for his own power, it would simply not obey his command. A ward, a burst of energy, a quick portal to let them jolt to an unprotected flank...nothing that he willed came to pass, and their surrender came quickly.
He and Gwen stood, defeated, and he was keenly aware of their failure.
6
Gwen was pretty sure that nothing in the world was worse than failing so spectacularly as a key.
Henrik looked absolutely miserable, and Gwen’s heart broke for him. It wasn’t his fault. Maybe there was something wrong with her. “Well, that was embarrassing,” she said loudly and jovially into the uncomfortable garage. It didn’t do as much to lighten the mood as she’d hoped.
“Oh, gosh, no, you guys were great,” Heather said quickly. “I’ve watched a lot of combat, at the Renaissance festival, and you were a great duo. I mean, really in sync.”
Daniella was nodding entirely too enthusiastically. “Yeah, it was great. I mean, you looked really natural together.”
“No magic, though,” Robin said, and theirs were the words that meant the most. Gwen stared at them, trying to read their inscrutable expression.
“I could sense it, barely, a few times,” Henrik said. “But could not command it.”
“It was a worthy battle,” Trey said, hanging his sword with the others. He looked vaguely guilty, and just a little bit pleased with himself.
Gwen hung her own sword beneath his, and Henrik brought his sword to put away. There was a weird moment when they just sort of looked at each other before Gwen realized that she was standing in his way.
“Well,” she said too loudly as she scooted aside. “What Earth wonders shall we show you next?” What she really wanted to show him was an inappropriate topic for the company.
“Television,” Trey suggested. “I particularly like the moving art called cartoons.”
“Cars,” Rez countered. “We should tour the town of Wimberlette!”
“I’m not sure that he’s ready for a spin out in public,” Heather said reluctantly. “We should coach him a lot more before we take him anywhere.”
“We do not have to exit the car,” Rez said hopefully.
“You want to drive around with your head hanging out like Fabio?” Heather teased him.
“You know what you guys could really stand to show him?” Daniella said, wrinkling her nose as Trey came to give her a kiss. “A shower.”
And everyone looked at Gwen again and she probably looked like a stunned fish because she was picturing Henrik in a shower and the rest of her brain was simply gone.
They had worked up a sweat during their sparring, and Gwen was abruptly aware that she was damp with perspiration, and she probably didn’t smell much better than Trey or Henrik.
Not that Henrik smelled bad, exactly. Just...musky. Delicious, really. Exciting.
Gwen bit her lip so she had something do with her mouth that didn’t involve licking him. “Okay, so one of you can do that, I need a shower of my own. Myself. By myself.” She looked anywhere but at Henrik as she stalked to the door into the house.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to show Henrik the shower, and possibly even share it with him. But she’d just completely failed at basically the only thing a key did. If this was her destiny, why hadn’t it worked? And why did Robin look so...hesitant?
She managed to forget about the dogs who’d been jailed in the house to prevent them from trying to join the sparring. She had to reach down and awkwardly catch Vesta by the collar, kneeing Fabio back as both canines tried desperately to escape from the house. Flushed and flustered, she squeezed herself through the door, shutting it behind her, and didn’t glance back as she fled for the stairs.
Ansel’s sprawling house had two full bathrooms downstairs, and three upstairs, one in the master suite that Ansel lived in, one in the second master bedroom that Heather and Rez lived in, and one in the middle of the house that the remaining three guest upstairs bedrooms shared. Daniella and Trey lived downstairs in the suite past the gaming room.
Gwen made it to the upstairs bathroom that she realized quite belatedly she was going to be sharing with Henrik. She undressed in her room and wrapped herself in her robe, tying it rather more tightly than she usually did, then crept across the hall. She checked to see that the door was locked twice before hopping into the shower.
She hurried through her bathing, trying not to linger over the memory of nude Henrik that was burned into