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“I’m fine,” she replied quietly.
The gang was all here. Well, the gang that wasn’t in prison or in a fuguelike state due to being torched from the inside. Eddie and Casey had taken Liv and Dean ahead of us. Liv was thoroughly bound by the collar I’d attached to her throat, cutting her off from her magic. Part of that collar was a spell that would confine her to the grounds. Keeping her in a single room had never been my plan.
Something had happened between her and Casey, and I hadn’t figured it out yet. She’d attempted to flee our home in Frelsi and gotten her noggin knocked. When she’d woken up, she’d been sullen and silent. I was sure she was somewhere in that big house plotting revenge.
“See you later, baby.” Trent had shucked his clothes and moved in front of me, kissing me briefly before he changed. Trent’s change was effortless. One minute he was a man and then he was a gorgeous gray wolf who came to my waist. His tail wagged and I ran a hand over his coat. Fen had already changed by the time I looked his way.
My son was a massive wolf with the darkest fur, a black so deep it was almost purple.
I couldn’t help but think that he looked right here. Somehow, despite all the heartache, he did have something of his demon father in him.
Puff bounced Fen’s way as though begging the big wolf to play. Fen’s head came up, asking Evan a silent question.
She nodded. “Of course. Take care of him, though. I know the other hellhounds were mean to him.”
Fen growled as though saying anyone who messed with Puff would mess with him, and then the wolves and puppy were off, racing away in the moonlight and headed for the woods in the distance.
“Will they be okay?” I had to ask.
“They’ll have a blast,” Gray promised. “They’re safe here.”
I glanced over to where Evan was studying one of the big blooms that seemed almost iridescent.
“Not too close,” Gray warned. “They emit a scent that makes you want to touch the petals, and that’s when the flower gasses you. It’s great if you need a nap. Not so great if you want to get some work done. It’s one of the only things I can’t control here.”
“What do you mean by control?” Evan turned, her eyes looking darker than they had before.
“Lord Sloane is the master of this plane,” Eddie explained. “The house and the land itself have adapted to his needs. You should understand that the house is unlike any domicile you’ve encountered, mistress. The house itself has some sentience, but it’s nothing to worry about. The house can be very helpful.”
“I can talk to the house?” That would be weird.
“You can. While there are bells and intercoms to connect us to the staff, you can also simply say you need Eddie and the house will find a way to let him know,” Gray explained. “If the house knows where you want to go, it will help you find your way.”
“However, there are many dangerous creatures here, but each one of them owes fealty to the master and would never harm a member of the House of Sloane. You are promised to a son of the house, therefore no one will harm you here. However, the plants owe no such fealty. Be careful around them.” Eddie frowned at the blossom. “Yes, I see you trying to drag the princess into your games. That will not happen on my watch.”
I swear that plant moved, turning its nose up at my butler.
“Your watch? I assure you this is my watch, and our bushes will behave while our guests are here or they will get no more blooded mulch,” a new voice announced. “How will you like that? I’ll turn you into ground cover, you moldy old vine of a plant.”
Tix had joined us. I’d met Tix shortly after I’d returned to the plane and discovered my husband had thoroughly taken over his father’s former realm and was playing the focus for Lucifer. Tix ran the House of Sloane, though for some reason I thought of him as a younger demon. By young I mean anyone under five thousand.
“The mistress and her comfort are still my purview, even here.” Eddie was significantly shorter than the other demon, but he stood up to him. “You care only for the master and his needs, as you proved when you left my mistress to die in the Under.”
It hadn’t been Tix’s finest moment. He was responsible for ensuring Gray’s survival, and he’d decided that Gray taking part in the fight with the witches wasn’t appropriate. He’d teleported Gray out of there against his wishes.
Tix wasn’t my favorite person at the moment.
“I take my duties seriously, and the mistress is here and well, and the baby is coming along nicely.” Tix stopped as though listening and then frowned and turned my way. “The child needs more meat, mistress. He does not like this… What is granola?”
I was confused, though I had been feeling a bit hungry earlier in the day and downed two of Al’s homemade granola bars he’d been making for the royals to take to Faery with them.
I was taking my own personal everything with me in the form of Eddie.
I put my hand on my belly. “Are you trying to tell me you can talk to my… I don’t know what stage we’re in. Probably still an embryo.”
“The baby can talk telepathically?” Lee asked.
“I assure you I can communicate with the entire line of Sloane when I wish to,” Tix replied. He was in full-on demonic form. When I’d met him he looked like a male model except for the horns and red eyes. Now he wore a suit that fit his slender body perfectly. I was surprised to find his skin was not red like Eddie’s, but a deep midnight blue. “I bound myself to the House of Sloane, to the very land we stand on so yes, I can communicate with the child. He’s happy to be here, by the way, and thinks Liv is mean. Shall I kill her for you?”
