put themselves in need of medical attention with the force, frequency, and variety of their many, many adventurous exploits.
The two rivals had not a drop of bad blood between them, their former competition replaced by an even closer bond than they’d had before the strange human woman entered their lives. While they called each other brother previously, in a non-bloodline sort of way, they were now far closer than even that, sharing equally with no hint of jealousy. They were three, but together they were one.
And it was perfect.
