“You just saw it?!”
“Why do you keep repeating what I say?” I pulled on some undershorts, then a pair of pants. They fit perfectly. “Huh. Well done on the size. Thanks.”
“Did you just fuck Nex?” Rath growled.
“Excuse me?!” I gaped at him.
“You said you saw his cock.”
“Saw it. Not fucked it. He showed me how the toilet worked.”
“He . . .”
“He pissed into the toilet. I couldn't help but see his dick. It was hard to miss.”
Rath blinked and let out a long breath. “Oh. I see.”
I yanked off my wet tunic and tossed it on one of the two chairs at the little dining set near the fireplace. Rath's stare went to my chest so I took my time pulling on the fresh tunic. When I had it settled, I finger-combed my hair back, then stood there, staring at him. Waiting.
“Are you going to apologize?” I finally asked.
“Huh?” Rath focused on my face.
“For accusing me of fucking Nex,” I clarified. “You were really rude about it. As if you have any right to be angry with me for having sex with someone.”
“You're right,” he said crisply. “I don't. It just felt like an insult after last night. We . . .”
“Yes? We what? I don't think there was a we last night. I tried to have a we, and you turned me down.” I frowned. “That didn't come out right. It sort of sounded like I tried to piss in front of you.”
“You mean as Nex did with you?” Rath's lips twitched.
I snorted. “Look, Rath. I like you, you like me, but you don't want to get involved with me. I understand. I'm more than happy to be friends and that's it. And you're right, something was brewing between us, something more than sex. It would have been insulting if I moved on from that mere hours later. So, I didn't. But I will. This is the first time I've been around people who know about my magic and not only accept it, but also embrace it, and want to embrace me. I've never had a man flirt openly with me before. I've never had a real relationship. So, if you and I are not an option, I'm going to find someone who is. I need you to not be a dick about it.”
“There will be no further rudeness from me. Not over your lovers, at least,” Rath vowed. “I'm sorry, Ember.”
“Thank you. And I'll try not to be bitter when I see you with someone else.”
He nodded. “We both have needs.”
“Exactly.”
“And I still want to mentor you.”
“I still want to be mentored by you.”
Rath's expression softened. “I'm glad to hear that.”
“Can we eat now?”
He chuckled. “Yes. Then you'll meet your tutors.”
Chapter Eleven
The Emperor sent five mages. Four Masters and Mistresses of every element and a Varraen Mistress of all. After breakfast, Rath and I met with the mages in a private room, all of us gathered around a fireplace with mugs of coffee in our hands. As with the Wraith Lords, the mages were varied in race, but one of them was of a race unrepresented in the Lords. I'm sure the Delosar would have been welcome to enlist, but they didn't do well out of water for long. Most of them, that is.
Mistress Arcasa, Mage of Water, wore a thin layer of seawater over her pale skin, held in place by her impressive magic. She looked completely at ease in her high-backed chair before me, the gills in her neck opening and closing slowly, the patches of pearly scales on her slim arms gleaming, and her white hair shifting strangely with its coating of water. I eyed the toes of her boots, poking out from beneath her full skirt, wondering what her tail looked like when she transformed. Would it match her scales? And how was she covered in a layer of water while simultaneously wearing dry clothes?!
Thankfully, the Emperor hadn't sent a Ladrin. Though that was likely due to the fact that the only magic Ladrin possessed was shapeshifting. I mean, that's still impressive, but there were no Ladrin mages. The only exception was those who became Wraith Lords.
