A Life Discovered Ch. 08

Chapter 8 - Memories

It was something Rhys was going to have to get used to - waking up with a naked, beautiful woman on each side of him. This time, in their new home, the bed was a little larger, but the women were still moulded to his body, hugging him as closely as they could in their sleep. Something was different this morning, though. He could sense Jade's presence when she was close to him. Not only her physical presence, which was difficult to miss as she snuggled up to him in bed, but he could also feel her emotions, her intelligence and, sometimes, her thoughts, especially ones she wanted him to hear. It was something he'd gotten used to over the last few days. But today there was something else. He could sense Kat, too.

Even as Kat slept, he could feel an overwhelming sense of bliss from her. Last night's lovemaking had been mind-blowing. The feeling in his brain when they'd climaxed together - it was like a mental bomb had exploded. He wondered what their new connection would be like when she awoke.

Perhaps something had leaked over their new connection because Kat started to stir in her sleep. Her eyes opened, and she looked at Rhys. She smiled sleepily at him, blew him a kiss and closed her eyes again. When they'd gone to sleep last night, they'd been lying on top of the blankets, but now they had blankets over the three of them; Jade must have covered them over when she came in after last night's meeting. He smiled to himself; what a lucky man he was.

A thought entered his head. "Don't forget Jade". He didn't know whether that was his subconscious reminding him he was in a throuple and not a couple, or whether it was something that Kat had pushed to him. Either way, it was a valid reminder. He mustn't get so wrapped up in exploring his new connection to Kat that he neglected Jade. He twisted over to face her, Kat releasing him so he could do so, and kissed Jade gently on the forehead. She opened her eyes, smiled at him and blew him a kiss, just as Kat had done, before closing her eyes again.

Rhys took advantage of being temporarily able to move and wormed his way down the bed, emerging from under the blankets at the foot of the bed. He stood up and walked over to the bathroom, closing the door quietly behind him. He used the toilet, then stepped into the shower. He wasn't one for steaming hot showers; hot water had been at a premium back in Solvstrom, and cooler water was ideal for him. After showering and washing his hair, he brushed his teeth, hung the towel on one of the hooks on the back of the door to dry, and then wandered back into the bedroom.

Kat had rolled over into the space he'd left in the bed, and Jade was now spooning her, both still asleep. He looked at them, his heart bursting with love for both of them. As quietly as he could, he found clean underwear and casual clothes, dressed and pulled on a pair of slippers. He gathered the pile of last night's discarded clothing up and put it in the laundry basket before slipping out of the bedroom and heading downstairs.

The house was busy already. He could smell fresh bread cooking in the basement, so he wandered down the stairs to see what was happening. Mrs. Shaw, the cook, was tending the range, just taking fresh bread rolls out of the oven. Nell, her assistant and the kitchen maid, was slicing fruit. She must have seen his movement out of the corner of her eye as she looked at him with a squeak. That startled Mrs. Shaw, who narrowly avoided dropping the bread on the floor. "Mr. Niain!" she said, slightly disapprovingly. "What are you doing down here?"

"I'm just seeing what the team do to keep this house running," he said. "I've never lived in a house with staff before, and I think I need to appreciate what you do. I mean that in both senses of the word; I need to understand and I need to be thankful for your work."

Mrs. Shaw smiled. "Most heads of a house never come downstairs, let alone take an interest in what their staff do. Miss Kat and Miss Jade were down here yesterday, and we had a good discussion. We're going to make some changes, but you may want to speak to Miss Jade and Miss Kat about those because they've been talking to the other staff members too."

Rhys nodded. "I will, thank you. I don't want to take up too much of your time as I can see you're busy, but while I'm here, thank you both for everything you do. I've only been here a day, but I really appreciate your work."

Mrs. Shaw nodded, and Nell smiled at him. Taking his leave, he went back up the stairs and went into the orangery. It was probably his favourite room. He loved the old-fashioned and cosy feel of the study, but it was quite dark and stuffy. In contrast, the orangery had large windows and lots of plants, giving it an outdoors-indoors feel that made him feel more at home. He noticed some breakfast things had been set out already, and he moseyed over to pour himself a cup of tea.

He sat on one of the rattan chairs, looking out of the windows and into the garden beyond. The weather was grey, and it looked like it had rained overnight. He could see Rosemary examining the beds containing herbs and vegetables, presumably looking for pests or weeds.

He finished his tea and wandered back upstairs, slightly at a loss as to what to do. Everything had been so busy recently, and now he had a little time to himself. He went into the main bedroom. Jade was there, sitting naked on the edge of the bed; Kat was obviously elsewhere. He moved over to her and sat down next to her. She looked at him, smiling.

"Thank you for helping to make Kat's night special," he said. Jade nodded and was about to speak until Rhys kissed her. "Don't downplay it," he said. "It was something you didn't have to do, yet you did. It made me realise that we're a threesome, a throuple, but we're also three different couples, and we need to work on that aspect too. Last night was a Kat-Rhys date. We're also going to have Rhys-Jade and Jade-Kat dates. And dates for all three of us together."

Jade continued to smile at him. "You're getting there," she said, and leaned forward to kiss him back. It started as quite a chaste kiss, but quickly developed into a full smooch. It wasn't easy to get too amorous sitting side by side on the bed, but they did the best they could. Eventually, Jade moved to sit astride his legs so they were face to face, and the kissing intensified. She pulled his shirt out of his trousers and put her arms around him, placing her hands on his back, under his shirt, running her hands up and down his spine, pulling them together. He could feel her in his head; she could feel him in hers. In that moment, that closeness, they were almost one.

A damp towel hit both their heads, and they broke the kiss. Kat had appeared in the doorway to the bathroom, dressed only in her bra and panties, and was apparently a mean shot with a towel. "Get a room!" she laughed. "Oh, you have!" She laughed again at her own joke. Rhys and Jade joined in her laughter, partly through delight at seeing her so happy and partly because Kat had an infectious laugh.

"Budge up," Kat said to Jade, approaching. Jade moved to sit on one of Rhys's knees, and Kat came to sit on the other. It wasn't the most comfortable of arrangements, but needs must. "Thank you," Kat said. "Both of you. For yesterday. It was perfect. I've been dreaming of what my first time would be like since I first became aware of sex. I knew I'd probably have no say in it, and I'm not sure how I managed to get as far as last night without someone taking advantage of me. Maybe being short and ugly..."

