Chapter 232

As they had discussed beforehand, Zoey returned to Delta’s room after her chats with Sabina and Adrienne had concluded.

A “come in” ushered her through the door. Inside, she was met with a bizarre sight: the foxgirl facing her shadow-clone, the two of them going through poses, some slow and languid, some quick, with the shadow doing her best to mimic Delta. Or rather, Delta doing her best to make it mimic her, since it was remotely piloted.

“Just practicing,” Delta told her, not glancing over. “Don’t mind me.” Keeping her attention on the clone, she crouched, and so did the shadow. Both jumped, the shadow offset from the original. The movements were just close enough to be disorienting.

“I can’t imagine having to fight in two bodies at once,” Zoey mused as she walked over and plopped onto Delta’s bed. “Can barely deal with one. Don’t envy having to deal with that as a skill.”

“Better than magical bullshit, honestly,” Delta said, her focus unbroken as she went through her motions. “This is mostly intuitive, at least. Just gotta drill it in.”

“Magic’s mostly the same, I think,” Zoey said. “At least, it’s not a pure science. It’s as much about practice as how to design spells and whatnot.”

Delta grunted in what might have been agreement. “Guess it’s easier when you can afford the necessary spellbooks.” She straightened out, turned, and faced Zoey, putting her hands on her hips. Her shadow-clone did the same, mirroring her. “So,” she said. “Blondie’s gonna be back soon. She sent a servant to come and tell me.”

“What’s she doing?”

“Talking with her dad.”

“About?”

“Didn’t ask.”

“Are her sisters back yet?”

“Not that I heard.” Delta paused. Her lips quirked up. “Her sisters,” she said. “What do you think they’ll be like, anyway?”

Zoey tilted her head, trying to remember what Rosalie had said about each of them. “Elodie’s a bit of a wild card, I think. And Charlotte is more like her?”

“Like her?”

“You know. Serious. Intense. Driven. A proper royal. But Rosie never talked about either of them much, so who knows?” Rosalie’s hesitance to discuss her family made more sense now that Zoey knew who she was. She wondered whether she would been more open now that the secret had been revealed.

“You think they’re off limits?”

“Off limits?”

“Don’t play dumb.”

“Huh?”

“Off limits. To you, or us. You know. In that way.”

Zoey continued to stare blankly with confusion.

Delta huffed. She made a circle with one hand and stuck a finger through it repeatedly.

“Are you gonna fuck ‘em, Zoey?”

“W-What?” That question caught her more than a little off guard. “No! Of course not. Where did that come from?”

“Just curious, honestly,” Delta said, sounding genuine. “They’re supposed to look alike, right? The idea of two more Rosalies running around doesn’t give you any ideas?”

Zoey sputtered. Delta was trying to get a reaction out of her—the smirk gave that away—but there was some genuine curiosity on her face too.

“I’m not doing anything with her sisters, Delta.” Zoey shook her head effusively. “She’s okay with me sleeping around, but there’s limits to that.”

“Is there?”

“I would figure.” She shook her head again. “Even if there weren’t, no, no chance. That would be a nightmare.”

“One Rosalie is already a handful,” Delta agreed with a laugh. “And there’s enough family drama without throwing in more. Not to mention the complications of having sisters in the same harem.”

Zoey shivered. Yes, that summed up her thoughts as well. “No, but really, where did that question come from?”

Delta studied her for a second, more seriously than normal. “Honestly?” she said slowly. “You have a habit of screwing anything that flutters its eyes at you. So I wanted to know where you stood.”

Zoey sputtered in offense, even if she didn’t have a leg to stand on, considering her track record.

“Less awkward to talk about with me than with blondie, too,” Delta continued. “I’ll feed it back to her, so she knows. So she doesn’t have to bring it up herself—since I bet she’s at least thought about it.”

Zoey gaped. “You? You’re being responsible and tactful? Since when was that possible?”

“Oh, shut up,” Delta huffed. “I can be tactful.” She glanced at her shadow clone. “Anyway, you wanna see her tits?”

That made Zoey do a double-take. “That’s a hell of a transition.” And had definitely been intentional.

“Yes or no?” She grinned. “We are alone until blondie gets back. Any opportunity to practice a new skill, right?”

She didn’t wait for Zoey to answer. She plopped onto the bed beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, snuggling in.