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That they are, my hotties. They look just as amazing tonight as they did at the last one of these things. All three of them are wearing the Dùbhghlas plaid. Gabe’s in another kilt. Darwin and Charlie are wearing plaid waistcoats under their penguin jackets. Charlie’s let his beard grow out during finals and he looks like a freaking Viking.
Come raid my shores, Charlie Miller.
Charlie suddenly buttons his tuxedo jacket, which makes me aware I might be projecting into our quaternion a bit too much for polite company.
“Sorry,” I mouth to him.
He just grins as he greets my auntie.
Gabe gives her a three-fold kiss but Darwin’s the one who makes her swoon, sweeping her a deep bow and then kissing her knuckles.
I shake my head at him. “Arse-licker.”
Jill laughs and pats Darwin’s cheek. “Lovely to meet you.”
“And you,” Darwin says. “You’re the reason we’re together, so thank you.”
Jill tucks her chin in. “Me?”
“You sent Teddy something that connected you again, that made you family again. I was in another room when she put it on. I felt it.” He presses his lips together for a moment and I have the sense that’s to keep them from quivering. “It was love. Pure love like I’d never felt before. And Teddy shared it with Gabe and Charlie. But not with me. That’s the day I realized I’d do anything to be part of them, instead of forcing them to be part of me.”
Jill’s eyes go soft as a kitten’s. Darwin’s made a conquest. “You’re very welcome in our family,” she says. “Come meet my partner, Murdina.”
The boys follow Jill over to where Murdina is talking with Dark. I stand back and watch the two halves of my family—the family I’ve forged with my blood and tears—come together.
* * *
The summons comein the morning, while we’re lounging around in my favorite library, drinking tea and eating the softest, fluffiest, butteriest scones I’ve ever tasted.
The Liusaidh sent them over with another of her special tea blends. This one’s called “courage,” which seems ominous, but I’m ignoring that damn Damoclean sword. I have my boys and I have scones. All’s right with the world for the moment.
Doesn’t last, of course. Lords, who is in my bad books today because somehow he weaseled out of the torturous family dinner last night, answers the jingling door and returns with two scrolls. He tosses them into my lap.
I have no good feelings about scrolls, after Professor DeWinter’s weird little habit. I scowl at them.
“Do you want me to open them for you, baby girl?” Gabe asks gently, rubbing his hand up and down my arm. We’re both on throw pillows on the floor between Darwin and Charlie, who are sitting in armchairs with a tea-table between them. Darwin has the strawberry jam; Charlie has the clotted cream. They’re spreading the condiments on each piece of scone and feeding them to me and Gabe like baby birds. I’m lolling against Charlie’s legs in a buttery, jammy, creamy delirium.
I hand one to him, the one that’s capped with gilt and sealed with a fancy wax seal that I don’t recognize. Pretty sure that’s from Harriet. The other one’s not capped or sealed, just tied up with a piece of twine.
Could be worse, I guess. Could be an email.
I turn my skin to stone and tug the twine free, because Da’s not above smearing poison or sommat on the twine. I drop the scroll to the floor and nudge it open with a pair of tea spoons.
It reads:
Noon. My room. Or I kill her.
Could be a bunch of different “hers” Da’s referring to, but I’m guessing it’s Harriet. Or maybe her daughter. My half-sister who I still haven’t met properly. Ex-half-sister.
“Anyone got a pen?”
Lords hands me his Montblanc.
Noon. Dueling dome. Or I kill him.
I cap Lords’s pen and hand it back to him while I wait for the ink to dry. Then I let the scroll roll back up.
“I’d be happy to deliver that for you,” Lords says with an evil little grin.
