I nodded and grinned back at him. “Kind tack bird? The phoenix thing from my brooch?”
He nodded. “Kintek, yes.”
Vergis poked his head around a corner ahead of us. “Can you move it, please, Princess? Kinnek wants to get in the water.”
“Yes! Finally a nice, quiet soak with all the sentenmen!” Nokim was bouncing with excitement, his eyes almost as wide as his grin.
“Getting naked with everyone, yay.” I tried not to sound too skeptical, but this was still very new. But my guys were okay, they were all here, and it was hard not to feel a bit gooey about that.
Inkiri was either oblivious or eager to get soaking as well, because he just followed the others, towing me along with him.
I turned my head when something in the mural caught my eye—a bagu, half-hidden by branches and leaves, with his back to the viewer, sitting on the soft grass not too far away from the kintek bird.
I wondered who he was. The light blue horns weren’t Kinnek’s. But then Inkiri put an arm around my shoulders, firmly grounding me in the here and now, and I looked away.
“Come on, sweet thing. Let’s soak with the others and celebrate that you’re back with us.”
Lissir hummed. “We are very glad about that, Rory. Everyone was waiting for you to wake.”
I blushed and didn’t say anything. If I’d spoken, all those tears would’ve spilled free, and I didn’t want to upset Inkiri by crying twice in one day.
Chapter 11
The more of the house I saw, the clearer it became that it had been built with bagu creature comforts in mind.
The bath was huge, of course, no normal shower there, but there were two sinks for washing, like there had been at the hotel.
There was a sauna in the bathroom, the door standing open, the wood dark with moisture, indicating it had been used not too long ago.
An oval pool took up most of the opposite end of the room, and Kinnek and Fellisse were already in there, while Vergis was about to climb in. Except a totally naked dude—human—had engaged him in a conversation.
“Are you eating?” the human asked, holding Vergis’s gaze. It had to be Charles. I had imagined him as older, but he didn’t look a day over forty, maybe not even that, his lush brown hair glossy and untouched by gray, his face wrinkle free apart from a few laugh lines.
Vergis rolled his eyes. “Yes, Dad, of course I’m eating. Why wouldn’t I be eating?”
“Well, you could use a haircut, unless you’re growing it out. Pardon me for wondering whether you’re taking care of yourself,” Charles said.
Vergis looked at Kinnek. “This is your fault. You didn’t have to tell him anything.”
Kinnek tsked. “Muffin, your daddy loves you very much. I cannot see why you have to be such a human rebel whenever he wants to take care of you.”
“What your father said.” Charles crossed his arms in front of his massive chest.
Vergis’s eyes found mine. He pointed at Charles with his thumb. “This? Your fault.”
“How—” But Inkiri nudged me forward and whisked the towel I’d been clutching away from me, just like he had done with my clothing, though noticeably not my jewelry.
I owned more precious bling now than ever before in my life, and my mate clearly liked me displaying it. Which still made me feel all naked, even if I could acknowledge that it was a sexy kind of naked. Not that I thought I was the most impressive person in the room, naked or not, especially seeing as how Lissir and Nokim were just in the process of rinsing off, and then of course there was Inkiri, and he was one nice piece of eye candy.
Charles turned, giving me a full frontal and testing my ability to maintain eye contact in the face of adversity. Years and years of theater had not prepared me for acting cool in a hot bath. Drama teachers needed to change their curriculum.
“Hi,” I mumbled, glad that the heat would excuse any and all blushing.
“Huh. You look a lot livelier than when your mate first brought you in here.” Charles gave an approving look. Damn, but that dude was toned. Which I noticed out of the corners of my eyes.
“I told you he was a tough little twink and that no one needed to worry so much.” Vergis finally lowered himself into the pool.
“Aww, Muffin, you’re making friends.” Kinnek wiggled his fingers against the water’s surface. “Oh, Charlie, that reminds me, he’s grounded.”
