She slid her hands up his neck and tangled her fingers in his hair, inhaling his comforting scent and saying, “Don’t ever leave me again.”
“Never.”
After another lengthy kiss, they eventually stopped. Vade helped her stand and Orelia smiled up at him, arms wrapped around his waist.
“I think I’ve had enough adventure for a lifetime,” she said. “What do you say we leave all this behind for a while?”
Vade smiled the most devastating smile she’d ever seen. “Let’s go home.”
thirty-seven
THREE WEEKS LATER
Vade stood behind Oreliawith his arms wrapped around her. “Do you like it?”
Dwarves hoisted a signboard up the ladders and attached the chains to their hooks. The afternoon sun shined on the sign’s fresh white paint as it swung above the main entrance.
Orelia beamed. “I love it.”
Swirling black letters next to an intricately painted violet flower marked the name of the establishment.
The Plumrose.
Convincing Beron to sell her the brothel had been easy once he’d laid eyes on the coin Vade offered him. The man had snatched up the three purses, packed his belongings, and set out for Raffk in an attempt to start a new brothel in the town where his brother lived.
Orelia had been all too happy to watch him go and the girls had been just as grateful for his departure. Rae’s curtness with her disappeared once she realized Orelia had zero plans to let the pleasure girls go. Instead, Rae became the one running The Plumrose during the day, using her knack for not taking any shit to establish more professionalism in the witch’s new venture.
Orelia told Vade she wasn’t naive enough to think sex would ever stop selling, but she would not accept that there would not be consequences for men who hurt women.
Vade and Orelia ran the brothel at night and new rules were quickly put into place. If anyone harmed her girls, Vade dealt with them. It took less than a week for the patrons to understand the fae didn’t take any shit either, and word quickly spread that to hurt a Plumrose girl was to invite your own death.
While Orelia handled the redecoration of the brothel to make it light and airy instead of dull and drab, Vade prowled the halls, sometimes with his wings out at rest. The men who saw him understood what would happen if they stepped out of line, and the girls now enjoyed coming to work. Not just because they were safe, but because they had Vade to look at.
Orelia didn’t mind. She understood, and the girls were smart enough not to make a move on him, though Teegan had begged Orelia to go back out in the woods and come back with a fae for her.
With Vade’s money that he insisted belonged to them both, Orelia paid the girls who no longer wanted to work in the brothel enough to live comfortably for a few years before they’d need to find other employment.
On the night Vade told her his idea to buy the brothel so she could protect her friends, Orelia had tackled him onto the bed, making him call out her name as she rode him into pleasurable oblivion. After they emerged from the bedroom long enough to handle the purchasing of the brothel, a message had come from Elshar.
Orelia had written to him in secret, saying she would love for him and his wife to visit, and less than a week later, the couple showed up on their doorstep. Vade had been elated to see his friend, though he tried to hide it through a rough greeting of slapping Elshar on the back; Orelia knew him well enough to understand the glee in his eyes.
But it was Miriam who gave the warmest greeting after Elshar had wrapped Orelia in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground. She was the most muscled woman Orelia had ever seen and the same height as Elshar. A half-batalin, half-druid with the warmest smile and shiniest black hair like that of a raven.
She had hugged Orelia like they were childhood friends and offered to cook every meal for the few days they stayed. Fascinated by druids, Orelia had asked Miriam an endless array of questions, wondering how healing animals was different from her ability to heal people.
Polly had instantly taken to Miriam as well. The lynx left Morton’s shop long enough to visit the house, and Orelia was convinced she was going to follow the pair home with how closely she stuck to the woman’s side.
The four of them spent many nights sitting on the back porch, talking until the sun set. On more than one occasion, the menoverindulged in their ales and ended up wrestling in the yard, as men loved to do when they were drunk. Elshar was right. When Vade was drunk enough, his Points accent came out. The two laughed as they tussled, trying to strong-arm each other.
Orelia would heal their cuts and scrapes when they got too rough, then they’d run right back to the yard and tackle each other to the ground, laughing and cursing as they tried again to see who was the strongest.
“Children,” Miriam had said as she sipped her honey ale, smirking. When Orelia had reached for a mug for herself, Miriam stopped her with a gentle hand.
The woman had smiled, then looked at her stomach. “You might want to make a visit to your wizard before you indulge in one of these.”
Teegan and her son had joined them at the house that night, and while Vade and Elshar continued to roughhouse, the three women spoke of Orelia’s possible condition. The next day, the three women went to Morton’s apothecary while the men replaced a few rotted beams on the house.
Morton used a revealing spell to show Orelia her blessing. Even though it had only been a few weeks, Morton was able to tell her many details that had her heart swelling with gratitude. The apothecary became a warm embrace of congratulations and love at the news.
