Page 6 of Make Mine Nymph

Noelle wrinkles her nose. “Can we just file that under things that I never needed to hear about my brother?”

I’m sorry, but it’s still so weird to me. Not even the way she reacts to hearing about his dick when she’s the one who brought up our sex life. It’s just… like, logically I know that Noelle and Alex aren’t really twins. For one thing, they look nothing like each other. For another, they were born decades apart, to two different sets of parents, and are only “related” because one is the reborn Artemis and the other is Apollo. But they both refer to each other as brother and sister, and her reaction is just like what I’d expect if he was her true twin.

“Sorry.” Maybe gesturing with my hands so she got an idea how big his dick is was pushing it too far. Oops. “But you get what I’m saying, right? He tells me he loves me all the time. He can’t deny his body is attracted to me. I’ve made it clear that I’m ready to take our relationship to the next step, but he always finds some excuse to end our make-out sessions before the clothes start flying.”

“Alex and his excuses.” Noelle’s pretty face turns thoughtful. “Still, if I know my brother at all, then he has some noble if ridiculous reason why he’s doing that.”

Maybe. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“It wouldn’t. Not to anyone but Alex.”

“We’ve got a good thing going.” It’s only been a couple of months, but it seems like I’ve always known him. “I don’t want to fuck it up because I’m dying to get laid. And it’s not just sex. It’s feeling like we’re together, but not all the way committed. You get me?”

That’s my problem. For all his talk of forever and soulmates and me being his… it almost seems that he’s keeping his options open. I know how fond Apollo is of his nymphs. Is it only because I’m the most recent one to show up in the Other? Alex told me he’s never slept with any of the nymphs in his household—but he hasn’t slept with me, either.

I don’t know. I just… I don’t know.

And I fucking hate not knowing.

Noelle perches her dainty little chin in her palm, looking me up and down. She has a speculative look in her mirror-like gaze. “Question. Would it weird you out if I talk about my sex life with Hunter instead of badgering you about yours?”

I’m not Alex. The first time I met Noelle and Hunter, I knew they went at it like bunnies, but it doesn’t bother me. Why would it? She’s not my sister, and what two consenting adults do together isn’t my business. But if she wants to share… if she wants to give me some tips so that me and Alex can start going at it like bunnies, too, I’m willing to listen.

“Not at all,” I tell her. With a little bit of a tease, I add, “So, the cloak… you gonna tell me what he’s packing under there?”

She giggles. “You wouldn’t believe me if I did, but no. That wasn’t what I meant.”

Shame. I’ve seen her husband with his hood down—and he’s gorgeous, just not as gorgeous as Alex—but he’s never removed his cloak while I was around. You can’t fault a girl for being curious. “Okay. What did you mean?”

“I made it three days before I jumped him. I barely knew anything about magic and the Other, but I knew I wanted Hunter. He knew that I was his soulmate. It took a little… persuading since Hunter was a virgin when I met him⁠—”

“What?” It just blurts out of me. “He was?”

She nods. “Surprised me, too. But you have to remember something. Hunter was in the Other for a long time. Longer than Alex. Like, the Great Depression long. He didn’t have a wife before he arrived here, and then he was told that he’d have a soulmate one day. He waited for me. I… I couldn’t wait for him, but after almost a century, he didn’t seem to mind that much.”

I can imagine. “Alex isn’t a virgin.” We already had that talk, mainly because I brought it up. After all the nasty looks I got from the other nymphs, I had to ask. Alex assured me that while he’d had his fair share of relationships mirrorside, he hadn’t had any since he arrived in the Other. “I’m not sloppy seconds to the other nymphs or anything, but it’s not like I’d be his first.”

Noelle winces a little—probably at the visual of Alex having sex with anyone—before she says, “I’m not surprised. That happens a lot in the Other, especially for the Twelve. When there’s the promise of a true soulmate, casual sex doesn’t really hit the same. I know Alex. If he was waiting for you… if he was waiting for his story to play out… he wouldn’t entertain himself with nymphs.”

“That’s my point. If he did wait four decades for me like he says he did, what’s stopping him from making his move now?”

I’m frustrated. In so many ways, I am. Sexually. Emotionally. Ugh. And I get what she’s saying. I’ve been coming onto him, but I never actually said, “Hey, Alex. Let’s fuck.” Mirrorside Daphne had when she found someone up to her standards, but I didn’t want to mess things up with Alex by getting intimate too early.

Is that what he’s doing?

“I was getting there,” Noelle says. “Remember how I just told you that I waited three days to seduce Orion? It’s because I had my own silly rules. Never sleep with someone before I’ve known them for at least three days. From the minute I met him, though, I knew it was inevitable. And when I did? There was no going back. He’s my soulmate. My husband. But he’s more than that. He’s my forever, and as soon as we fucked that first time, there was no denying it.”

Hang on⁠—

“Wait. So you’re telling me that, if me and Alex sleep together, that’s it. The magic in this weirdo place decides that we’re… what? Tied together forever or something?”

“I call Hunter my husband because he is. He gave me a ring and his promise to always love me. But we don’t really have weddings here in the Other. Well,” she adds, “some of the people in the villages do, but it’s not a common thing. Why would it be? If the magic pairs you up, you’re paired. You can leave the Other, you can live a new life, but you’ll never love anyone other than your soulmate. Sex… the intimacy that comes with it… it just makes it permanent.”

Let me get this straight. I’m a straight shooter, and so is Noelle. No dancing around the subject… I have to make sure. “If I fuck Alex, he’s mine. Forever?”

Noelle nods. “That’s how I understand it. And you gotta remember, in the Other, forever really means forever. I love Hunter. I can’t imagine him not being there. It’s why I decided to stay in this world. I couldn’t leave him, so now I don’t have to. If Alex is just an itch you want to scratch⁠—”

“He’s not.” I say that as firmly as I can. Part of my brain is still whirling with everything Noelle just told me, but that much is true. “I might not want to have jumped into bed with him when I was still trying to figure out my place here, but you’re right. It’s with Alex.”