Jade slapped her. Not hard, not enough to turn Kat's head, just enough to shock her and stop her talking. "Will you stop that?" demanded Jade. "You are most definitely not ugly. Trust me, you're one of the most naturally pretty people I've ever seen." She looked at Rhys for confirmation; he nodded vigorously.

"You don't notice it," said Rhys, "but people turn to look at you. When we came out of that boudoir in Miller Lane, so many people, men and women, stopped what they were doing to look. When you had that moment of inspiration in the bank, everyone in there, customer or employee, watched you. And, even if you're not willing to believe that, the one thing you absolutely should believe in is that I find you beautiful, amazing, desirable and lovable. And I'm going to prove it. I'm going to kiss you. Are you ready?"

Kat nodded. Rhys moved in for a kiss, and they naturally tilted their heads to the side so their noses didn't obstruct. Their lips met. Rhys brought a hand up to the back of Kat's head; she did the same to him. Neither was pressing, just holding. Kat's eyes went wide, and she pulled back, gasping for air. "I could see it in your head," she said. "It's true! You do think I'm beautiful!" Her eyes started to moisten and, as she had done several times before, she buried her head in Rhys's chest. "In the bank," she mumbled, "it was like I got a flash of inspiration. The knowledge of how to sign my name just appeared. When you've pushed a thought into my head during sex, it's been the same. But now, it's a real connection. I can feel you when we're close like that. Is it the same for you?"

Rhys nodded. "Yes, it is. And it's the same with Jade. When I'm close to either of you, and especially when we're being intimate, as you say, it's as though there's a connection. Do you have the same with Jade?"

"Not that I've noticed," Kat replied. She gave a small smile and turned to look at Jade, still perched on Rhys's other leg. "We could always do an experiment, though?"

Jade smiled back and stood. She held her hand out to Kat, who took it and also stood, facing Jade. Jade stooped slightly so that her face was level with Kat's, and they kissed. Gently at first, but quickly evolving into something far more intense. Jade moved her hands down to Kat's butt and took her weight. Kat responded by jumping up and putting her legs around Jade's waist and her arms around Jade's neck. Rhys marvelled, both at the sight of his two lovers being so close, but also at the sight of Jade's naked body as she held Kat. Kat wasn't particularly heavy, but he could see Jade's muscles in her thighs, calves and arms flexing as she worked subconsciously to maintain the pair's balance.

The kiss broke. Each woman looked into the other's eyes. Each saw love in the other. Kat unwrapped her legs from around Jade, who lowered Kat slowly to the floor. Kat took her arms from around Jade's neck.

"There was something there," Jade said. "It's not the same as I have with you," she looked at Rhys, "but it's definitely there."

"I'd compare it to looking at Jade in a mist," Kat added, "whereas with Rhys it's a clear day, if that makes any sense?" Jade nodded her agreement. "I could sense Jade's emotions, and I can still feel her presence while we're close, but with Rhys, it's more than that."

"Same," Jade added. "Like a river compared to a stream."

The breakfast bell rang, and Jade and Kat rushed to make themselves decent. The three trooped downstairs and went into the orangery where Rhys had earlier made a hot drink for himself. Someone had renewed the flask of hot water, and there was a plate of Mrs. Shaw's fresh bread rolls, a plate of sliced cheese and ham and another plate of fruit, together with fruit juices. The three ate.

Rhys had noticed that Kat was moving a little awkwardly and asked her about it. "I'm a little sore between my legs," she said, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Healer, heal thyself!" he chuckled.

Kat looked at him, then she closed her eyes for a minute or so. When she reopened them, she smiled and walked around the room. "That's better," she said. "I didn't think of that!" She went for more food and drink, then sat down in one of the rattan chairs. "But it did make me think of something else," she continued, "and that's whether we want to have children." Jade and Kat both looked at Rhys.

Rhys was slightly taken aback. "To be honest," he said, "I've never, in my whole life, given it any thought. But now we're all sexually active, it's a fair question. There are several caveats here, not least what you two want, but also that this is just a gut reaction on my part. My answer is yes, but maybe not yet. But if either of you wants children now, I'm open to that."

Jade nodded. "It's the same for me. I'm very aware we've only been together a week, but I think having children with you is in my future."

"Agreed," Kat said, also nodding. "I'm wondering if my healing talent lets me do something to temporarily prevent the two of us from getting pregnant. It's another thing I'll ask great-great-grandfather about."

They finished their breakfast and stood together, looking out of the windows. The rain was falling lightly again, and Rosemary had disappeared, presumably into her potting shed or into the house somewhere. The clouds looked ominously like heavier rain was on its way. It was a day for rainwear.

"Plan for the day," said Jade. "Rhys needs to go to the university outfitters and get his formal wear. Kat and I need to go to a jeweller's because," she reached into a pocket in her skirt, "I was given these last night." She pulled out a small velvet bag, undid the cord holding it closed and tipped two small jewels into her other hand. Kat and Rhys peered at them. "The meeting last night was quite routine and nothing special - we can talk about it later if you want to know more - but, at the end, one of the Foundation members gave me the bag with the jewels in. All they would say is that if I were committed to having a long-term relationship with Rhys, I should have one of these made into some jewellery that I could wear all the time. They also gave me one for Kat, on the same proviso."

Kat picked one of the jewels up and turned it round between her fingers - it was not much larger than a grain of rice - before placing it back in Jade's palm. "It's pretty," she said. "If it's a sign of a committed relationship, we should have it made into a ring in the same style as Rhys's, and we can wear it on the same finger as he does. That'll be symbolic that we're all together."

"I like that idea," said Jade. "There may be a trade directory in the study. Let's see if there's a jeweller close to one of the university outfitters."

They moved into the study, and Jade checked the shelves. "Here we are," she said, lifting down a thick book. She started to flip through the pages, muttering "Jewellers, Jewellers" under her breath. In the meantime, Rhys had pulled the list of outfitters from his stack of university papers. Kat looked on, a little sadly, unable to contribute.

Jade took Rhys's list and cross-checked it with the list of jewellers from the trade directory. "There are none in the same street," she said, "and I don't know Chatamor enough to know where all these backstreets are."

Rhys peered at the trade directory. "That one," he said, pointing at an entry in the list. He looked at his list of outfitters. "And that one," he said, again pointing.

Jade looked at him. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"No, not really," he replied with a sheepish grin. "They just felt right. I could be completely wrong and they could be on opposite sides of the city, but if we've no other way of choosing, why not go with my hunch?"

