Etienne snorted.“Yes.And my mother is as pale as Dex.”
Dex blinked.“Oh, so it makes your initial rejection a little weird.”
“I didn’t know you had two faces.”
Tosh held up a comb.“Ready?”
“Yeah, brain is still spinning through every interaction with Etienne with a new context.”
“Well, come to the edge of the bed, and we will get your link done, and then you can do us.”
Dex grinned as Etienne shifted with her in his arms.He walked on his knees to the edge of the bed and sat with his feet dangling and her in his arms.
Tosh grinned.“Your father was from the Stronghold?”
“He said he escaped about three hundred years ago and has been a doctor ever since.His original occupation was as some kind of thief or lock picker.When I asked how he made his money, he would just smile.”
She snickered.“That does sound like him.”
Etienne smiled.“You like the old coot.”
“Yes.He and your mother have been kind to me since I got the job.He knew something was up with my family and that I needed to be independent.So I became the shoe doctor, and I was good at it.”
Tosh smiled.“She really is.Her careful help in getting the dancers the right shoes.Very few foot injuries in our dance company, and comfortable feet can dance longer.”
Etienne grinned.“Good.I like knowing where she is.”
“And despite what people think, I don’t have a foot fetish.I just like to make sure the shoes work.Dancing on your toes is tricky enough.”Dex smiled.
Tosh chuckled and looked at Etienne.“Find a lock of hair that you will wear your bond on.”
Tosh combed Dex’s hair and said, “Choose your lock.”
She reached behind her ear and grabbed an inch of hair behind the pointed appendage.She held the lock.“Do you want me to braid it?I am pretty quick.”
Tosh grinned.“Please.I didn’t suspect your hair was this long, given your other form wears it braided back.”
She laughed and took the hair, divided it, and rapidly twisted it into a braid that got longer with every passing second.She tied it off, and it hung to the end of her ribs.
Tosh smiled.“Do me.”
“Where do you want it?”
He held out a short lock behind his ear that matched hers, and she twisted it quickly into a braid, tying it off with one of his own hairs.
Etienne grinned.“Me next?”
She sighed and leaned back so she could get a grip on the hair he had segmented out, and she tutted.“Yours is going to be tight as hell.”
His grin expanded.“Don’t tease.”
Dex snorted and braided the short segment of hair, tying it off the same way.She held her finger toward Etienne.“Bite.”
He nipped her finger hard enough to draw blood, and she rubbed the blood down the tiny braid, and then did the same to Tosh.When they exchanged marks and then worked their fingers down her braid, she felt the door of connection swinging open.
She exhaled.“Oh, I get it now.”
Tosh kissed her shoulder.“I get it now as well.”
