Chapter Nine

Rehalla stood outside her childhood home and rang the bell. Aken remained slightly behind her, and she kept her glamour down with effort. It was second nature to hide in plain sight in her own home. That was a warning sign that things had been wrong.

Her sister, Embilla, opened the door and blinked. "Wow. Oh, wait, Rehalla? Holy shit. Is that a glamour? Wow. Oh, who's that?"

"Not a glamour, and this is my fiancé, Aken. Are Mom and Dad available?" Rehalla looked into her sister's eyes and saw the slow understanding in Embilla's eyes.

"What do you mean not a glamour?"

Their mother was there, and she touched Embilla's shoulder and sent her away. She looked at Rehalla and Aken. "Oh, so, you know."

"Yes. If you just want me to tell you out here, I will."

Her father came up behind her mother and stroked her arms protectively. "So, you know. You... is this what you look like?"

"Yes, Dad. It is. So, no invitation in. Okay. As the legal eldest of this house, I am here to announce my engagement to Prince Aken. We are having a quick wedding and portals will be arranged if anyone wants to come. You are invited but are not obligated to attend." She felt her glamour try to snap into place, held it off, and made her glow brighter. Aken's fingers wove between hers.

Aken spoke softly. "The wedding is in two days. Are you available?"

Her mother's face contorted with grief. Her father said, "We will check on our obligations."

Rehalla nodded. "I understand. It must be horrible to find that the child you begged to keep has turned into such a disappointment. Enjoy your life with your other children. I will enjoy mine."

Aken said, "But you are all invited to the wedding."

Rehalla exhaled. "Right. You are all invited. Come if you like."

Her father asked, "Who is hosting your side?"

"I am, and Aken's parents are. There really wasn't an option, was there?" She swallowed.

Her mother whispered, "The guild is looking for you."

"Good for them. I have words for them as well. If they come here, send them to the wedding. The more the merrier." She looked at Aken. "Let's go."

He nodded and wrapped her in his arms. He transported her back to his chambers, where she sniffled twice and then bawled.

She sat next to him, leaning against him. He asked, "What was supposed to happen?"

"They were supposed to invite us in for tea, serve us, and then we would tell them and ask them to be part of the day. So, we don't, and it isn't a thing." She wiped her cheeks. "I am sorry. I thought it would be different."

"Don't apologize. I have heard for years of the warm hospitality of the giant clans. I was not expecting what happened."

"They are nicer to strangers." She looked around and saw the book Missy had been carrying sitting on the desk. "I would ask how that got here, but it's Missy, so I know."

She got up and walked over to the book, smiling.

Aken asked, "What is it?"

"It is my magic primer. The first book that I was encouraged to use." She picked it up and started flipping through it.

Aken paused. "This was your first book? It smells like peanut butter."

"Of course it does." She smiled and flicked through the pages. "I left my handprint here."

She showed him the page, and her eyes flicked across the spell. "Oh, I think I am going to be sick."

"What?"

"Can you read the note at the top?"

"No. Djinn magic is different."

"Under no circumstances is the user to cast this spell on themselves. This is strictly for casting to aid others in concealment."

Aken looked at her. "So, they had you cast the spell?"

"They marked the page for me. It is a spell of concealment of power and appearance. This book isn't a primer. It's full of purpose-built spells that no four-year-old should have been reading."

"You could read at four?"

"Sure. It is just glyph to meaning, and I could sing a bunch of them, too." She scanned down the page and then further back in the book. "There we go. This should work."

She looked around. "Do you have a knife?"

"For what?"

"I need to get some blood."

He smiled, lifted her left hand to his lips, and she felt the sharp nip as he broke the skin, swirled his tongue around her finger, and then lowered her hand. "There you go."

She swallowed, inhaled, and looked back at the book, chanting and whispering the reversion of the previous spell before putting her finger in her mouth. The finger contained the spell reversal, just as the peanut butter crackers had carried the initial spell into her body.

Aken asked, "Are you all right?"

Rehalla felt the magic boiling in her. She ran to the window, flung it open, and a boiling cascade of mage energy came out as she vomited the energy that had been reinforcing itself since she was a child. Twenty years of confined magic rushed out of her while Aken rubbed her back.

The expulsion finally stopped, and she rested against her fiancé. It was gone. The pressure to pull up the glamour was gone.

"Are you all right?"

She swallowed. "I think so."

She held up her wounded hand and saw the healing tip of her finger. A colour change was starting at her fingertip. "I am turning blue."

"I believe you are going to be a gorgeous golden blue when the transformation completes."

"You knew this would happen?"

