The Heartstone Saga by Archibald Bradford (pdf to ebook reader txt) 📗

“I shall gladly help you.” Volka agreed with a smile in her eyes.

Nameless turned to Ophelia, currently hiding a smile of her own with one dainty hand.

“Nark.” He accused sourly.

Volka padded over to him on bare feet and booped his nose with her finger as punishment.

“Husband. Ophelia has indeed narked on you, a word that I have found greatly amusing ever since I first heard it.” The back of the angel’s fingers brushed the feather in his hair aside as she stroked his cheek; “And not just about the cheese.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. And fortunate for you all that I am here! Because that feeling that you have inside of you, that urge to do everything you can all the time always? That stems from us, as you have surmised. The divine essence of the Valkyrie flows through your veins.”

She shook her head at him then, almost apologetically.

“But you are not a Valkyrie, my husband. You are a man. The other Empaths had to cope with this as well, once upon a time. You must find the balance between your wants as a man and the beneficence that has been instilled in you. Just know this: there is no shame to be found in it, in any of it. Because the original Empaths volunteered to take on this burden... and you did not.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but she shook her head to stop him.

“Yes, you accepted it. Because you are so very good. But still, it is not the same. You and I discussed this not long ago, in Algrade, about this feeling you had that you were never doing enough. My love, you have already done more than any Empath before you, save perhaps the Lady Essig. But she is several lifetimes ahead of you so we aren’t counting her.”

Nina sniffed.

“Pretty sure Xalanth would object.”

“Yes, but what the Flametongue doesn’t know won’t hurt me.” Volka quipped.

Nameless took a deep breath and for the first time in weeks he felt the anxiety sitting on his shoulders ease off of him a bit.

“I’ll admit this new assignment hasn’t helped me with the whole, ‘doing everything I can’ part.” He smiled at the angel, who naturally smiled back; “But thank you.”

Seeing an opening Erica, who had been mostly silent until then, sashayed up to him as only Erica could.

“Sooo, speaking of those manly wants of yours...” She purred suggestively as her hands settled on his shoulders.

But before she could coax him into mischief, Nameless gave her a funny look.

“Erica, you know you have an enormous penis on your face right?”

The cat was nuzzling against his neck, only halfway paying attention.

“Hmmm? Oh lover, you can put your penis wherever you like.” She readily promised.

Volka snickered while Milly and Nina both fought to look innocent, the pair of them already well aware of the angel’s artwork.

“Oh you three! This has gone on long enough.” Ophelia chastised them, shaking her head as she took hold of the frisky kitty’s arm; “Come with me, dearheart.”

The Flutterby pried the Katje off of their bond-mate and took her into the washroom to see herself in the big mirror on the wall.

She let out a yowling shriek of despair that made Nameless wince and broke the dam of Volka’s mirth, the Valkyrie rolling around on the couch in Milly’s lap, the Minotaur biting back a smile as she watched her bond-sister laugh herself silly.

It had been some time since she’d behaved like that.

Nina buffed her nails at the melodrama that Volka had created for her own amusement.

“What the hell happened to that ‘beneficence’ thing?” She remarked drily.

The angel simply laughed harder, to the point that Milly was beginning to question her sanity.

While Erica was cursing their angel out, with Ophelia helping her wash her face, there was a light knock on the door.

It sobered the room immediately, as no one had visited them at their new home before.

A moment later Milly and Nina both had their weapons in hand, while Volka took up her shield and put herself between Nameless and the door.

Such was the time that they lived in, where fear and dreadful violence could cut short a moment of mirth with nary any warning.

The knock was repeated, a bit louder this time.

“It’s probably one of the neighbors.” Nameless suggested, though he was frowning; “Maybe we’re being too loud?”

Volka didn’t relax, instead she gestured with her chin at Nina.

“Who is it?” The Gigas demanded as she approached the door, hammer ready.

“I have a letter for a Master William Armstrong.”

She jerked the door open to find a slight older man in a suit holding a letter with white-gloved hands, due to the height difference he was looking down his nose and past his spectacularly curled mustache at the Gigas.

They all took a moment to take in the completely unexpected sight, until he wiggled the little square of paper to remind them off his purpose, one narrow grey eyebrow raised as he made a little harrumph in his throat.

“Gimme.” Nina said rudely, her hand extended upwards.

The man sniffed and shook his head, holding the letter closer to his chest.

“My dear lady, my instructions were quite clear. I am to deliver this to Master Armstrong personally.”

Here’s the thing about Gigas, they don’t like to be told ‘no’.

Without delay Nina slammed the door in his face hard enough to crack the wooden frame of it, drawing a yelp of surprise out of the poor fellow.

“Whatever. What’s for dinner?” She called to Ophelia, who had poked her head out of the washroom.

“What was that about dearheart?”

“Nothing important. Some prick that got lost on his way to his own funeral.”

By this point Volka and Milly determined that there was