Jade looked at Kat, who shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose," Jade said, "we have to start somewhere, so why not?"

The trio went back upstairs to don rainwear, then headed out of the house, up to the junction with the main road and hailed a Hansom cab. There were fewer people about today, and those who were out were wrapped up against the drizzle, heads down, some with umbrellas. There was more traffic about, especially more cabs, and the horse-drawn omnibuses were crowded. Rainy weather looked to be good business for public transport. It did, though, make progress through the city traffic a lot slower.

After almost an hour, the cab dropped them outside a shop called "Jewellery by Ljusberg". It was on a side street off one of the major arterial city roads. The area wasn't as stylish as Miller Lane had been, and there was noticeably no street lighting. Rhys paid the driver, and the three lovers stepped down from the coach. They hurried into the shop to escape the rain, which had been steadily increasing in intensity.

A bell tinkled as they entered the shop, and they saw a young man standing behind a series of display cases. The cases were made of glass with a metal frame and a fine metal mesh that seemed to be incorporated into the glass. Rhys wondered if the contents were especially valuable or if they'd had problems with their goods being stolen.

"Can I help you?" asked the young man.

"We'd like some custom rings made," Kat told him.

The assistant nodded. "I'll fetch the master jeweller," he told her and moved through into a back room.

A moment later, an older woman entered and approached Kat. "I'm Mrs. Ljusberg," she said. "Henrik says you want to talk about some custom rings?"

Jade came up alongside Kat. "We have some stones," she said, "and we'd like to set them into rings. One for each of us two women. Our boyfriend here," she indicated Rhys, "already has a ring and we'd like a simple ring in a similar style, if that's possible?"

Mrs. Ljusberg nodded. She turned to Rhys. "May I see the ring, please?"

Rhys held his hand out. Mrs. Ljusberg produced a magnifying eyepiece from her pocket and moved close to inspect the ring. "Well, well," she said, "it's been many a year since I saw a ring like this. Where did you get it?"

"I wish I knew," Rhys said wistfully. "I'm told it belonged to my father. I never knew him, and it was handed to me as an heirloom when I turned eighteen."

Mrs. Ljusberg looked at him for a moment. "From your father?" she asked. Rhys nodded. "Can I hold it for a moment?" she asked. There was no logical reason for him to say no, but he very much wanted to. He didn't want to take the ring off his finger, but his curiosity as to what it was and what it might say about his family was intense. He slipped it off the ring finger of his right hand and dropped it into her palm. He suddenly felt cold and somehow diminished, as if his posture had dropped. Kat and Jade looked at him with concern.

She turned it in her hand, feeling its weight. She examined it closely with her eyepiece, including the inside of the band and each of the small jewels set into its head. She made notes on a piece of paper. She brought a small set of balance scales up from beneath the display of necklaces they were standing by and weighed the ring. She noted the weight on the paper. She brought a tiny jug up onto the countertop and filled it with water. She dropped the ring in, much to Rhys's alarm, and the ring caused some water to run out of the jug, which she also weighed and noted. She examined each of the jewels in turn, touching each lightly with her finger. Finally, she dried the ring and handed it back to Rhys. He quickly slipped it back on his finger, and he was immediately back to normal.

Mrs. Ljusberg did some quick calculations on her paper, then looked up at Rhys. "Firstly," she said, "the ring is not gold. It is not heavy enough for its size. That means it's an alloy, gold mixed with other metals. I can't tell precisely what, as there are far too many permutations. The important thing is that it has no scratches or marks on it, and any ring that's been worn for any length of time will pick up tiny marks. This has none. That would usually indicate that the metal is phenomenally hard, but it would also make it brittle. There is no sign of any stress fractures in the ring either. So it's a hard metal and fracture-free. I've never seen that before.

"The jewels; I don't know for sure what they are. There are also no scratches on those, and apart from diamond, jewel stones of that supposed age would also have tiny scratches on them. I can guess at what some of them are. The red one looks like a garnet, although, as I said, it isn't scratched enough for its age if it is a garnet. The purple one resembles an amethyst, but with the same note of caution. The clear one that I thought was a diamond; I now don't think it is, as it feels warm to the touch. I don't know what it is, though. The cloudy one, the black, blue and green ones, I don't know. I will say, though, that they're all tiny but seem to have no defects in any of them."

Rhys thanked Mrs. Ljusberg for the information. She turned to Kat and Jade. "Can I see the stones you want incorporated into your rings?" Jade produced the velvet bag again and emptied the two tiny, almost-transparent jewels into Mrs. Ljusberg's hand. She looked at them with her magnifying eyepiece and sighed. "Where did you get these?" she asked.

"I was given them last night," Jade said. "My employer gave them to me, and I don't know anything about them before that. Is there a problem?"

"Not a problem," Mrs. Ljusberg replied. "A mystery, however. They seem identical to the clear stone on your gentleman friend's ring. He doesn't know where that came from; you don't know where these came from. The fact that we now have three identical stones with no provenance is very suspicious." Jade started to speak, but Mrs. Ljusberg cut her off. "I don't mean suspicious in the sense that they're stolen or they've come from any unscrupulous source," she said. "It just raises more questions than it answers. It reminds me of a story my master jeweller told me when I was an apprentice, many, many years ago. It was a similar story with similar stones. It may be a wild coincidence, one way or another, but in that story, the jewels were fragments of a moonstone. I don't know whether that has any significance, but my master always told me that the customer was a well-known public figure, highly regarded in society. It was rumoured that the stones gave him some sort of advantage. What type of advantage and in what area of life, he didn't know.

"Anyway, back to the business at hand, setting these in a ring will be straightforward. The young gentleman's ring is made of a hard gold alloy. If you want them to look and feel similar, I'd suggest a titanium and gold alloy ring. You can opt for more traditional gold and silver or tin alloys, which would be cheaper but more prone to damage. I can make them look almost identical to his ring, although ladies normally prefer their rings to be less solid than his is."

Kat looked at Jade. "Can we look through your displays and see what the possibilities are?"

The three women went through the display cases, examining ring styles before finally settling on a design that Jade and Kat liked, and that was reasonably similar to Rhys's ring. Mrs. Ljusberg cautioned that the band and shoulder of the ring would be the same, but the head would be different, as their stones were long and thin compared to the rounder shape that the display ring had.

