“There's no pool,” I explained to Toby. “The guys like to swim.”
“Angels too?” Toby asked. “I'd think the feathers would hamper you.”
“Birds like water.” Azrael shrugged. “And I don't have to wear my wings when I swim.”
“Fair enough.” Toby snorted self-consciously. “Well, the lack of a pool can be rectified in a few minutes. Vervain, would you like to help me pick out a location?” Toby waved toward the terrace just off the living room we were sitting in.
“Sure,” I got up to follow him through the French doors and across the tiled terrace.
The terrace sported a spectacular view of the forest; towering trees creeping up on his villa like pawns on a chessboard. The treeline ended several feet away from the building, but their emerald peaks seemed to loom above us.
“I don't want to remove the stream or I'd put the pool in the courtyard between the main house and the tracing chamber,” Toby said. “Maybe we can put it out here.”
“Why don't you make a natural pool in the forest just there.” I pointed to a spot ahead of us where the trees thinned out and the stream flowed through. “You can move the trees back, add some rocks for diving, and even connect the stream so the water doesn't go stagnant.”
“That sounds workable.” Toby focused on the area before us and the landscape started to shift.
Territory magic is marvelous. It's probably one of the easiest god magics to master once you got the basics down. A god could focus on any aspect of his territory and add, subtract, or alter things with will alone. Mainly, it transformed one thing into something else. For example, Toby could have focused on a tree and turned it into the pool. It's much harder to create something from nothing. In fact, I wasn't sure how to do that, or that it was even possible with god magic. The Fey had helped the Gods create the God Realm, and I believe it was their magic that had filled the realm with the foundational materials the Gods worked with. Undoubtedly, I could learn how to do it since I was a faerie, but there was no need. My territory abounded with things I could shift around to my liking, and so did Toby's.
Within minutes, Toby's favorite stream bubbled and gurgled into a freshwater pool before meandering onward toward the villa.
“Very nice,” Odin said in approval. “Shall we test it out?”
We hurried to change into swimsuits and then raced out to Toby's new pool. Up close, I could appreciate the size better; a good thirty feet across. The pristine water allowed us to see clear down to the pebbled bottom. It dropped gradually from the shallows into a depth that nearly outdid its width. The deepest end spread out below a collection of boulders conveniently placed for easy climbing. A few plants grew out of the nooks between the rocks, helping to blend the new pool into the old scenery. Deep emerald grass coated the bank all the way to the water's edge, and a flowered meadow created a serene swath between the pool and the forest that provided just enough space for sunlight to make it past the canopy and reach the pool.
We tossed our towels on the sun-warmed grass and headed into the water gleefully. As I surfaced, my thought returned to the last pool I'd been in; the one in the Mirror. I saw Narcissus again—stroking himself like a peeping Tom—and I shuddered. But then Toby swam up beside me and spun me through the water before he kissed me soundly. The nasty memory faded away.
We lingered at the pool long enough for Kirill, Trevor, and Lesya to return. Lesya was upset that we'd gone swimming without her, but while she was whining at me in her cub form, her father shifted to human and tossed her in. She transformed underwater and came up as a sputtering little girl. Instead of being upset, she laughed and called for her daddy to join us.
Trevor shifted to his human form, and the two, naked men hurried into the pool. Maybe it should have felt weird to have my daughter and two of my husbands skinny dipping while the rest of us had swimsuits on, but they were all my men, and Lesya was still young enough that it didn't matter. I'd take these moments while I could. With her rapid growth, she'd soon be too old for this sort of thing to be okay. She had already knew the distinct difference between girls and boys and wavered a step away from noticing it too closely. Although, I wasn't sure if it would be like that with her. Lesya's a shapeshifter, and they tend to be more relaxed about nudity. We'd just have to wait and see, I guess.
When our stomachs started rumbling, we finally went back to the villa. We had lunch on the terrace and then enjoyed the sunset together. I passed on the offer of coffee and opted instead to head upstairs and take a shower... by myself. Moments alone were hard to come by, especially when my lovers were being extra vigilant. But there in Toby's secure territory, I was safe, and they could relax their vigilance a little. I could take a nice, long, hot shower by myself. You don't realize how wonderful that is until you can't.
I luxuriated in it and in Toby's modern, full-body shower system. Steel panels slicked down the sides of the indigo-tiled stall. They gently fanned water over my sides while the large, square shower head above me rained it down. It was heavenly. I may have stayed in there a little too long. Odin even came to check on me, but I shouted that I was fine, and he let me be.
I stepped out of the shower and dried off as I hummed happily to myself. Despite the threat of Narcissus hanging over my head, it had been a lovely day with nearly all of my lovers. I wrapped the towel around my body and glanced up into the steamy mirror.
Something moved in the misty reflection but it wasn't me. I froze, my heart starting to pound. I was about to head for the door when someone lunged through the foggy glass and grabbed me. I screamed as I was pulled through the looking glass.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
I was still screaming when he dropped me. I scuttled backward, my towel lost somewhere along the way, and then got to my feet hastily. Narcissus stood before me with his hands held out in a placating gesture.
“I'm not going to hurt you, Vervain,” Narcissus said gently.
Then his gaze lowered.
I stiffened and narrowed my eyes at him.
“Sorry.” He picked up the towel and tossed it to me.
The towel shifted as it flew through the air. I held my hands up automatically and caught a silk robe. With a grimace, I slipped it on and belted it tightly.
“How did you do that?” I hissed at him and started to point back at the mirror he'd pulled me through.
Except the mirror wasn't the size of Toby's bathroom mirror, it was enormous. I stared up its height and then down its length. Just as in his old prison, this mirror reined in Narcissus' territory in a seamless ring. I gaped around myself again; at the familiar forest and then the path that I was certain would lead to a lake. And in the center of that lake, a palace would dominate a tiny island, connected to the shore by an arched bridge. I hadn't recognized it at first since the grass spread verdantly beneath my feet, and the forest burgeoned in full color, but this was an exact replica of the Mirror's forest. Narcissus had recreated it all.
“When you broke the curse, the pieces of it that had befriended me latched onto me,” Narcissus explained. “You didn't just free me, Vervain, youempoweredme. You mademethe Mirror.”
