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Author's note
Part Nine concludes the portion of the series set in Spring. It is not necessary for you to have read the first six parts of the story, but this may be hard to follow if you haven't read Parts Seven and Eight. Part Ten will take us to Winter, and pull all the previous threads together.
This is primarily an incest story, but it is also sci-fi/fantasy, and supernatural elements are not incidental to the plot. Additionally, many chapters will feature elements of other categories, particularly group sex.
All sexual acts are consensual and involve parties who are at least eighteen years of age.
As ever, if you have questions feel free to email me or leave a comment. I'll try to respond promptly.
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"We already have three stars," Cahill heard his sister say as he descended the stairs, reaching the second floor. "Wouldn't be good to add any more."
Brittany stood at the counter separating the kitchenette from the common area. She had her tools spread out before her and a silver ring in her hand. Across from her, Maisie knelt on a high-backed stool, elbows on the marble countertop, and her chin propped up on her little fists. "Why not?" she asked. "They're pretty. And that smooth spot looks funny."
"There's power in threes," Brit said. Her eyes found Cahill and she gave him a quick smile and a little wave before turning her attention back to Aeife's daughter. "Besides, I've left it like that for a reason."
"What's that?" the girl asked. With something pretty being created before her very eyes, she couldn't be bothered to turn around and acknowledge his presence.
Cahill walked over to them, ran a hand through Maisie's black hair by way of hello, and leaned in to inspect the ring. Just the ring, though. His eyes definitely did not flit down to his sister's incredibly tight shirt, taking note of the way it made her modest breasts look bigger than they were. Not even a little. "How's it coming?" he asked.
She pinched her collar with thumb and forefinger and gave it a little tug before answering. Despite the gesture, her Libido informed him that she didn't mind the attention. At all.
For someone who was working with cold, lifeless metal, teaching a little girl how their kind used their powers to make enchanted jewelry, she was awfully aroused. Was his mere arrival, and the quick glimpse she'd caught him stealing, that exciting?
Of course. Why shouldn't it be? He was about as impressive as a guy could be, after all.
Still, his sister didn't always react thus to his presence. Something had gotten into her.
"Almost done," she said. "Got that acorn for me?"
He nodded, reached into his pocket, and retrieved the charm. Brittany held out her hand and he dropped it into her cupped palm.
A sense of vulnerability fell upon him the moment it left his possession. Putting the flute down had never done that to him before. It was as though the charm knew it would soon find a new owner. He felt a little reassured by that. His son needed the protection more than he did, and if the charm was even more powerful than he'd realized, so much the better. But he couldn't help also feeling as though he now had a hole in him.
"That?" Maisie asked. "It's silver."
"So's the ring," Brittany said.
"Exactly!" The girl said. "Why not something sparkly?"
"Such as?"
"A
jewel
," she said, as though speaking to someone who'd asked what color the sky was. What was jewelry for, after all, if not to put jewels in things? "A big, fat amethyst."
Brittany laughed. "Not a diamond? Or maybe an emerald?"
"I like amethysts," the girl mumbled, sulking. Then, drawing herself up a little straighter, she said, "Mom says that's what my eyes look like." She finally turned to Cahill, batting her eyelashes at him, just in case he might have missed the invitation to look confirm that her deep purple irises did indeed resemble the semi-precious stone. Before he could do so, she added, a bit begrudgingly, "Morgan's too. But he doesn't count."
"Course not," Cahill said, smiling. "He's a boy."
Maisie stared flatly at him. "Don't blame me," she might as well have said. "I don't make the rules." Or maybe, "Not my fault you lost that coin toss."
"It's not just for decoration," Brittany said, setting the acorn down on the counter.
"It'll strengthen the glamour," Cahill added.
It took Maisie a moment to decide she was willing to believe that he might know something about the matter, even though it involved jewelry. Those little amethysts were quite good at conveying skepticism. "How's it gonna do that?"
"It's a charm," he told her. "It's got glamour already. Lots and lots."
"Hmmph."
Brittany smiled as she plucked a tiny chunk of unworked silver from a box. She rested it against the single smooth patch of the ring, devoid of the elaborate engravings she'd worked into the rest of the band, and tapped it with a single blue fingernail. The metal melted, melded itself to the ring, and formed an inset for the acorn. But when his sister placed the little charm against the ring, what he'd taken for an inset melted again. Liquified metal poured in an unnatural direction, joining ring and charm, then cooled instantly. A moment later, it was impossible to tell that the acorn had ever
not
been part of the ring.
"Still think it'd be better with an amethyst," Maisie said, clearly having difficulty containing her frustration with their inability to see the obvious.
"Tell you what," Brittany said, tapping the tip of the girl's nose with her index finger, "we'll make you one next. With as many amethysts as you want."
"You can't fit that many," she said.
To Cahill's ears, it almost sounded like a taunt. But then he realized she'd meant it matter-of-factly, and he smiled to himself.