I basked in that for a moment before I realized David was saying something to me.
“Fran? Benedikt has said he would not attend the tyro unless you agreed.”
I looked from David to Ben, my emotions torn. On the one hand, I wanted to tell David to stuff the tyro where the sun doesn’t shine. On the other hand, I knew from feeling the strength of Ben’s emotions just how much this mattered to him, to them both. And while I didn’t have any qualms about dissing Naomi, I hesitated at giving in to jealous anger if it meant that David’s lion friends might suffer for it. “There will have to be conditions. I want to know exactly what is involved in the orgy part of the evening.”
Ben’s lips thinned. “I will escort Naomi to the tyro. She will name me as a new member. They will initiate me into the group.”
“With sex.”
“A group celebration of primal forces.”
“Sex,” I said, nodding. I held up a finger. “Condition one: no sex.”
“Agreed,” Ben said. David watched us warily.
“No getting naked and rolling around with other people.”
Ben frowned. “That is not sex.”
“I don’t care. I don’t like the idea of Naomi seeing you naked.”
Ben said nothing.
I gasped, and socked him as hard as I could on the chest. “You didn’t!”
“I have to take a shower sometime, Francesca. I try to do it when she’s not around, but there are times when it is inevitable.”
I seethed for a few minutes, and desperately tried to remember a curse I had learned when I was fourteen. When my mother found out that I was trying to practice what she called harmful magic, she grounded me for three straight months. “There will come a day, Ben, when I am going to settle things with Naomi.”
To my surprise, he grinned. “I look forward to seeing that.”
Don’t be so happy—I have a few things to settle with you, too. “Can you at least try to limit the nudity in quantity and time? Maybe just take off your shirt and hope no one notices your pants?”
“Yes,” he said gravely. I thought I heard David snort, but when I looked, his expression was blank.
“Condition two: no touching or kissing Naomi.”
“Francesca,” Ben said on another sigh.
“I don’t want you kissing her,” I said, realizing full well I sounded like a petulant child.
“She will be suspicious if I distance myself from her in that manner. I don’t enjoy it, if that’s what you’re worried about,” he said.
I ground off a layer or two of enamel. “Fine. You can kiss her. But I get to kiss other men. In fact, I think I’ll start with David.”
David’s eyes widened as I leaned toward him, reaching for his shoulders. Before my mouth was even close to his, I was yanked backward, onto my feet, and spun around to face a Ben whose dark oak eyes fairly spat flames. “You will not kiss other men!”
I raised my eyebrows and tapped my fingers on his chest.
His jaw tightened as David laughed.
“Fine,” Ben snarled, letting go of my arms. “I won’t kiss Naomi. But I can’t stop her from kissing me.”
I thought about that for a minute. “Fair enough.”
Once again, he looked surprised at my acquiescence. I made sure I kept hidden the thought that I’d just see to it that Naomi didn’t have the chance to try any moves on him.
“Are those your only conditions?” he asked.
“For now,” I said. “I reserve the right to include others at a later date.”
“And I reserve the right to qualify any subsequent terms,” he added.
I made a face, but stopped when David took my hand and shook it vigorously. “Thank you, Fran. I know that you must be anxious to Join with Benedikt, and I appreciate you putting it off on my behalf.”
I glanced at Ben. You’re going to hell for all those lies you told him.
I haven’t lied. The Joining has been delayed until such time as you feel comfortable with it. His mind felt shuttered, as if he was trying to keep something from me.
And if that is never?
Then it will still be postponed.
This is because of Naomi, isn’t it? I asked, trying to see what it was he wanted to keep hidden.
He didn’t answer. The patented Ben silence . . . but I was no longer a teenager intimidated by that sort of tactic.
Let’s say I was ready to Join with you right now. Why couldn’t you use that as your excuse for not wanting to indulge in the orgy at the sex party?
Unfortunately, Naomi knows enough about Dark Ones to realize the difference between a Beloved who is not yet Joined and one who is. If we Joined, she would know that you would take precedence in my thoughts, and that she could never hold sway over me. That isn’t the case now.