* * *
Joe woke in the middle of the night as he always did, the long hours of the night too difficult to sleep completely through. He woke slowly through drifting clouds as his conscious struggled to wake. He breathed softly, joyful for the moment. He felt the warm press of a soft and curvy body behind him on his left and burrowed more fully into Kilniara’s soft curves. When he turned towards her, he felt movement behind him and a soft cool scaled arm draped over his and he froze. Oh… Uh… What?!
Joe came awake quickly, freezing with some intense discomfort. Wait… what?! Why… Worry began spiking up through him and he grew intensely uncomfortable. It took him a bit to understand what was happening but that only spiked his worry into a controlled if mild very uncomfortable panic.
Gwenvair shuffled in his arms and snuggled into his side, reaching up to pull his arm around her as she laid her head on his other arm. Kilniara felt his movements and shifted back and slithered into his side by grasping his arm in a half aware movement before she settled into his arm again, laying her head on his chest, just slightly below Gwenvair’s head which still mostly lay on his arm. Both girls sidled into him and fell back to sleep quickly, although they both shifted and snuggled in, including bringing up a free hand to lay on his chest and belly.
Joe very carefully kept his arm far off to the sides, and did not allow it to drift anywhere else. He lay frozen for a few minutes, stunned into inaction as his mind raced, searching for any path. He breathed deeply, then froze as his rising chest caused both girls to shift again. His struggle did not end, however, even after they calmed down as his thoughts were too busy and focused on escape. What do I do… I gotta… this isn’t… OK… What do I do? I’m not… this isn’t… His mood and worry kept winding tighter and tighter and his mild panic quickly began shifting to an attack. He struggled to keep his worry controlled but as is the nature of panic, Joe found himself quickly losing control.
Suddenly, one of the girls stirred and Joe stiffened, not wishing to wake either one of them at this time as what he desired more than anything was simply to escape. Gwenvair’s hand stirred and came up to his chest and suddenly, his mind swirled and calm swept through him. He sighed in relief as he grew certain things would be OK. His eyes drifted shut and a small smile came to his lips as he fell into a deep and restful sleep.
* * *
Joe woke to the sound of soft conversation taking place over him. The soft voices of the girls drifted quietly over his ears and he wriggled his body, feeling deeply contented. He smiled as he stretched, then heard the two girls giggling. His smile grew at their laughter but then quickly strained when he felt two soft hands on his chest, drifting across him. He stiffened, panic rising before suddenly quelling when Gwenvair grew concerned and lifted her head to look down at him, her hand resting on his chest. Joe quickly opened his eyes, darting left and right to see Gwenvair and Kilniara lying beside him, but now with heads raised up slightly with elbows under them to prop themselves up. Gwenvair looked at him with concern but Kilniara stared down at him with a beautiful smile.
With both of them awake, Joe quickly surged to his feet and leapt from the bed before turning to face them, his eyes rather wild as he stared at the two of them.
Kilniara began giggling hard and Joe glanced over at Gwenvair and saw her also laughing quite a bit, although her cheeks remained quite a bit more pinked than Kilniara, obviously less comfortable with the situation. Joe calmed at seeing their laughter but was still very uncomfortable and ground his teeth a bit as he considered the situation and his response very carefully. The girls simply stared at him with a soft smile which, ironically, calmed him, but that only had him feeling a bit more confused. The girls saw him lost in thought so turned back to their own conversation, chatting comfortably with one another.
“So. Uh… what happened?” Joe asked, deciding to gather more information first.
Gwenvair chuckled a softly and slowly before sitting up in the bed then scooting back to rest against the wall, “You were exhausted. You fell asleep so early last night.”
Joe considered carefully then responded, “I was pretty tired.”
“Do you need to sleep more? Gwenvair and I can keep silent,” Kilniara offered and Joe froze, uncertain how to respond.
“I.. I’m not… No. I would like to talk about … this.”
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“This?”
Joe stared at their confusion and frowned, grimacing that he had to explain more specifically, “Why is Gwenvair here?”
Kilniara frowned, “I asked her to be here?”
Joe sighed at that, relief coming to him, “Well, I thought I would …hmm… I’m not too comfortable with that.”
Joe winced when he saw Gwenvair’s own wince of pain at his comment but grew confused when Kilniara reacted angrily at Joe’s comment.
“Why would you say such a thing to Gwenvair?”
Joe frowned, “OK. Now I am very confused. What is going on?”
Kilniara’s anger faded to her own confusion, “She is joining us, as she should.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Joe immediately said and backed up, worry rapidly returning. Gwenvair looked at him with increasing fear and Joe now had concern added to his worry. Man… this isn’t… where did this come from? How did this… I’m … this can’t… this sucks!
Joe had no desire to hurt Gwenvair but sighed deeply, “Kilniara, can you tell me what is happening? What do you mean?”