He smiled. "When I saw what you were doing, I took the opportunity to get part of myself inside you to help push out the old spell. There was a chance you would take on a certain glow." He rubbed her back. "Since I have not gotten inside you in the traditional sense, this was the next best thing."

"Djinn are odd."

He laughed. "Yes, but we simply are magic; we don't have to focus it much. It is why we don't read magic books. We don't need them. We spend our early years working on control."

She felt the hot bar of arousal through his trousers. "Well, that's a good thing from where I am standing. But the blue?"

"More of a line between your first life and the life you will get used to."

"This looks like a weird skin condition right now." The colour had passed her elbow.

"It should cover you by tomorrow."

"Wait. Is it just surface tinting?"

"For now. When we couple, it will begin to spread from the outside in."

"No protection?"

He shrugged. "Nothing is one hundred percent, and since our birthrate is so low, condoms are hard to find."

"Uh-huh. Am I still in heat?"

He tried to put an innocent look on his face. "I believe you are."

"You want to test that belief?"

He smirked. "Perhaps, but you need something to eat, some nice conversation. Tea. Family, friends. Shall we?"

She snorted and realized she was hungry. "Fine."

They left through the door and walked through the halls with her outfit showing the progress of the staining of her skin. She reached out to push the glamour down, but it wasn't there anymore.

They walked outdoors where Missy, Tannic, Sevval, and Tylos with her parents and his.

Sevval smiled. "You are back fast. Tylos nearly floated out after the tea ceremony."

Aken shook his head. "No ceremony. They didn't invite us in. They met us at the door, and we remained there. They have been invited to the wedding, but we do not expect them."

The djinn couples looked appalled and were around them a moment later. Althuria smiled and caressed Rehalla's cheek. "We've got this. We've got you."

Missy spoke up, "And Fiora says she can come and play bodyguard anytime. She's a little bored right now."

Rehalla swallowed. "Maybe tomorrow. Today, I am a little overwhelmed. She's a lot."

Missy replied. "Got it."

Rehalla saw Sevval with Tylos across the space, her cousin speaking angrily into a phone in the rough language of the giants. "That's not going to end well. She's talking to Grandma. Dad's Mom. She's the one who urged them to take on the surrogacy."

Irfrenel nodded. "We told her. We met with all members of your parents' family before you were transferred. They knew. There was no secret. It was necessary considering the likelihood of you emerging blue."

"Oh. Right. Well, I seem to be late to that inheritance, but it is arriving now." She held out her left hand and put her right next to it. The blue was continuing to creep.

Missy looked her over. "I like the blue. It is good on you. It sets off your hair, and the gold in it doesn't mess with the green of your eyes. Sort of like a peacock with red highlights."

Rehalla smiled. "Thank you, Missy. Now I have to figure out my new colour palette."

"Well, you have no clothes, so anything you buy will suit your new colouring. I think Tylos might help."

"That is a lot of portals."

Missy smiled. "I will give you a charm or just call."

Aken murmured, "We do have dressmakers here. They would be honoured. My mother and your mother would be delighted to go dress hunting for you."

"Yeah, well. That is obviously something that I forgot about. I am not used to getting help from within my family."

"Get used to it. After her first surprise, my mother is now officially astonished by you. That's a good thing."

Yasminia chuckled from nearby. "I am."

Rehalla's stomach rumbled. "Sorry."

Aken hugged her. "No problem. This we can easily manage, and we can plan the party while we are at it. Almost everyone involved seems to be here."

"Except for your representatives and Fiora."

"Right. I am still not sure that I need more than one."

Rehalla giggled and then paused at the sound. "Weird. Oh, you will need more than one. Fiora's a force to be reckoned with."

"I haven't heard of her. Where does she reside?" He rocked her slightly.

"Ah, Mount Akeron. She has a place there." Rehalla swayed with him.

"Where else?" His lips were close to her ear.

"Here and there. She goes where she pleases."

"Does she go by any other names?"

"Yes." She chuckled and leaned against him. "I am not giving her name to the djinn. You are worse than elves."

He slid his hands along her bare waist. "Yes, we are. So, you won't give me a name?"

"You have your own name; you don't need hers."

He chuckled and lifted his head. "Missy?"

"Yes, Aken?"

"What is the other name of Fiora?"

Missy stated blankly, "Ogrewhelp. Foxborn. Lostdaughter."

Tannic sighed. "I think Rehalla didn't want him to have the names."

"Fiora is defended against summoning and scrying for her names." Missy was matter-of-fact.

Rehalla nodded. "I know; I just hate to disturb her."

Missy shrugged. "She just opened another club, so she's disturbed already. She welcomes the distraction."

"She's upset?"

"No. Dodging suitors. You know how cranky it makes her."