There then followed a discussion about the price, along with some haggling, before Jade, Kat, and Mrs. Ljusberg agreed on the total, including an extra payment so that the rings would be a priority and would be ready by noon the day after tomorrow. Jade paid the deposit.

Rhys asked Mrs. Ljusberg about the location of the university outfitters he'd chosen at random from his list. It turned out it was only two streets away from Mrs. Ljusberg's shop, about a ten-minute walk. The trio stood in the jeweller's window, the rain now steadily falling in the street outside.

"Do we get a cab, or do we run?" Rhys asked Kat and Jade.

The two women looked at each other, grinning. "Run!" they said at the same time. Rhys grinned back. The three ran out of the jewellers, up the street, turned right onto the main road, crossed the next side street, avoiding the traffic at the crossroads, turned right again and ran down that street. "There!" shouted Jade, pointing. The three charged, whooping and laughing, into the outfitters' shop, skidding to a halt in the shop entrance. They formed a group hug, laughing and chattering like small children in their soaking wet rainwear. Then they looked at the shop they were in.

Rhys had expected the university outfitters to be like the tailor's shop he'd peered in while browsing in Miller Lane. Dark with wood panelling and older shop assistants wearing measuring tapes around their necks like badges of office. But this was as different as it was possible to be. The shop was painted in pastel colours, and its wares were displayed around the walls and on stands arranged throughout the shop. The shop wasn't lit with candles or oil lamps that cast yellow light like everywhere else he'd seen - including their new house - but with light fittings that gave out a brilliant white light on such an overcast day. The shop was bright and airy and full of young women.

Jade had noticed the number of women, too, and was looking around with a smile on her face. Kat was also looking around, but with an amazed look on her face. She had never seen anything like it in her life. A female shop assistant approached them. "Are you new students?" she asked Kat and Jade.

"Not us," replied Kat. "He is, though," indicating Rhys.

The assistant laughed. "I'm sorry, ladies, I shouldn't have made an assumption. It's just that we go out of our way to provide a great experience for female students. There aren't many of them, mostly in the school of education. For some reason, Reilander parents like women teaching their children. The school of medicine offers courses for midwives too and accepts female students to train as gynaecologists and in related female-focused fields. There are also women enrolled in other courses, but they're usually from affluent, liberal families, and they have to be headstrong, independent, and resilient. Or they're foreigners who are also headstrong, independent and resilient. Anyway, I'm Linnae and I'm pleased to meet you."

She turned to Rhys and held her hand out. He took it and shook, saying, "Hello, Linnae. I'm pleased to meet you, too." He realised that this was the first time since he'd been in Rieland that a woman had shaken him by the hand. Normally, they curtsied. Kat and Jade had curtsied up to now. There was something different about this shop, and not just the décor and the lighting. Linnae was talking, so he paid attention.

"Are you here for your fresher's year?" She asked. Rhys nodded. "Good," Linnae added, "which school will you be attending?"

"Erm, I'm not entirely sure?" Rhys admitted. "I'm doing a 'General Studies' course?"

Linnae laughed a little too hard for Rhy's comfort. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. "Every time someone says that, it makes me laugh. As though giving a course a non-descript name like that hides what they're teaching there. You'd have to be pretty green behind the ears..." She noticed Rhys blushing furiously and Kat and Jade trying not to laugh. "I seem to be getting a little ahead of myself," she said. "I'm sorry if I'm embarrassing or upsetting you."

"No, it's fine," said Rhys. "I am a little green behind the ears, I expect, not being used to the country, or the city or the university. You carry on."

Linnae smiled. "You'll be in the School of Humanities," she added. "Don't worry about that, though. There's no perfect home for a course about magic, and you may find you have some non-humans on it." Rhys's eyes widened at the prospect. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I've been told to get some formal wear," Rhys said.

Linnae nodded. "Follow me," she said and headed further into the shop. She stopped by a display of formal trousers. Do you have anything already that you want to use, or are you looking for a complete outfit?"

"A complete outfit," Rhys replied.

Linnae nodded again. "Can you take your jacket off, please?" she said. Rhys did so and handed the wet garment to Jade, who held it by the hood. Linnae produced a tape measure from her pocket, bent down in front of Rhys and wrapped the tape around his waist. Rhys started to blush at her proximity to his genitals, which, in turn, caused Kat and Jade to walk away from him, hands over their mouths, so they wouldn't burst out laughing. He'd been measured for clothes before, but always by a man and in a fitting room, never by a woman and on a public shop floor. Linnae went on to measure his inside leg, which caused Rhys more embarrassment and Jade and Kat more amusement at his reaction. She also measured the height to his shoulders, his chest size and the circumference of his head. She noted the figures down on a small card.

"What style are we looking for?" she asked.

"What styles do you have?" Rhys replied.

"Looking at your measurements, you'll probably be fine with some of our stock items. You can have custom ones made, but I couldn't, hand on heart, recommend that given the number of times you'll wear them. It'd likely be throwing money away, and you don't look like the sort of person who needs to make a statement by having fur-trimmed robes or gold braid on your cap."

Jade and Kat reappeared. "He's got an athletic body," said Kat. "I think we want to highlight that. So something that emphasises his physique would be good." Jade nodded her agreement.

Linnae led the trio around the shop, selecting a pair of close-fitting trousers, a white slim-fit shirt, a purple necktie, a black gown, a sky blue stole (the colour for the Humanities school) and a black mortar-board cap. Linnae had a specialist measure and fit him for shoes. He chose a pair of black leather shoes, shiny with no adornments or frills, lightweight, and featuring a low heel.

Once they'd assembled the whole set, Linnae showed Rhys to a dressing room to try everything on. Kat and Jade both tried to accompany him into the dressing room, but he shooed them out. It took him five minutes to change, then he opened the door and stepped out.

Kat, Jade and Linnae were chatting, but upon hearing the changing room door open, they turned to see Rhys emerge. Linnae nodded approvingly, Jade smiled broadly, but Kat stared at him and her cheeks began to flush.

"That," she said, "Is. So. Hot."

Rhys struck a pose and got laughs out of all three women. "You like?" he asked.

"We like!" said Kat, looking at Jade. "Me especially!" She moved up to him. "You look so handsome," she continued. "So tall; you carry yourself so well; you're my... my... well, just mine." She buried her face in his chest again and hugged him. Rhys hugged her back. Jade came over to join in the hug. "Mine and Jade's, that is," she mumbled, and Jade laughed.

