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We hadn’t been gone that long, but it felt like a larger homecoming than it was in literal terms. This was the first time my guys had been able to acknowledge that my house was going to be their home too. I might have to hide my magic, but my consorts and I weren’t going to hide our relationship anymore.
Meredith came up beside me, holding a tray with a couple of the cleared platters. I’d tracked down the estate’s former manager, the woman who’d been the closest thing I had to a mother most of my life, as soon as we’d gotten back, and asked her if she’d consider letting me rehire her. My stepmother had booted her out coldly and abruptly a couple months ago, before the estate was mine, before I’d been sure I’d get to keep it once it was.
To my relief, Meredith had agreed without hesitation.
“It’s a fine family you’re building for yourself,” she said now, a quiet smile playing with her lips. “You’re doing me proud. And I can’t fault your taste in young men.”
I laughed. “Only maybe my inability to choose between them?”
“Ah, why should you choose if they all enjoy being by your side?” She winked at me and ambled on to the kitchen, where she’d been helping the staff.
I wasn’t sure everyone shared that sentiment. Aunt Irene still looked a little awkward as she glanced from Gabriel chatting with Naomi to Jin making Seth and Kyler’s mother, Mrs. Lennox, exclaim over his latest painting, which was hung in the living room.
Weirdly, even though it was Mrs. Lennox who’d gotten the most agitated by the Frankfords’ spell that had stirred up paranoia in all of the guys’ parents about their association with me, she seemed to be taking our joint relationship a lot more in stride than Mr. Lennox was. He’d been standing in the corner nursing a beer for most of the hour since they’d arrived, brushing off my attempts to make small talk. He didn’t seem angry or anything, just uncertain.
“He’ll come around,” Seth said, tucking his head beside mine from behind. I guessed he’d seen where my gaze had traveled to. “It’s not a standard relationship in the regular world either. It’ll just take some time for him to get used to the idea.”
“Do you think Damon’s mom will too?” I couldn’t help asking. She’d begged off attending the party altogether at the last minute, and Damon’s expression when he’d told me had made it clear he suspected she was just making excuses, even if he hadn’t admitted that.
“I guess we’ll see. Damon’s happy. We’re all happy. That should count for more than anything else.”
“Yeah.” I rested my hand over Seth’s where it had settled on my waist. “I guess we’re always going to get some weird reactions, even if we’re not overt about what’s going on between us. One woman going around with five guys…”
Seth shrugged. “Let them be weird. What they think has nothing to do with who we are or what we stand for.” He pecked me on the cheek. “You know you’re not supposed to be worrying on our behalf. We get to decide how much awkwardness we can handle.”
He was right. I wasn’t concerned so much about how anyone saw me but about how the guys’ friends and neighbors would react as well as their families. But that really was their decision to make. I let out my breath and went to ask Jin’s mother about her latest additions to her beloved garden.
Damon wandered by us with a wary but respectful bob of his head to Mrs. Lyang and a smile for me. When he stopped by the table, his fingers worried at the bandage on his left forearm while he considered what he’d eat next.
I sidled over to him after I’d finished catching up with Jin’s mom. “Is your arm bothering you?”
“What? No. It’s fine. You know, the same.”
I didn’t totally trust Damon to tell me that he was in excruciating pain if he thought avoiding mentioning it would save me a little distress. I raised my eyebrows at him, and he fixed me with a determined stare.
“Really,” he said. “I promise, I’d tell you if something was up. I don’t want this thing messing me up any more than you do.”
The demon had managed to get one of its claws into his arm before I’d tossed it over the Cliff. The Assembly’s medics had sealed the wound easily, but a silvery gray mark like a splintered bullseye remained that their efforts hadn’t been able to remove. Damon had decided he’d rather cover it up than show it off at this gathering. And to remind himself not to scratch at it, he’d said.
It hadn’t shown any signs of being anything other than a strange scar, even ten days later. Seth’s wounds from the demon’s earlier attack had faded away faster, but it hadn’t physically touched him. Maybe, just maybe, I should accept that the mark might not hurt Damon any more than my diminished spark still hurt me.
“Okay,” I said, and bobbed up on my toes to kiss him. He made a pleased sound that spoke of all the things he’d have liked to do if we hadn’t been surrounded by company.
Later that night, after the guys’ parents had headed back into town and my guests had retired to their rooms, I climbed into bed with my five consorts, fitting snuggly between them all.
“First order of business now that we’re getting settled back in,” I said, resting my head on Ky’s shoulder. “Bigger bed for the master bedroom. We should all have room to stretch out.”
“I don’t know,” Damon said, hugging me to him. “I’m just fine like this.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, and he grinned. “I’m not saying Iwantmore space right now,” I said. “I’d just like to give you all the option. Maybe a couple of day beds in case someone wants one to themselves some nights?”
“Bed shopping added to tomorrow’s agenda,” Gabriel said teasingly.
“What else is on the agenda?” Jin asked in an unusually thoughtful tone. “What does the lady of Hallowell manordowhen she’s not unraveling conspiracies and fending off unexpected enemies?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I mean, I’ll find some ways to occupy myself. I was going to put together that modern witching history… Maybe I can help the Assembly’s investigations into the history of nontraditional consortings. And I was thinking…”
“What?” Seth prompted gently when I hesitated. He rubbed my foot where he was sprawled at the end of the bed.
