Trudy had to suck in air to try to answer, but before she could, Rikard was rolling to enfold her in his strong arms.
“I know,” he said, and Trudy went limp with relief at the understanding in his voice. “Dammit, I know.”
“Oh, Rikard,” she said near his ear, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You, too?”
“He’s a goddamn Adonis,” Rikard said with a chagrined laugh. “I haven’t been able to stop imagining him bending me over the back of the couch. Or you. I’d watch the two of you. I’d take him myself. I haven’t had fantasies this filthy or specific since… college?”
Trudy found the tension in her chest was releasing into laughter. “I’ve thought about taking both of you at once,” she confessed quietly. “But I’d watch you two.”
“I’d even watch him do a solo act,” Rikard said thoughtfully.
“I’d put dollar bills in that adorable crack,” Trudy chuckled.
They laughed together, giggling in relief, and finally sobered.
“What are we going to do?” Trudy had to ask.
She felt Rikard shrug against her. “What is there to do? We aren’t suitable for his needs, and we’ve got nothing to offer him besides a quiet country life that isn’t what he’s looking for. We let him fix the garden, satisfy his… honor, and move on.”
Trudy sighed. “I suppose you’re right. I just… like having him around.”
“Even if you can’t have him?”
“Even if I can’t have him,” Trudy said firmly. “I like him.”
Rikard sighed. “Yeah. Me too.”
Velvet hissed at him and Danyen flexed his fingers. Energy snapped between each of the strange human digits and the cat fled under the couch.
He had more energy than he ought to have.
It ought to feel good, but Danyen was uneasy.
Every day during this week of rain he had recharged more and more completely, and Danyen couldn’t put a finger on why. Nothing, as far as he could tell, had appreciably changed, besides the weather, which had dawned sunny and clear just a few moments earlier.
Trudy’s steps in the doorway to the kitchen made him turn, and his body’s reaction confirmed what he hadn’t even wanted to suspect.
“Have you made tea?” she asked innocently.
Danyen closed the distance between them and fell to his knees at her feet. “I’ve done a terrible thing,” he admitted.
Trudy looked around in alarm. “What? What is it? Did you use the last teabag?”
She was jesting, of course.
“You’ve been nothing but generous and welcoming to me,” Danyen said. “And I have betrayed you.”
“Look, Danyen, I’ve been through three girls worth of dramatics, and this is impressive, but you may as well just come out with it.”
Danyen looked up at her sensible face, amused and warm and so dreadfully dear.
“I’ve made you my human anchors,” Danyen said. “It’s a violation of your trust, a terrible mistake, I would take it back if I could, nothing I say can come close to the apology I owe you.”
Trudy’s amusement faded to confusion and… Danyen was gutted to see… hurt.
She padded past him in her slippered feet and started the kettle with practiced motions. “You said… you can’t take it back?”
“The bond is permanent,” Danyen said quietly. “Once made, only death can break it. I swear I did not know that the bond could even be made without direct interventions. I would not have risked your relationship if I had known this was possible.”