The hug broke up. "I'll take them!" Rhys said to Linnae. He went back into the changing room and came out in his regular clothes, carrying the folded formal wear in his arms. He gave Kat and Jade a quick kiss, then followed Linnae to the cashier's office.

He paid for his clothes, tipped Linnae handsomely and arranged for his clothes to be delivered to Rowan Tree Road. Linnae handed him a small card as he was leaving. He looked at it. "We have another shop," she said, "that sells a wider range of clothes. If you need anything, anything, go there." She smiled brightly, spun on her heels and moved back into the shop. Rhys tucked the card into his pocket.

He stood with Kat and Jade in the shop's covered porch, looking at the rain falling in the street. "What do we do this afternoon?" he asked no one in particular.

"Lunch first!" said Kat, and the others agreed. They ran down the road, through the rain, to a bakery that had some tables and chairs set under an awning. They bought a sandwich and a glass of iced tea each and sat around one of the tables.

"What do we want to do this afternoon?" Rhys asked. "I don't know what the options are for a rainy afternoon in Chatamor."

"Shopping!" suggested Kat.

Rhys pulled a face. "If you really want to, we can," he said. "I'd hoped to do something a bit more relaxing. I thought of exploring one of the parks we saw from Richard and Sarah's house, but we'd be better off doing that on a dry day."

"We could go look around the National Museum?" Jade suggested. "I've never been, but I've heard that it's worth a look."

"And," added Kat, "if it's rubbish we could always go home and fuck." She clapped a hand over her mouth, embarrassed at what she'd said. Jade and Rhys both burst out laughing.

"That sounds like a plan," said Rhys. "Including Kat's suggestion!" All three laughed. In no hurry, they finished their lunch and took their glasses back into the bakery. The rain had eased slightly, so they made their way to the main road and hailed another cab. The cab splashed its way across the city, the hooves of the two horses pulling it clattering on the cobbled streets. After half an hour, it deposited them outside a grand building.

The three of them stood in the steady drizzle, looking up. A set of very wide stone steps led up to a dozen enormous, fluted columns that supported the huge triangular stone porch roof, which fronted the massive stone building that housed the museum. Kat and Rhys stared up at it. It was the largest building that either of them had ever seen. Rhys noticed that Jade was considerably less awed. Whatever her mysterious background contained, it clearly included large, impressive buildings.

They went up the steps and through a heavy wooden door into a large entrance hall. A man sat behind an imposing desk. He took their dripping raincoats and gave them a ticket so they could collect them later. Jade bought a guidebook from him and flicked through it, Rhys looking on from the side. Kat watched the pair, slightly sadly. Rhys noticed her demeanour and moved over to side-hug her. "We'll sort this out for you," he promised her, "as a priority." She smiled up at him and hugged him back.

Using the guidebook, they identified the exhibits they wanted to see most and decided to start on the top floor and work their way back down. The first on the list was the natural history section. The display consisted of a small aquarium that housed tanks containing various marine creatures, such as crustaceans, jellyfish, and saltwater fish, as well as freshwater fish. They examined the tanks, trying to see each species listed. They moved on to a display of stuffed animals (the quality of the taxidermy varied considerably) and then onto fossils. Jade explained what a fossil was to Kat, who had never heard of them. Kat was fascinated by seeing the traces of animals that had long since died out.

They moved on to the section on Reiland's history. Rhys was not from Reiland, so he found the overview it gave him very useful. Jade seemed to know most of the important events already and talked Kat through them, reading the information panels to her. Kat said that it was interesting, but it only concentrated on the lives of those at the very top of society, ignoring people like her. She found it a very sugar-coated version of Reiland's history, one that ignored the many injustices that the people whose portraits she saw had inflicted on others.

They moved on towards the next display on their list, one showing archaeological finds, but to get there, they had to pass through the geology section. None of them had particularly wanted to spend time looking at rocks, but as they walked past, one display in particular caught Rhys's attention. He stopped in front of a small display containing a single black rock. It was so black that it was hard to make out any features, but it appeared to be rounded and very smooth. He couldn't take his eyes off it.

Kat and Jade had carried on past the display before noticing that Rhys had stopped and had walked back to him. Jade read the display card for Kat's benefit. The rock had been found lying on the surface of a glacier in the Jotunheim mountains in the high borderlands between Rieland and Asterlia by a company from the Rieland army who had been training for cold-weather fighting. It was so black it stood out against the ice and snow. No one knew how it had got there, how long it had been there or, in fact, anything about it apart from that it was heavy. No one had been able to scratch it, crush it, or chip any part off it.

Rhys was in a trance-like state. He reached out with his right hand, stopped from touching the rock by the glass that it sat under. He steepled his fingers against the glass, getting as close to the act of picking it up as he could, then pressed his palm against the glass. Suddenly, there was a flash of brilliant white light. Rhys cried out and fell backwards away from the rock, narrowly missing banging his head on an adjacent display case as he fell.

The two women were with him in a trice, kneeling on either side of him. Kat took his left hand, Jade his right and then immediately dropped it with an "Ow!" More carefully, she picked his hand up again and gently touched the ring he wore. The metal of the band was warm, but the stones were cold, except the tiny black one, which was really hot. That couldn't have been a coincidence, she thought. Rhys gets seemingly entranced by a strange black rock on display and gets zapped by it while the black stone in his ring is hot.

Rhys was starting to stir. He tried to sit up, but Kat held him down. "Let me check you out," she said. She held his hand with one of hers and put the other over his eyes while she closed hers. With her so close, Rhys could almost feel her consciousness playing over his body. After a minute or so, she opened her eyes again. "He seems OK," she said to Jade. "No damage as far as I can tell. I don't know what happened, though. It feels like he just got overwhelmed by whatever happened with the rock." Jade nodded. Rhys started to sit up, and Jade and Kat helped him, holding one of his shoulders each. He sat there, recovering his wits.

"It just felt like I had to touch it," he explained. "To hold it, to pick it up. It felt like it belonged to me. It was such an overpowering feeling. I couldn't think of anything else. I just needed to be in contact with it. And then, it felt like it exploded. Not metaphorically. Physically. I felt a blast push me away, and I fell backwards."

He sat there for a moment. Jade had moved to kneel behind him, supporting his back on her thighs and stomach. Kat was still holding his hand, keeping a close watch on his face and mentally monitoring him. "Do you feel up to standing?" she asked. Rhys nodded. Kat stood and held her hands out to help him stand. He took her hands and stood, the change in the centre of mass of the pair of them pulling them towards each other.

