Page 41 of Magic in His Arms
Vaia came into the room.“I heard.Axa, you have a place with me as long as you want it.Thanks to Azreen’s urge for a large home, I think I have enough space to hold a sleepover in a different room every night of the week.Of course, he would grab me and haul me off when everyone was asleep, but there is a certain amount of fun playing hide and seek with him.”
Never got up and smiled.“Right.I will leave you to your friend.Have a good life, Axa, if I don’t see you again.”
Axa looked up.“You will see me.That much, I can feel.I don’t know what happened to me during the wave, but it was something.I just need to figure out what it is.Vaia has already promised to help, but I know I will see you again.”
Vaia asked, “You are staying in town?”
“Until Cora is better and I get a call to hunt someone.I will be at her place.”She chuckled.“Letting my hair down.She’s stuck here for the next day or so.Axa, start to decide how you want your life to go.You get to start over, and your friends have aged and advanced enough to be useful as you begin again.”
Axa laughed and held Vaia’s hand.“Thanks again, Never.”
“Get up and get dancing, Axa.”She smiled.“Your legs still work, charge them rent in effort and sweat.”
Never left the room and tried not to look as exhausted as she felt.She looked in on Cora and grinned.“Iscorabella.You are just slacking.Are you feeding more energy to the clan chief?”
The male in question blinked at her voice.“Oh, Never.How was your hunt?”
“Successful.Cora, do you need anything this evening?”
“No, Never.You can head to my place and crash.”
Never nodded and smiled.“I will.”She walked over and kissed her sibling’s cheek.“And thanks.I don’t think Leo understands what we are.”
“We barely understand it.I still want to punt those punks into next week.”
“Cora, they are in their eighties.”
“Yeah, but they are still punks.”She chuckled.
Abel-ur looked up and said, “You are most welcome to stay with my clan if you feel the need for other orcs about you.”
Never smiled.“That is kind, but I can feel the gathering around me.It is rarely restful.”
Cora said, “Orcs, trolls, and goblins are her purview.She feels them all to her soul.Every ache, pain, want, and need.The very matter that makes them calls to her, and if needed, she answers.”
Never laughed.“What she said.I am going for tacos.Nighty night, Cora.”
“Aw, tacos.Can you bring me some?”
“No, but I can send you some.Expect them in twenty minutes.”She waved behind her as she left her sibling’s room.If she didn’t get some sleep soon, there was going to be an issue.
* * * *
“Why does she call youCora?”
“Oh, because Bella is what I use publicly.Iscorabella is what Matthias gave me, just like Never was given Navender.So, it was either Never or Ender.”
“Ender seems to suit her occupation.”
“No.She just hunts them.She doesn’t kill them.As she puts it, she puts the mechanisms for dying into place.Her target can survive if they want to.”
“So, she has aspects of goblin and troll, as well?”
“Yup.Non-shifter, non-human bipeds with wave-based origins.”
“And she’s a shaman.”
“To all of her related races.Yes.”