Rehalla nodded again. "I do. It is why I hate disturbing her. She's still dealing with... things."

"She has gone the aggressive route, but that is leading to miscommunication, so she needs to regroup. A fight is just what she wants."

Rehalla sighed. "Ah. Well, a wedding is the perfect place."

"You nutty giants." Missy smiled.

"Well, I don't know any other traditions, so I have to stick with what I am familiar with. Since Sevval is the only person I have grown up with, aside from you, who is familiar with me, I will stick to the traditions I have seen my entire life."

Aken murmured, "We could stick with our traditions. They are a little more formal than a brawl though."

"I like the idea of starting with a fight between the bride's side and the groom's. It gets everyone's blood up and tends to start a lot of courtships." Rehalla smiled. "The giants seem to think it is the greatest thing, and the species they mate with go along for the ride."

"As we don't always remain in couples, our unions are a little more restrained with an effort put into making sure that each spoke of the wheel is accounted for."

"Anyone else tries spoking me, and they draw back a stump," Rehalla muttered.

Aken chuckled against her neck, his lips moving slowly. "Thank you for that."

"What?"

"The addition of else."

The king and queen called them over from where they had scattered as a meal was ready.

More details for the distastefully speedy wedding were gone over, and Fiora was put on speakerphone for her input. The low seductive tones of their friend got several sets of eyebrows up, but Aken just looked surprised. When he spoke, he said, "Izzy Harker?"

There was silence and a rich chuckle. "Prince Aken. Still turning down girls from around the world? Wait. No, you have settled on a gem."

"I just turned down your license for a nightclub here; don't put the wrong idea in their heads."

"Ah, spoilsport." She chuckled again.

Rehalla remembered her face as young and sombre with fury behind her eyes, her hair cropped close, and her skin ablaze. Seeing her come through the portal held in Missy's arms had been a shock. Rehalla had no idea there was another captive in that prison. Not knowing that was a shame she still carried.

From Missy's phone came the voice she knew from countless phone calls. "Rehalla? You two are going to be good together. I guarantee it."

"Guarantee?"

"Absolutely."

Rehalla blushed as she saw Aken's steady look. "Good to know."

"Don't sweat it. Your wedding will be an event for the ages. Ask the local seers. They will say the same. When am I needed? And Missy still hasn't answered what I am to wear."

Yasminia said, "Wear what you would wear to a formal event for your people. Is that acceptable? I am assuming you are an extranatural."

"Oh, yes, Your Majesty. I will dress for a formal event with my people." There was amusement in her tone.

Rehalla didn't give it away, but Missy whispered to Tannic, who looked appalled. No one but Rehalla was watching, so he quickly straightened his features and scratched Smoog's head.

The meeting and meal came to a halt, and Rehalla hugged her friends and nodded to Aken's family. Irfrenel and Althuria held her tight before promising to see her the following day.

Aken helped her get ready for bed in his room and crawled in next to her. "So, enough chaos for you?"

"Just enough, I think. At least I am pretty sure that my fire won't cause any burns tonight. That means I don't have to sleep in a tree." She yawned again. He curled around her and held her against him.

She noticed the distinct lack of foreplay. "So, we are both naked and horizontal..."

"Rehalla, are you coming on to me?" he whispered against her ear. It seemed to be a hobby for him.

"Um, no. Just making an observation."

"Well, in that case, you are tired, and I am tired, and tomorrow will be exhausting, so I don't want us to lock and then have to explain why you are stuck on me over breakfast with the parents."

"But won't they figure it out?"

"Oh, yes. But the questions will still be asked. They will be asked in great detail and repeatedly. So, I think it is best that we just get used to each other for now. As entertaining as a wedding baby would be, I think you need time to settle, and we still have to deal with the guild. I am using some of my self-control, but if you want to play, I am at your service."

Rehalla thought about it and then squirmed around until his erection was between her thighs. She slowly moved on him until her clit had enough of the hard warmth easing over it with the slippery substances they both were leaking. She covered her mouth as she moaned and squeaked as she came. Aken's hands gripped her hips, and he moved against her until his cock jerked and her thighs were painted white.

She skated dark fire across them both to clean up. She chuckled. "Now I can sleep."

Aken's voice was nearly unintelligible as he rasped in a strangled voice. "Oh, good. I was worried."

She smirked and settled against him with him still between her thighs. "Night, night, Aken."

He kissed the side of her neck that he favoured and scraped his fangs along her skin. She shivered. He chuckled. In that dark tone, he murmured, "Night, night, Rehalla." His hand was on her breast, and the other splayed wide on her belly.

It should have been distracting, but she fell asleep with a smile on her lips.