"I think we'll cut this visit off here," Jade said, rising to her feet. Rhys started to protest, but Jade cut him off. "The museum will be here the next time we come," she said, "and you've just been unconscious on the floor." Rhys knew better than to argue. He knew they were taking care of him, and he didn't have a good reason to complain. "And we're not going down all those steps and bumping across a damp city in a cab. Kat, can you take us to our cottage in the magical plane, please?"

Kat nodded, and the three moved into a circle holding hands. They all closed their eyes and experienced a momentary sense of disorientation before opening their eyes again to find themselves in the bedroom of their cottage. There was warm sunlight coming through the window instead of the Reiland's drizzle. The three were dressed in the white knee-length smocks they'd worn last time they'd arrived.

Kat checked Rhys's health again. "He still seems fine," she said. "I'm going to see great-great-grandfather again while we're here. Rhys, get some rest while I'm gone." He nodded, and Kat left the bedroom, and Rhys heard the cottage door close behind her.

Jade moved over to the wardrobe and opened it. No clothes were hanging there. She closed the door and watched Rhys as he climbed onto the bed. Jade moved over to the dresser and opened one of the drawers. She took something out and turned to Rhys. "Look what I found!" she said with a huge smile. What she'd found was two pairs of padded cuffs, each pair connected by light chains, and a leather collar of the type worn by dogs.

Rhys smiled. "I've been ordered to get some rest!" he mock-complained.

"You can rest," Jade said. "I'll do all the work. After I saw you and Kat in bed last night, I got..." she hesitated, "not jealous, but maybe a little envious. Horny certainly."

She approached the bed carrying the restraints. "Put them on me, please?" she asked.

Rhys sat up as Jade climbed onto the bed. She'd shucked her smock off and she lay, naked and stretched out, on the bed. Rhys fastened the collar around her neck, moving the D-ring to be at the front. He connected her ankles with one set of cuffs and, with the other, unfastened the chain between them, looped it through the D-ring in the collar and connected it back to the cuffs. Her neck now held her wrists with only a little room to manoeuvre. Once he'd secured her, he looked her in the eyes, seeing the heat there. "Nadu," he said quietly. Instantly, she knelt up on the bed, knees apart. She couldn't put her hands on her thighs, so she held them as far behind her neck as the chains would allow. She ended up in a half-Nadu, half-Present position.

Rhys removed his smock and lay back, naked, on the bed and spread his legs. "Slave, service me!" he said in his most commanding tone. Jade shuffled forward on her knees to kneel between his legs. She bent down from the waist to put her head next to his tumescent cock. He could see her stomach muscles working as she moved, trying to make her movements graceful with her hands still held at her neck.

She started to lick his cock as a dog licks a bone. Long, slow licks from the base to the tip. His cock responded to her treatment by becoming fully erect. She took its tip into her mouth, again without using her hands and bobbed her head up and down, coating the top of his cock with her saliva. Suddenly she took a deep breath and forced her head down, swallowing his cock, so that he nose was pressing into his groin. Her tongue was still out and she licked the base of his cock, using her chained hands to fondle his balls. Then she started to make swallowing motions, which caused Rhys to gasp.

Jade's face started to turn red as she worked away on Rhys's cock until she suddenly pulled her head back, releasing his cock from her mouth. She gasped for air for a few moments before a look of determination crossed her face. She was going ride that cock. Her training had taught her to put her feet on either side of his hips, as it was easier to balance this way, but the chain between her ankles prevented that. Instead, she rolled over one of Rhy's legs so she was by his side. She whispered. "Master, could you close your legs, please?" Rhys did so and Jade rolled again to this time sit astride both his legs, his cock pointing straight up in front of her. She put her knees on either side of his legs, her chained feet resting on top. She raised herself and tried to walk on her knees towards his groin.

Rhys watched her carefully. He knew she was struggling to move and keep her balance at the same time; he could see the muscles in her stomach and thighs fighting to stop her from falling. He also knew she wouldn't thank him for helping her. An idea struck him. He sat up and grabbed her nipples, holding on tight. She gasped, but it immediately steadied her as her upper body now had something to pull against or push.

She moved up his body slowly until her pelvis was over his cock. She sank slowly so that his cock penetrated her labia. She wiggled backwards and forwards, spreading some of her juices over his the head of his cock before she lined herself up and dropped down. Her head snapped back, a guttural moan escaping her lips. Rhys released her nipples so she could move how she wanted to. At first, she bobbed up and down, stimulating Rhys but not so much herself. Then she switched to rocking backwards and forwards, alternately rubbing her clitoris against his public bone and his cock against the sensitive are at the front of her vagina. She had her eyes closed and was grunting in time with her rocking. The grunts evolved into soft cries of "oh!" as she sped up and eventually merged into one long moan as she collapsed forward onto his chest, her own chest heaving.

"You didn't cum," she mumbled as he wrapped his arms round her and his cock slipped out of her.

"We've been through this," he said, gently. "I know you think you need to make me orgasm because of your training, but it isn't always about me. Sometimes a submissive needs to look after the master; sometimes the master needs to look after the submissive. This time, you had the need. That's all that matters." He released the chain from her ankle cuffs and pulled it through the D-ring on her collar. He left her ankle cuffs alone for the time being as he didn't want to disturb her by moving. She dozed, still lying on his chest, his arms around her again.

He heard the door to their cottage opening and then closing. Kat was back. She opened the bedroom door and saw Jade lying on top of Rhys, her ankles chained together. She put her hands on her hips and was about to say something, but Rhys stopped her by putting his finger to his lips. She nodded and walked around to be near his head.

"I leave you alone for a few minutes," she said quietly, "and this is what you get up to. You're worse than rabbits." She smiled to show him she was joking. "When do I get my turn?" she said, still smiling.

"Whenever you like, my love," he whispered back. "Just not right now."

Kat moved gently onto the bed, still clothed in her white smock, with her head next to Rhys. She kissed him gently on the cheek and put one arm over Jade. "I'm not keeping score," she whispered. "Just so that you know."

"Neither am I," Jade mumbled, her head still pressed in Rhys's chest.

They lay there for several minutes until Jade rolled off Rhys and sat up. Kat also took her arm off herand sat up too. She looked at Jade's cuffed ankles and started to move to take them off. Jade put her hand on her arm. "No," she said, "master put them on. Only the master takes them off."

