I threw my head back and laughed. “That was awesome, but a little warning next time, please.”
He gave me a saucy wink. Then headed for the stairs. Tapping his shoulder, I glared at him. “Put me down. I want to walk in on my own two feet.”
He wrinkled his nose, but set me down just as the large doors opened, revealing a small woman I’d never seen before. “Delaney,” Ego yelled, striding past me and sweeping her up into his arms. “What are you doing here?”
She squeezed him tightly, then stepped back. “I came to sign my newest client.”
I felt Ego’s disappointment in my chest, and I rubbed at it. That was new, but I didn’t have time to fixate on it now. I knew that he’d told her to go ahead and replace him as her star client, but I also knew now how much that request had cost him.
I slipped my hand in his in a comforting grip. He looked down at me, then cleared his throat. “Good. I’m happy for you.”
She looked completely exasperated as she shoved him playfully. “It’s you, you idiot. If you thought I’d let you sign Dead Air with someone else, you’ve got another think coming.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, but I smiled. After Ego, and my brother of course, Delaney had just become my next favorite person. “Hi, I’m Scotty. His anchor,” I said, stepping past Ego and holding out my hand.
Her gaze ran up and down my body before a slow smile brightened her lovely face. “More than his anchor. You’re the guy who worked here that he couldn’t stop going and on about before the mishap.”
I glanced over my shoulder to see Ego waving his hands around for her to stop talking, but she ignored him, and I blew him a kiss and turned back to her. “That would be me.” Then I linked my arm with hers and pulled her back inside. “So you’re telling me the mishap put me in second place?”
She patted my hand. “I’m pretty sure you stole it right back.”
Behind me, I heard Ego whisper, “I’m in so much trouble.”
Since Lysandro had insinuated everyone would be here, I went into the family room. It shouldn’t have been a shock to find the blowup mattress in the center of the floor—again—like it had been for Sky and King the one time, sheets on the couch, or to see candles burning brightly around the room, with everyone from the previous night assembled.
For some reason, it was, though. Like the lengths that our chosen family was willing to go to on Ego’s behalf hadn’t hit me until now. “We don’t have any guests?” I blurted, like that was the most important thing happening right now.
“Actually, there are,” Chance said, coming over and hugging me. “But Delaney hooked us up with a little fae magic.”
I turned to her. “What’s that mean?”
“I put all the guests in a deep slumber. They won’t hear any of us moving around down here.”
“And we’re going to seal this room off for today,” Jetty said. “That way, Ego can sleep without fear.”
“The windows,” I said, gasping and looking over to the big bay windows, expecting to find the white shimmery curtains, but they’d been replaced with heavy drapes.
“Black-out curtains,” Jetty said. “I put them up myself, so they’ll stay in place until we take them down.”
“Oh, good.”
Stevie appeared at my side. “Don’t worry, little brother. They’ve gone to great lengths to make sure you’ll both be okay.” He leaned in and kissed the side of my head, materializing enough that I felt it. That meant more to me than I could express.
Ego swallowed audibly behind me, so I moved back next to him, wrapping my arm around his waist. “So, is anyone going to tell us what’s going on now?”
Chapter 25
Ego
“I’m a what?”Scotty half-yelled as King presented him with a shiny gold compass.
“You’re a bridge,” he said again, patiently. “This artifact is yours, according to our friendly mage, and he sent a tome for you that stays with it. I knew you wouldn’t have enough time now to look for what you needed, so I skimmed it. All you’re going to have to do is?—”
Scotty put his hands up in a stop motion and took a deep breath. “Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I need to wrap my head around this first.”
His heart was beating so erratically that I was scared he was going to pass out, so I pulled his back into my chest and wrapped my arms around him. “I’ve got you.”
He thumped his head back gently against me and took another breath. This time, when he blew it out, I felt some of his fear and frustration go with it.
