Myths and Gargoyles by Jamie Hawke (interesting books to read in english txt) 📕

Mizoa nodded, pursing her lips in respect. “Sexy and not stupid. Those ladies have quite the catch.”

“Thanks?”

“How do you find her?” Mizoa turned, hands on her hips again.

“Last time, I think… maybe my powers called to her? Or she found me?” As I tried to remember, a warmth took hold, and it flooded back. With a smile, I said, “Rianne?”

“All you have to do is ask,” Rianne’s voice came from behind, and we spun to see her there, gazing at us with a curious smile. “But… why are you nude?”

Mizoa, for the first time, looked embarrassed at her nudity. I covered myself as well, but smiled to see Rianne.

“Long story,” I said.

“The best kind, in my opinion.” Rianne beamed as she attempted to hold back a laugh. She succeeded. Ending it with a smile, she waved her hand and rose-colored light rose out of the ground, moving around Mizoa and forming a flowing robe around her. With a glance my way, she hesitated. “Maybe we leave you like this?”

“Not sure Ebrill and the others would appreciate you ogling me,” I replied with a chuckle.

She laughed and waved her hand, giving me a little skirt. They both chuckled, but I stood my ground.

“Nothing wrong with a kilt,” I said, trying to own it. The skirt was more like rosy silk than a kilt, but whatever.

Mizoa took her mother in an embrace. Her eyes met mine, and I took my cue to give them a moment. Eyes on the trees around us, light reflecting off a row of leaves and hitting small bugs—fairies, maybe?—as they darted about above us. Purple flowers in clumps attracted those things, whatever they were, and a gust of wind flew by in a way that reflected light and shot it out as rainbows on the ground below. What it was in the wind that could do so, I would have loved to know.

A thought hit me, though, and I put my hand up in the air, hoping to sense if there was any part of this that was an invasion by others of the Nine. I spun to look at Mizoa, suddenly suspect of her being there, wondering if she had brought in some of the bad ones. Rianne took her by the hand, looking at me with a pleasant smile, and shook her head. If she trusted Mizoa, then I needed to as well.

What then? Again, I reached into the air, sensing… but there were no other signs of the Nine, only pleasant sensations like smooth kisses caressing my skin.

“Careful, there,” Rianne called out. “He’s taken.”

I frowned, confused, but then realized that she wasn’t talking to me. Rainbows flashed again, this time along with giggling, and three clear forms danced into the air. They were only visible by the way the light reflected to show their forms for a moment, then they were gone.

Answers came to me, flashing up on my digital screen. Anemoi, or wind spirits.

“Harmless?” I asked, but saw that the two ladies were in a discussion. “All good.”

Walking along, I wrapped my arms around myself. Not that I was cold, since the magic of Avalon kept it pretty much perfect. But, the idea that there were spirits or gods or whatever floating around, watching me, was a bit off-putting.

I must have kept walking for a while, because I when I came out of my thoughts, I was at the grassy edge of a cliff, looking out at a distant waterfall. What the hell was I doing there? Going between senator talk to making love with multiple women, now here connecting Rianne with her daughter… who was one of the Nine.

There had been a simpler time, one when watching waterfalls had been only about enjoying the rush of water and the escape into nature. I remembered a time after a breakup, my first, actually, when I had gone with my parents on a hike out to a waterfall much like this one. Less magical, technically, but not the way I recalled it. Twin Tiger Falls, or something like that. They had let me walk on ahead of them on my own. And I simply sat there, wondering why I couldn’t cry. Weren’t people supposed to cry after a breakup?

As then, I sat down and watched the waterfall, and thought about what it would be like if I lost my current team of ladies. Would I cry, then? I laughed, thinking of the idea that maybe I wouldn’t, then shook my head, wondering how I could find the thought humorous in the least. To my surprise, there was an actual tear in my eye! Whether from laughing or a hint of a sad thought, I couldn’t tell.

Or maybe it wasn’t a tear at all, I thought, realizing that the spray from the waterfall was hitting me since the wind had shifted. Fuck, if I lost even one of these ladies, I would be a mess. And likewise, if we didn’t find the rest of them—starting with Yenifer. Not as lovers, I mean. That wasn’t necessary. For some reason, so much of it was going that way… but I wasn’t sure why. Part of the magical effects, maybe? I couldn’t quite understand it, otherwise. My success with the ladies had never been great in the past, aside from Steph. And since she had been bewitched or whatever had been her situation, it didn’t exactly count.

“Were you crying?” a voice asked, and I turned to see Mizoa watching me. Rianne was gone, and Mizoa had a glow about her, one that showed me the conversation had gone well.

“All… good?” I asked.

“Complicated. But, my mother and I had some catching up to do. We’re on the same page, now, and she’s fully convinced me. We will stand against Moronoe and the others.”

I blinked, eyed her, and nodded. “I wasn’t, by the way.”

“What?”

“Crying. It was the water from the…” I indicated the waterfall.

“If you were to cry, though,” she said, “this would be the place. Stunning,