Rhys sighed theatrically, causing both women to smile, climbed off the bed and undid Jade's cuffs. "Better?" he asked with a smile of his own.

"Not better," Jade said, "I like being in your restraints. But nice as it is to be somewhere where it isn't raining, we should be getting back. The question is: where do we return to? It can't be anywhere inside the house because the staff will wonder how we got in without being seen. The same applies to inside any other building, I suppose. And it can't be anywhere in public because the three of us appearing out of nowhere would cause a riot."

"How about," suggested Kat, "the bottom of the service steps at the front of the house? It's out of view from the street, and it's unlikely any of the staff will be there or looking out of the pantry window."

"That's a great idea," said Rhys and leaned over to kiss the top of Kat's head. "That's one thing we'll need to work on - compiling a list of places we can use as return points."

"Let's do it!" said Jade. The three of them stood up and formed a group hug.

"Take us home, Kat," said Rhys. There was the monetary sense of dislocation as their cottage in the magical plane faded away to be replaced by the damp of a rainy afternoon in Chatamor. As they'd expected, they'd reappeared in the clothes they'd been wearing when they left the National Museum, in other words, not rainwear. Those were still in the cloakroom of the museum. The three ran up the steps and into the front garden, then turned and ran up the main steps to the front door. Kat fished around in her skirt pocket for the front door key and let them into the house. The rain wasn't heavy enough to have seriously wet them, and they stood, only slightly damp, in the entrance hall.

The house was quiet. As quiet as it had been that first time they'd visited with Raven. "Where is everyone?" Rhys asked.

"It's up to the lady of the house to lay down the rules for what happens in that house," Jade said, "despite what Mrs. Hawthorne might think. And the lady of the house or, in this case, the ladies," she looked at Kat and smiled, "have laid down some rules. And Mrs. Hawthorne now knows the owner is fine with those rules, so she's not a leg to stand on."

Kat smiled this time. "And one of those rules is about when staff should be working. We're now using a system that I'm told the big houses in other countries use. We've worked out a rota that gives everyone at least two days off a week, and the staff have agreed to cover for each other where possible - they'll be showing each other their jobs over the next few weeks. If we're away for a day or more, the house goes to a skeleton staff, and we're not going to get the staff to do things that don't need doing, for example, lighting fires in all the rooms during warm weather. That'll reduce the cleaning, too. And they can have ten additional days off of their choice every year, provided that the team can cover them."

"And," added Jade, "if it isn't working well, we'll get more people in to join the team."

"And," added Kat, "They've been given wages that they can actually live on, and they can come to either of us with complaints or suggestions in complete confidence. And we'll be scheduling time with each of them, too."

"And," added Jade again, "if they have families in the area, they're welcome to stay with them. Or they can stay in the upper-floor rooms here. Or both, depending on their preference. There's no point in single women renting dingy rooms when we have spare rooms here. So you may see them around the house even when they're not working."

Rhys was impressed. "Wow!" was all he could say. "So they've all gone home?"

"For now, yes," said Jade. Some will be bringing personal effects tomorrow to put in their rooms here. One or two have their day off tomorrow. There should be a meal for us in the sitting room, but I'm going to change first, though."

They all headed upstairs. Jade and Kat went into their dressing room, shutting the door behind them. Rhys headed into the main bedroom where the majority of his clothes were kept. He quickly stripped out of the now mildly damp clothes he'd been wearing and dropped them in the laundry basket. The house was warm, even with no fires lit, so he selected a pair of loose shorts and a short-sleeved nightshirt that came down just past his waist. He also pulled a lightweight dressing gown out of the wardrobe and selected his favourite slippers. Having dressed, he headed back downstairs and went into the sitting room where Jade had mentioned that there should be food.

The sitting room had large windows in it that, on a sunny day, let light and warmth into the room. But today was a grey and rainy day. The wind had increased a little and was now blowing rain into the glass, filling the room with a random pattering sound. One of the disadvantages of not having any staff around was that anything that needed doing, Jade, Kat, or he would have to do it. But, then again, if they'd been living in rented rooms, they'd have had to do those jobs themselves anyway. It was just on a bigger scale here.

He amused himself while waiting for Kat and Jade by using a little of his fire magic to produce a flame from his finger, a much scaled-back version of the trick he'd used to remove Kat's metal slave collar, and went round the room, lighting the candles and oil lamps. Once he'd done that, he wandered over to the low table by the (unlit) fireplace to look at the food that they'd been left. There were two silver salvers with domed silver covers over them. He lifted each cover in turn. One held a selection of open sandwiches, the other an assortment of prepared fruit. He replaced the covers and looked at the other items on the table. There was a small tea service, complete with tea leaves, milk, and a wooden box with a hinged lid. He opened the lid to find the box was full of hay. He saw straight away that there was a flask of hot water within the hay. It was an insulated box to keep the water hot for tea. He closed the lid again before too much heat escaped and then arranged the leather armchairs around the table.

As usual, the day's newspaper was on the low table by the fireplace. He picked it up and began to browse while he waited for his companions. One thing he noticed immediately was how strait-laced it was. Compared to the newspapers in Seibjerg, this one had no "readers' letters" section, almost no foreign news, no coverage of crimes, no coverage of politics - indeed, reading this newspaper, he wasn't even sure if there was any politics in Reiland. The newspaper seemed to consist entirely of stories about the King's achievements, praising government policies, sports news, theatre and concert reviews and lots and lots of advertising.

Jade and Kat entered the room together - he'd begun to notice that they did many things together, as though they were twins, or at least sisters. Jade looked around, seeing that the candles and lamps were lit and smiled. "You?" she asked Rhys, who nodded, looking a little sheepish. She stepped up to him, stretched up and kissed him gently on the forehead. "It's nice that you're making yourself useful," she said. Rhys's eyes widened, and she stepped back from him, grinning.

Kat had already moved over to the food and had made tea for all of them. Rhys looked at her reproachingly, but she gave him the most brilliant smile in return. The smile faltered a little, though, when she tasted the tea. "Urgh," she said. "Luke-warm tea. I guess the hay box doesn't keep the water hot forever."

A thought entered Rhys's head. As a child, he'd watched the village blacksmith back in Solvstrom make tea by heating an iron bar in the forge and dunking it into a cup of water. He took the teacup from Kat's hands, picked up a teaspoon and put it into the water. Concentrating and pushing a thought at the ring on his finger, he saw little bubbles forming where the spoon met the water. He stirred the spoon around a little to mix things up, then handed the cup back to Kat. She looked at him quizzically - all she'd seen him do was stir the tea. "Try it now," Rhys said.

