Feral Mage Book 2: Chapter 21

“That was amazing!” Isabelle said as they left the clan ship. “Thank you again, hun.”

She walked beside him, her hand clasping the edge of his coat since Bryce refused to lock arms with her. If he came back smelling too much like the gang boss, there would be hell to pay with Vex.

“It was a pretty good show,” Bryce said, then turned to look at her. “And no problem. We did have a deal after all.”

Isabelle rolled her eyes.

“There you go, making this business again,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.

Bryce nodded his head.

“Because it is.”

Isabelle sighed.

“Fine. Come to the Red Lace tomorrow and I’ll take you to their little nest,” she said.

Bryce frowned.

“Why not take me there now?”

Isabelle let go of his coat and walked away from him, showing her hands.

“Because I’m sticky from the candy apple! And not in the fun way,” she answered in the playful manner she had most of the day. Then her tone dropped to something more serious. “Also, you need to be prepared. They’re not going to want to talk, Bryce.”

He watched the redheaded gang boss walk away, humming happily to herself.

“Just weird,” he said as he began his search for a book binder.

He took what she said seriously and planned to see if the twins were up for hitting the training yard when he got back to the guild hall. It wasn’t even noon yet, so he could spend most of the day testing out the Pale Queen Aspect.

***

Olivia smacked the blunted sword against her shield, the sound carrying through the training yard. She stared at him with a serious expression and took a defensive pose. Olivia was timid outside of combat, but during battle, she was an immovable wall of plate and faith magic that would trample through an army, only leaving corpses in her wake.

“I’m ready when you are,” she said sternly.

Bryce nodded to her, then stretched, watching Janna work with Nicole as he did. The catkin elemental mage was having the kitsune try to manipulate a fireball she had summoned. It looked eerily similar to what caused Janna’s burns in the first place, but Nichole had told him it would be very different, magic-wise. Instead of fighting for control, Nicole was allowing Janna to manipulate her spell. Kind of like a potter teaching an apprentice how to shape the clay on the wheel by guiding their hands.

“Bryce, if you keep staring over here, you’ll make my sister jealous,” Nicole said with a grin when she caught him watching.

“Right,” he said, then looked back at Olivia.

He pulled on the Pale Queen Aspect and felt his body start to turn cold as the chitin gauntlets formed on his hands. He activated the heat sight and saw Olivia’s face glowing brightly and her armor duller green than the blue background.

Good to know plate armor doesn’t block it too much.

Though he supposed it could be the sun warming the armor that he was seeing. Either way, he doubted he would use this ability of the Aspect during the daytime. Nighttime though…

Bryce smiled at the thought and then dropped the heat sight for his regular vision. Olivia turned from a red and green blob to her usual self, though, with a surprised look.

“It really changes your appearance,” she said, then blushed. “Not saying it looks bad, just different.”

He heard Nicole laugh.

“You look like an old man who’s been using his pipe too much!”

He heard Janna chuckle and saw Olivia fighting back one of her own. Bryce flipped off Nicole with his gauntleted hand.

“Okay,” he said. “You ready?”

The humor left Olivia instantly as her stern expression slipped over her face and she readied her shield.

Bryce sprinted at her as fast as he could. The speed was disappointing. He was faster than a human, but not as quick as his Manticore Aspect, definitely not as fast as the Pale Queen that he killed had been.

I guess the speed was from the monster’s extra legs.

Something he noted for all future spider monsters he fought. He arrived at Olivia, the clawed gauntlet of his hand striking out. She raised her shield, and the two connected. Olivia pushed him away from her with the shield, but not before ice started to encase it. She frowned and looked at him.

“You owe me a new shield, your claws pierced through,” she informed him.

Bryce examined the hand he attacked with, seeing the claws still intact and undamaged.

Sharp and durable, good.

The strength boost from the Aspect seemed about on par with what the Manticore Aspect gave him, but the claws wouldn’t do much against armor. The Pale Queen’s claws would probably let him peel away the armor off someone like an orange.

“Okay, your turn,” Bryce said.

Olivia nodded, then rushed him.

“Sorry if I break your arm,” she said, mid-swing with the blunted sword.

Bryce raised his arm, catching the blade on the chitin gauntlet, which, to his relief, held. He batted the blade away from himself and looked at where it struck.

Not even a scratch.

“The monster did have a tough body. Good to see that wasn’t lost when I took it as an Aspect,” Bryce said, then looked at Olivia. “Okay, let’s spar a few rounds.”

Eventually, hunger more than tiredness compelled them to end the training, and the four of them headed to the guildhall tavern for a meal.

As they entered, Bryce spotted Vex. The wolfgirl was sitting at a table with Alice, Omelet chewing a bone on the floor beside them. No doubt, it was a treat that Alice brought him from the kitchen.

“So this is where you’ve been,” Bryce said.

Vex instantly stood up and rushed over to him, hugging him. He wrapped his arms around his lover and held her for a second, then Vex glared up at him.

“You still smell like the crazy elf,” she huffed.

Bryce sighed.

“It was for a contract to get information. If you’re that jealous, I can also take you to the circus.”

Nicole clicked her tongue.

“Bad move.”

Bryce looked at her, then back to Vex to see the wolfgirl’s ears canted. She slipped out of his hug and started to walk away from him while ranting in beastkin.

“Alice, let’s go shopping,” Vex said, looking at the snow elf.

Alice looked between Bryce and the now growling wolfkin. She gave him a faint smile before standing and following Vex, Omelet hot on her heels.

When he heard the guildhall door close, he looked at Nicole.

“How much shit am I in?” he asked.

