And Emma was at the house for harvesting and more. What was it for her to bring to me when she was teaching class or guarding me?
That was how Kelton pushed me to start seeing things. Just like I could easily listen to a familiar on a run, people could do things for me as well. It was what friends did for each other he’d told me gently. People who cared for each other.
Yeah, I hadn’t had much of that in my life and I understood he was trying to show me what was normal. I appreciated it and his suggestions to my life. All of it was for the best—I saw the care and his intentions.
Sergey too. He completely changed the plans for my bathroom.
Hedesigned it. He knew enough from working with his mother and that company of his birth family’s over the years that he knew a bit about contractors—it was honestly impressive. He drew it out and added… Everything.
It had everything I could ever have wanted or thought to have. A jet tub with room forthreeand a control panel that would take me months to learn. And I was used to a tub with a control panel.
A whole large closet-sized area onto the bathroom that was the shower. It could hold a lot of people. It had three shower heads. Not just like three sprays but it was… It was ridiculous. The designscreamedsomeone with multiple lovers.
Or a family of more than five showered together to save water?
Right, because a family who could afford a shower like that worried about the water bill.
And again, the shower had a whole panel and more controls than most vehicles. There was the toilet “closet” for privacy and a small sink in there. The bathroom also had the double sink vanity in the main area with gorgeous mirrors and great lighting. But not the lighting that was too bright and made you cringe at night when tired or in the morning when you weren’t ready.
He thought that deeply into the details.
In between the door to the shower and the toilet closet was a damn bench. I thought for sitting and putting on moisturizer or whatever so I didn’t get my bedding wet—keep it all in the bathroom. Butapparently, Sergey wanted to get in on Winter’s spa time with me and thought it would be great for massages too.
I didn’t hate the idea, but it made me nervous it could be a point of contention between them. Winter left it alone and said he agreed when he heard the idea, so… We were good?
I would assume we were.
Then the far wall to the right of the toilet closet was storage.
Just storage.
All storage.
That had thrown me. Why did I need awallof storage when I had huge new closets and more?
For my spa, basically. Sergey wasn’t the only one who went nuts on getting me every bath product. When the people around me learned that I took soaks to settle my magic how they would use their familiars or other methods,everyonehad suggestions or told Tracey what to get me and from where.
I had so many bath bombs, salts, beads, soaks, fizzes, bubble tabs, etc. to try that it would take me years to get through them. Magical and regular. I had stuff for showers, other things to spray into my hair to leave in. Candles to use while showering.
Everything and it was fucking awesome. A lot of it we’d paid for, but Mrs. Moon had come loaded to the gills with everything she loved because she had been the same with her magic whenshe was young. She’d spent two hours going over it all with me while I took notes. Also, she wanted me to learn and play after hearing that I’d made a fur treatment for Woodchuck.
Not to push me. Not to get anything out of me. She just wanted me to always have an outlet for my magic to have creativity even if I never told anyone.
And that was when I saw it. The hurt and pain. She’d lost that. She’d put it aside because of life—mating, children, becoming an adult and the responsibilities with that. Whatever it was, she’d lost that part of her and she was helping me not do the same.
I was touched and ended up not having a session with her but just talking with her familiar and letting them discuss things they couldn’t normally while we set up the pretty in my new bathroom. Again, I liked to pay my debts.
So yeah, my life was really going better. Things were more settled.
Perfect?
No, not even close.
They were never perfect, but they were really fucking close especially after Tracey announced trying to talk to me on the side was done for the employees of Familiar Treasures. She hadn’t known it was happening and it had gotten worse with us hiring more. My security had snitched and she’d ended up cloaking on Saturday morning to witness how often it happened.
She lost it. I hadn’t realized how many times because I was focused on the magic, but she said it was over a dozen for the couple of hours I was working. She sent out a company-wide message that the next person who bugged a teenager for perks when Familiar Treasures paid well, gave lots of perks, and took care of their people would be immediately terminated.
Wow.