Kat sipped the tea cautiously, then her eyes widened. "That's amazing!" she told him. "It's a perfect temperature now. You are a useful person to have around!" Rhys grinned at her, then repeated the trick with the other two cups of tea.

They helped themselves to the sandwiches and fruit, and each took one of the leather armchairs, starting to eat and drink. Kat put her cup down.

"I spoke to great-great-grandfather today," she said. Jade and Rhys both nodded. "I speak to him often in my head," she continued, "but there are limits on what he can tell me that way. You'll remember he can't tell me anything from his world that would affect things in this." Rhys and Jade nodded again. "Well, when we are in his world, those rules aren't relevant, and any of us three can bring information back with us because of how we originally arrived there. Earlier today, I asked him about we three having children. He told me that a healer can change any part of a person's body, both male and female, but knowledge of what to change is crucial, and I mustn't heal others without that knowledge, except in an emergency."

"He also told me that he didn't have the specific knowledge of how to temporarily change someone's reproductive system as he wasn't a healer, but one of those three magical books that Rhys received contains the information on how to do it. There's a problem there, however. Only a healer will be able to read them. I'm the only healer we have, and I can't read."

Rhys gazed into the distance. A thought had appeared in his head. He didn't know how or where it had come from, but it was interesting. "I wonder," he said. "I can sense both of you when you're close." Both women nodded. "And when we're very close, I've been able to push thoughts to you." Both women nodded again. "And when we're being intimate, our connection gets more intense." Kat and Jade were still nodding. "I wonder if I can give my memories to you. For example, my memories of learning to read. I wonder if that would work?"

Kat was out of her chair and undressing before the others could react. When they did, Jade hurried to the window and pulled the curtains closed. Rhys also started undressing, moving towards the couch to give them all more room. Kat, now naked, her clothes scattered around where she'd thrown them in her rush, pushed him onto the couch. He wasn't yet hard so she knelt in front of him, took his cock into her mouth and started to bob her head up and down, sucking as she moved. Rhys had to take her head in both of his hands and pull her off him. "Slower, my love," he said. "I have to get my brain in order and organise my thoughts so I send you the right memories and not, for example, memories of me sitting on the toilet."

Kat, still kneeling in front of him, giggled. "I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so addicted to you that I have this constant background feeling of wanting to jump you. It was so difficult not to do that in the outfitters this morning. You looked so hot."

"Come and help me tidy these dishes up," Jade said to Kat. "We don't have to wash them - Mrs. Shaw specifically told us not to." She lowered her voice before continuing. "I don't think she trusts us to look after her crockery!" She laughed and started to pick the silver salvers up. Kat took the plates and cutlery and both headed out of the room, Kat still naked.

Rhys sat on the sofa and tried to clear his head and breathe slowly. He closed his eyes and started to collect his memories of learning to read at school. That brought memories back of his mum and their house in Solvstrom. It hadn't yet been two weeks since he had left home, and his life had changed so much. He was now the very-much-nominal head of a household; he'd died (or almost died - he still wasn't sure which), he'd managed to fall in love with not one, but two amazing, beautiful, powerful women and he'd lost his virginity; he'd found out he had magical talent and he was about to enrol in one of the best universities in the Anaroc Alliance.

He heard Jade and Kat come back into the room, laugh about something (probably him), pick up the remaining cups and the hay box and leave the room again. He remembered some of his childhood friends and wondered where they were now. He remembered the teachers he'd had. He remembered going out for a hike and getting caught in a snowstorm, almost freezing to death, until one of his friends' fathers found him.

He heard Jade and Kat return, but this time they were quiet. He opened his eyes. They were sitting in the armchairs, looking at him. Both were now naked. He looked at Kat and nodded. She stood and approached him, sitting on his lap, legs on either side of his, facing him. She looked up at him. He nodded to her again. She put her arms around his neck and shuffled her hips, lining his cock up with her vagina and then she dropped onto him, wrapping her arms around his back and burying her head against his chest. "So good," she mumbled, "so good." She started to rock very gently, not enough to arouse either of them further, but enough to keep her simmering.

Rhys closed his eyes and went through his memories again, this time mentally sending them to Kat. She took a sharp intake of breath but carried on hugging him and rocking gently. He felt Jade climb up onto the sofa and wriggle her way between his back and the sofa's backrest. It was a squeeze for her to get in, but eventually she put her arms as far around him and Kat as she could manage, pressing her breasts and stomach into his back. "Some extra flux if you need it," she murmured into his ear.

It wasn't easy to gauge the passage of time in this three-way melding of bodies and minds, but when Rhys opened his eyes again, the light that had been filtering through the closed curtains when they had started had gone, and the candles he'd lit had burned down by about half. He looked down at Kat. She was asleep, snoring very gently, still with his cock buried in her. Jade was, likewise, snoozing on his back but woke as she felt him start to move. He felt her kiss him gently on the back of his neck, then he saw her slide around him and get to her feet.

Rhys moved his hands down from Kat's back and onto her buttocks. Moving very carefully, if nothing else so he didn't hurt his own cock, he lifted her up and off him. She showed no sign of waking other than wrapping her legs around his waist as he stood up. Jade had opened the door for them and was busy snuffing out the oil lamps and candles. She saved one, though, and picked up the candlestick that held it. Carefully, she walked past them and out of the door, shading the flame with her hand and lighting the way as they went up the stairs and into the main bedroom. She put the candlestick on one of the bedside tables and pulled the blankets on the bed aside so Rhys could lay Kat down.

Rhys was having trouble getting the sleeping Kat to let go of him. He lay her down on the bed, but as she had her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, he was lying on top of her. He looked up at Jade and mouthed "Help?" to her. She grinned and gently prised Kat's legs off Rhys and then her hands. Kat immediately rolled onto her side, and Jade pulled the blankets over her.

Rhys held his arms out, and Jade moved into them. They hugged and kissed for a minute or two until Rhys broke the kiss to yawn. Jade grinned. "I get the message," she said and released Rhys from the hug.

He was about to protest but, instead, yawned again. He smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," he said, "but I'm exhausted."

Jade smiled and moved the blankets back for him. He climbed in, and she climbed in after him. They lay close together; they didn't have much choice as Kat was taking up almost half of the bed on her own as she slept soundly.

Rhys closed his eyes and was soon asleep.