Kilniara’s good mood faded, replaced by confusion as she looked at Joe, “She’s… what...” She paused to recollect her thoughts before continuing, “She’s yo… We are yours.”
Joe frowned, “You? Both of you?”
Kilniara looked at him seriously, “Yes?”
Joe sighed and turned to Gwenvair, “Gwenvair, I’m sorry, but I cannot accept you. I… am not … I do not seek two or three or more. I am happy with one and only one wife and at this time I am pursuing Kilniara. I do not think… my people do not pursue multiple people at once. It is considered very inappropriate.”
Gwenvair’s horror only grew as Joe spoke and he had to firm his heart to continue, knowing any attempt to downplay the situation would only lead to false hope and he knew that would only drag things out and hurt her more. Cut it quick and clean!
By the time Joe had gotten half way through his statement, Gwenvair had already stood and pulled the blankets off the bed to wrap around herself, taking a step or two back from him. She began shaking her head, rejecting his words before bringing up a hand to her face and attempting to cover the tears forming in her eyes. Finally, she turned away and sped from the room, yanking open the door and fleeing down the stairs. Joe grimaced and immediately tried to stop her but Kilniara’s hard punch smacked against his shoulder. Joe grunted and looked back to see Kilnaira enraged, her jaw actually elongating slightly to raptor form as she growled and spoke with a mangled accent.
“You fool! How could you! What are you thinking?!”
Joe blinked, completely shocked, “Huh? What? I… why are you angry?”
“You… you… you idiot! Do you know what you’ve done?!”
Joe frowned, “Chose to focus on you? Why are you angry!”
Kilniara growled, actually growled, “You utter moron! You’ve killed her!”
Joe struggled to keep from rolling his eyes and but still shook his head, “She won’t die. It will hurt for a bit but she will soon forget me and find anoth…”
“No! You idiot! No! She is bound to you. You! She’s… she cannot live if you reject her. If she’s bound and rejected by the one she’s bound to, she will die!”
Joe’s dismissal of Kilniara’s angry retorts quickly turned to concern before rapidly becoming worry, “That… you’re exaggerating, right?”
Kilniara had calmed a bit, her rage now a controlled smoldering anger and she’d been able to form her mouth back to its more human shape, “I am not exaggerating!”
Kilniara stood up and stalked from the bed, ignoring Joe’s calls and attempts to catch her attention. She stomped up to her brother’s door and slammed on it with a fist, “Zilnek! Wake up! Wake up now!”
Kilniara refused to quit, continuously bounding on the door and yelling loudly. The two boys slowly began mumbling but not before several people in the rooms around them began growling out angrily, shouting for Kilniara to quiet down. Contrary to her normal personality, Kilniara proved unwilling and continued pounding on the door, increasingly angering the rest of the inn.
Joe found the whole situation a bit alarming and stood, concerned about what Kilniara was saying as well as Kilniara’s lack of dress. He grabbed a blanket from the bed and walked up quickly to drape it around her shoulders. Kilnaira looked back with irritation before understanding what he was doing and then nodded with chagrin, grateful for his concern. This didn’t stop her from pounding on the door and shouting out for both Zilnek and Garnedell loudly.
“Get your asses out here! Now! Master rejected Gwenvair!”
The groaning complaints in the room immediately stopped and a loud scrambling took its place. Finally, Kilniara stepped back and waited quietly while Joe’s concern grew. Only a few moments later, the door to the boys’ room opened and both came out.
Garnedell came out the quickest, “Master. Did you truly reject Gwenvair?”
Zilnek came shortly after and stared at what was going on. Joe found himself glancing back and forth between all three before replying with stilted uncertainty, “Yes…?”
Garnedell quickly nodded and turned away, “I’ll go pack up everything!”
Zilnek goggled a bit, “You… rejected a clanner princess? One that bonds?”
Joe frowned, “Uh… Garnedell? Why are you packing?”
Garnedell stopped and looked at Joe with some confusion, “You rejected a clan’s bonded princess. We need to leave before they hunt us down.”
Joe felt his eyebrows knit, “Why… would they hunt me down for not dating the … the clan… the Matriarch seemed quite kind?”
Garnedell frowned at that, “Hmm… some clans might attack even for non-bonded races, but… Gwenvair will die. I think the clan… even as kind as the Matriarch is to you… they will be quite angry with you.”
Joe’s worries grew, “She really will die?”
“She’s bonded to you now. Doubly so. You claimed a Queen, then rejected her!”
“I clai… when did I claim her?”
Kilniara stared at him, shocked, “I asked. Gwenvair asked. Even the Matriarch asked if you would have her! You said yes!”
“The Matriarch never aske... wai…” dawning horror began to come over Joe as he realized what had been happening when the Matriarch had asked what he’d thought was for an apprenticeship.
“Well… shit!” Joe cursed quietly. He disengaged from the conversation and began pacing around the room. The other three grew silent, their activity paused while Joe pondered. He walked around for few moments before stopping and looking at the others.