Gathering Storm (The Salvation of Tempestria Book 2) - Gary Stringer (read e book TXT) 📗

suggest we put this misunderstanding behind us and start again. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” they chorused.

True to her word, Dreya cancelled her magic and allowed both Chetsuans to free themselves. They immediately sheathed their weapons.

Stepping forward in a non-threatening way, Dreya offered her hand and introduced herself.

“So, are you, like, Cat’s friend or something?” Sara asked.

“A friend, yes,” Dreya confirmed, “and more besides.”

“More besides?” Sara wondered.

“Of course!” Jessica cried. “Don’t you see, Sara? That’s why she wouldn’t get into a relationship with Daelen – she was already in a relationship with Dreya, here.”

“Jess!” her sister hissed in warning, worried that Dreya might not take kindly to the news that her girlfriend had feelings for someone else and she might take it out on them.

Guessing her fears, Dreya smiled, reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I know all about that. It’s not a problem.”

“Then why wouldn’t she just tell him she was with you?” Sara wondered.

“An unintended side-effect,” the Faery woman explained, regretfully. “Keeping me a secret via a magically backed promise was a strategy. It was never supposed to cause her emotional distress. Believe me, I would never do that, and I would have met up with her to remove the block any time she asked. She chose to keep it because she still believed the strategy was sound. And just to be clear,” she added, “the magic never stopped her from doing whatever she wanted. It didn’t force her to choose me, it only prevented her from telling anyone that she had.”

“So, you’re linked with her at all times?” Sara asked.

“To a greater or lesser extent. The link has a privacy mode, like closing a door, but in an emergency, that door could be flung open at any time.”

“Then you could swoop in and save her if you needed to?” Jessica wondered.

“Or stand and fight with her. Whatever the situation demands.” She shrugged. “I love her. It’s as simple as that.”

“Wow, that’s actually proper romantic!” Jessica grinned.

“If it’s true,” Sara pointed out, who was less willing to take Dreya’s word than was her sister.

“Sara!” Jessica scowled, hands on hips. “Don’t be a misery just because you’re missing your elf boy. You can’t go around asking people to prove they’re in a relationship. How’s she supposed to do that, anyway?”

“Actually,” Dreya ventured, pulling something out of a pocket, blushing as she did so. She didn’t usually do things like this. “If it helps, I do have these.”

She produced a pair of photographs, taken in the studio in Gaggleswick the last time they were out together, a few days before Catriona went out to investigate Justaria’s disappearance and began her adventure with Daelen. They were small and in black and white, hardly up to Earth photography standards of the time, but it was clear what they showed. One was just a portrait shot of Catriona alone. The other was Cat and Dreya together mid-kiss. She’d never shown them to anyone else before. Even the photographer, like everyone else in that town, took it as read that they needed to be the soul of discretion in anything relating to Dreya the Dark. As for Dreya herself, the kinds of feelings she had for Catriona were still new to her, and she hadn’t yet worked out how to show them to the world while maintaining her image. With these two, for the first time, she didn’t need to worry about that.

“Aww!” Jessica gushed. “Look, sis! Satisfied now? Oh, my gods, Dreya, you two are so cute together!”

Sara’s scepticism evaporated. “I’m sorry for doubting you, Dreya,” she apologised, holding out a hand.

Dreya shook it. “No apology necessary.”

Jessica could barely tear herself away from the photos, but she reluctantly handed them back.

“That’s it,” she told Dreya, “you two are totally my new top celeb couple.”

“Er, Jess,” Sara put in. “I just realised.”

“Realised what?”

“We tried to kill Catriona’s girlfriend.”

Her sister’s jaw dropped. “So we did,” she agreed.

“I won’t tell if you don’t,” Dreya promised.

Jessica flashed a smile and agreed, “Good plan. Well, dearie, what do you say we all have a nice cup of tea and a chat somewhere a bit nicer than this draughty old corridor, eh?”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Dreya acknowledged. “Might I suggest the library? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

“Show us?” Sara frowned in puzzlement. “In our library?”

“Oh, yes, I fully intend my visit to be mutually beneficial.”

“Well,” Jessica declared, “you can colour me intrigued.”

Notes

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Fits to the tune of Rockabye Baby