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She nodded. “Meaner than me.”
He sighed. He’d expected his comment to anger her, for her to storm off.
She really was staying put, despite his warning.
He should not have welcomed the strong tide of relief washing through him.
“Atlas and Nike found us a few weeks ago,” Lucien said. “Anya knew Nike, and the two have been hanging out. Hence the reason I had to hide a corpse again today.”
Missed so much.
Laughter reverberated from the kitchen, and Torin’s heart squeezed in his chest. Music drifted from the sitting room, accompanied by the pitter-patter of little feet running down.
“Incoming,” Lucien said.
The footsteps increased in volume and speed, and all too soon a little boy and girl came into view. They stopped and stared at him.
“Someone brought toddlers into the fortress?” Torin asked.
“I ain’t no toddler,” the boy snapped.
“Sure, sure.” Torin held up his palms in a gesture of surrender.
“You remember Urban and Ever, I’m sure,” Lucien said. “They’ve, uh, grown.”
No way. Just no way. “I’ve only been gone a few months.” When he’d left, Urban and Ever had been infants.
“Maddox and Ashlyn made the mistake of asking Anya to babysit,” Lucien said. “My darling female placed the children in the Cage of Compulsion and commanded them to grow up a little.”
“Dude.” Anyone trapped in the Cage had to obey its owner, no matter what was commanded. Anya was the current owner. “How bad a meltdown did Maddox have?”
“Him? Not too bad. Ashlyn, on the other hand...” Lucien shuddered.
Urban had the same thick black hair and serious violet eyes Torin remembered. Ever had the same curling honey-blond hair and twinkling brown eyes. And though the two looked like normal kids, dressed in dirt-smudged T-shirts and shorts, they exuded an unnatural energy that pricked at Torin’s skin.
“Hello,” he said. “I’m your Uncle Torin.”
“No.” Urban crossed his arms over his chest. “You’re trespassing.”
Ouch.
“That’s a big word for such a little boy,” Keeley said, and her tone was pure gaga goo-goo. “You’re so cute, I’m going to allow you to call me Aunt Queen Dr. Keeley. You may express your thanks.”
“Doctor?” Torin asked her.
“I have a PhD in etiquette, sarcasm and fun ways to commit murder.”
Ice actually crystalized over Urban’s skin as he glanced from Torin to Keeley, then back again. “I’m not calling you anything, lady. I don’t like you.”
Prickles of flame blazed over Ever. “Yeah. You’re strangers, and strangers are the enemy. We get to hurt the enemy.”
“Children,” a voice admonished. “Who are you challenging this time?” Maddox, keeper of Violence, descended the staircase, his expression as soft as freaking clouds. Then his gaze landed on Torin, and he stopped abruptly. “Torin?”
He nodded, his chest constricting. “The one and only.”
“But, Daaaddyyy.” Ever pouted with a skill she must have been born with—too expert for one so young. “We never get to hurt no one, and William promised we’d get a chance to do serious damage very soon as long as we didn’t tell Momma. Well, it’s finally very soon and we won’t tell Momma. Honest.”
Maddox pushed out a weary breath and muttered, “I’m going to flay William alive.”
“Torin!” a familiar voice called. “You’re here!” Footsteps pounded, and then Anya, minor goddess of Anarchy, came flying around the corner, practically leaping over the kids...only to skid to a halt when her gaze landed on Keeley. She seemed to choke on her own tongue as she backed up. “The Red Queen! No, no, no. Lucien! You said, and I quote, Torin is with a smokin’ blonde. Why not mention the fact that she’s my sworn enemy?”
“Who, me?” Keeley tapped her chest.
Clearly another casualty of the Time Out box.
“As if you could forget. My friend called you Smurfette,” Anya said, anchoring her hands on her hips. “You forced her to kneel before you and cut off her own flesh. Oh, and call herself Bloody Mary.”
“Well, then, she got off lightly,” Keeley said, chin high. “I’ll hear your thanks.”
“Then a few years later you forced Zeus to give you everything inside the royal treasury. A tax, you said, because you hadn’t killed everyone he loved—only half of them.”
“That, I remember. He’d just attacked my fiancé.”
“Yes, the king of darkness!”
Maddox moved in front of the kids, acting as their shield.
“So she’s really the enemy?” Ever asked excitedly.
“Yes,” Anya shouted at the same time Torin snapped, “No!”
Anya continued, “We need to get the kids out of the fortress before she eats their hearts for dinner and their spinal cords for dessert!”
“Hey!” Keeley scowled at her. “Only eight times have I eaten the organs I’ve removed, and it was only to make a point.”
Torin pinched the bridge of his nose.
“No one threatens my organs!” Ever stretched out a hand, a ball of fire forming just above her palm.
The little girl tossed the flames with all her might. Torin stepped in front of Keeley. No one, not even a child, is allowed to hurt my woman. His princess simply reached around him and snatched the thing before it could so much as singe him.