She shrugged.

“Mid shit level. She’ll just cool off for a bit.”

Bryce nodded, then wondered if he could use this as an opportunity.

“So, can you tell me why Vex doesn’t want me to learn beastkin language and culture?” Bryce asked.

Nicole smirked at him.

“I could, but that would get me in high shit level with her, so I’d rather not.”

He narrowed his eyes at the catkin, only to see her smug smile as her tail lazily swayed back and forth.

“You went to my family’s circus?” Janna asked.

Bryce nodded.

“That was what Isabelle’s contract was, a date to the circus,” he answered, then growled. “Though she still needs to pay for it.”

Nicole laughed.

“You do know what that makes you sound like, right?”

Bryce thought over his words, then frowned.

Olivia laughed next.

“I think you’re supposed to ask for payment up front, Bryce.”

Bryce just shook his head at the laughing sisters. At least their antics had put a smirk on Janna’s face.

“The show was really good. You have some very skilled family members. Especially the nine-tailed kitsune with pyromancy. That was the first time I’ve ever seen blue flames,” Bryce said.

Nicole whistled.

“That would be my mother,” Janna stated.

Bryce watched as her tails flicked nervously.

“You need to go see her,” Nicole said. “A pyromancer strong enough to produce blue flames will be able to help pull the foreign Fire Magic from your hands.”

Janna bit her lower lip as she looked up at the catkin. Nicole’s eyes narrowed, but she crossed her arms and took a stern pose, as if she was about to scold Janna.

“You can keep wearing the gloves and keep doing the training with me, and maybe, just maybe, be able to use your magic again in a few weeks or visit your mother and have it back in days.”

Janna still hesitated, making clear there was some tension between her and her mother. Bryce didn’t know how she had left her clan ship, but he did know it was unusual for a kitsune to leave one permanently.

Bryce put his hand on Janna’s shoulder, bringing her attention to him.

“Go see her, and not just for your hands. Whatever happened between the two of you, if there’s a chance you can work it out, try. Trust me, you never know when it will be the last time you see your mother.”

Bryce would give almost anything to go back and see his.

Janna took a deep breath.

“We had a bit of a fight when I left. She didn’t really approve of me trying to become a monster hunter,” Janna said.

Bryce nodded.

“Understandable, you did almost get eaten by a vampire.”

Janna smirked at him as she hit his shoulder.

“But it’s your life to live, not hers,” Bryce said, rubbing the spot Janna had hit him for effect.

She looked up at him.

“Will you come with me?” she asked.

Bryce saw a mixture of hope and fear in her eyes as she looked up at him.

“Of course,” he answered.

A smile spread across Janna’s face, and Bryce felt the kitsune’s tails start to brush against him.

Nicole clicked her tongue.

“Alright, you two, stop batting your eyelashes at each other and let’s find a table. I’ll get us some food and drinks from the bartender since Vex ran off with Alice.”

Bryce sighed.

“I hope the two of them stay out of trouble.”

Much to Bryce’s relief, Vex and Alice returned to the tavern two hours later. The wolfgirl was carrying a bag of sweets and immediately rushed to the chair beside Bryce, where Nicole was sitting. Vex set her sweets on the table and started to drag Nicole’s chair away from him, only to put an empty one beside him before sitting down.

“I would have moved if you asked,” Nicole deadpanned.

Vex just smiled at her as she said something in beastkin.

Okay, time to test this.

Bryce reached into his coat and pulled out the book. He started scanning the index of words to try to translate what Vex had just said.

“My Mate.”

Bryce almost chuckled to himself. He could have probably guessed that one. Instead, he heard Vex huff and saw her hand reach for the book. He pulled it away from her grasp.

“I think you’ll want me to read this one, Vex,” he said, fighting a grin.

Vex scowled until he turned the cover to face her. The wolfgirl’s ears perked up, and the scowl shifted to a smile. He saw her tail start to wag.

“That’s a very lewd cover— wait, art of tail brushing!” Nicole exclaimed.

Olivia blushed from her side of the table.

“A thousand and one strokes…”

Janna was also blushing.

“You didn’t get that from my family’s clan ship, did you?”

Bryce looked at her and nodded.

“Great! That’s going to be embarrassing if the seller recognizes you when we go visit Mom. Especially since your scent is on me.”

Bryce blinked.

“I doubt the seller would remember me, and you took a bath last night.”

Janna laughed.

“Oh, if they were a girl, she’d remember you. Also, did you forget you washed my hair in the bath last night? Your scent is all through it!”

Bryce saw the twins’ noses twitch before both of them turned to stare at him with massive grins on their faces. Before their teasing could start, Alice arrived at the table.

“What’s wrong with Janna?” Alice asked as she set down new beer mugs and took their old ones.

“Apparently, she’s worried she smells like Bryce since the two of them took a bath together last night,” Nicole said.

Alice froze as the mug fell from her hand onto the table, its contents spilling out. Bryce grabbed the mug and righted it before the whole table was drenched.

“I… Sorry, I’ll get a rag,” Alice said as she raced away from the table.

Bryce watched her leave, still holding the half-full mug. Then he heard the guildhall door start to open and turned toward it.

“Hopefully, the twins will be here.”

He recognized the voice as Darren’s, and sure enough, the dwarf stepped through, only for Bryce’s blood to chill in seeing who followed him. Callie stepped through next, her eyes locking on his instantly with a savage grin.

Shit!

Then his heart dropped as a tanned woman with black hair followed behind her.

“Bellamy,” Bryce said.

All the ears at the table perked up at his words. Nicole scowled, and Olivia frowned. Together, the twins stood.