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My Greek isn’t always polished, but salais simple to figure out. The main meeting room we just passed was warmly decorated and appeared comfortable. Not an inch of it was overwhelming.
Instead of explaining, Hecate beckons my attention ahead by sweeping her arm toward one of the plank paths between the cottages. Soon, we’re stepping off one toward a crushed gravel walkway that leads into a stand of eucalyptus trees. Their refreshing smell is joined by a minty tinge from a pair of willows that droop over a wider part of the stream I noticed earlier.
Through the gentle curtains of branches, there’s a glow from swooped strings of soft white lights illuminating a long banquet table. It’s adorned with colorfully patterned cloths that are accented by gold fringe and bronze bells. I look around, wondering if we’re going to be joined by a small army of exotic warriors—because there’s enough food on the table to feed all of them and then some.
“Sit. You must be hungry from the journey,” Hecate offers in her soothing tones.
“Wow.” Kara conveys the surprise for us both.
I’m grateful, because while I’m still trying to narrow down an ulterior motive for the world’s biggest charcuterie board, she’s emitting grateful moans that already dissolve our hostesses into enchanted grins.
“This is…I mean,wow,” she repeats.
“The meat was cooked in my own spice blend,” says Marie.
“And we designed the cheese flowers.” Kiama lifts Liseli’s hand in a triumphant gesture.
“They’re beautiful,” Kara says with genuine awe. “I mean it. Is that a bleu cheese hydrangea?”
A proud smile emerges from Liseli. “Tastes better than it looks.”
“But who could be heartless enough to eat it?” Kara asks, nearly breathless as she clearly considers the idea.
“Me.” I lean over and buss her cheek. “Sorry, my love.I’mthat merciless. And hungry.”
“Oh, I like him.”
The compliment is from Circe, swishing forward in her filmy green gown. The famous sorceress seems perfectly at home in her toga-like attire, as do all the others in their moderately updated wardrobes.
Hecate’s the only one who still looks trendy in her bohemian ensemble, thanks to the permanence of the comfortable fashion style.
“I’m hungry too,” Circe declares.
“But guests first, of course,” Aradia intones.
Circe holds up both hands. “Calmness, sister. I will leave enough for them.”
“You will leave enough foreveryone.” Hecate definitely has a gift for decrees that sound like flattery. The remark seems to mollify the whole group, even an obviously irked Aradia.
In the end, the quibble doesn’t matter. There is more than enough for everyone to eat their fill while we sit around the impressively outfitted table. It doesn’t feel as bizarre as I thought to be the only male in this bunch. Not that I haven’t been the only guy in the room before, being in an academic field that’s crowded with women, but this imbalance is markedly different.
Every attendee at this late-night mixer is a formidable magus—if, in fact, they’re real. The conclusion has me gazing around again, on the verge of awestruck. Aradia and Morgana are supposedly nothing but folklore, and I’m still not sure if Circe has ever been authentically identified like this. All three of them have temperaments with gray areas, if the classical texts are to be believed. I know nothing about Kiama and Liseli but decide to err on the side of caution and consider they might possess some of the same.
But so far, I’m breathing a little easier overall. It seems Kara is too. Her hand, clasped casually in mine, isn’t clenched so hard around my fingers. She even accepts a glass of white wine when Kiama uncorks a bottle, and she manages to laugh as the conversation circles around to a recent action movie that everyone is prioritizing, apparently because of the swarthy hunk as its lead.
“I tell you all this, even after centuries of evaluating the finest males on earth, he measures up,” Aradia declares, earning herself a round of girlish giggles.
“Now, now,” Circe chides. “Let’s be respectful of our gentleman guest.” She sees my no-offense-taken shrug but hardly blinks about it. “Besides, he’s probably got a stunt double for those fancier moves.”
“Speaking of dazzling actions…” As Liseli leans forward, her gaze is velvet-dark with intent. “Did you really escape from Hades’s library, and then hell itself, in the space of one spell?”
Kara’s lips twist. “I…um…I have no idea. A spell? Was that what it was?”
Morgana arches a brow. “You mean you don’t know?”
Kara isn’t ignorant of the additional reactions around the table. Kiama’s silent-mouthedwow.The exchanged glances between Aradia and Liseli, communicating the same thing.
“I mean…I guess that’s what it was, now that I think about it. There was a lot going on…”
