“Holy shit, would you look at that!”
Quinn sees it, too, and gasps. “Oh, no! The old geezer man hurt his face.”
Silas coughs to try hiding his laughter.
Everett sighs as he speaks telepathically.I forgot that big mouths run in your family.
Crypt is the one who taught her that,I point out.
My mom shoots Cace and Quinn a look that shuts them up before she turns back to Everett, tapping the edge of her eyepatch. “Ignore them. I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again—battle scars are a privilege. They’re permanent trophiesfor proving ourselves and surviving shit we never thought we could survive.”
“Plus, it’s sexy,” Maven adds without missing a beat.
I grin. That’s my mate. I can’t tell if her playfulness makes me want to kiss her or bite her hard enough to leave another mark showing the entire world how much she’s mine.
Several of my family members burst into surprised laughter at her unabashed statement while Everett turns bright red. Quinn turns to ask one of Cace’s quintet members why a scar is sexy, which just makes more of them laugh. The nervous tension of how my family will handle Maven being a demigoddess is long gone. I breathe out in relief when I see my mother smiling at my mate with nothing short of pure pride and motherly affection.
“I didn’t say it wasn’t dope-looking,” Cace chuckles, turning back to Everett. “I was just surprised, since your family’s so big on image and since…well, you know. You’re a Frost.”
Everett glances at Maven, still red-faced as he speaks telepathically.Not for long.
That piques Crypt’s interest.Are we taking Maven’s last name?
I am. Get your own thing,Everett scowls.
Cace must think Everett is scowling at him, because he starts apologizing again and quickly makes it worse as he compares Everett’s scar to a scrape from silver he once got on his ass.
“Careful or Snowflake will freeze you and add you to his collection,” I warn Cace.
Declan slaps my shoulder good-naturedly as he lowers his voice. “Careful, or I’ll have to remind you that you should’ve taken a long, thorough shower. Some of us are shifters, Bael.”
Oh. Shit. He means he can scent what Maven and I were up to before this, and most likely so can my parents.
I’m pretty sure I’m blushing as hard as Everett now.
41
MAVEN
My quintetand the Decimus family walk together through the halls toward the castle’s main dining hall, where we decided to hold the Reformist meeting since apparently it will be a pretty large group.
Unreaped ghosts trail through the halls with us, including the blue-haired young woman who waves at me again before she passes through one of Baelfire’s unwitting fathers. Silas sees it, though, and mutters something about ghosts in fae.
Baelfire’s brother, Cace, catches up to glance sideways at me. “So, you’re like…an actual demigoddess? Half god, half human?”
“Yes.”
“AndtheSyntyche is your mother?”
“I’ll introduce you, if you want.”
He recoils and falls back to walk with the rest of the Decimuses, which makes Silas laugh darkly from where he walks on my left side.
“Finally, a fitting reaction,” the fae murmurs. “With all due respect, your mother is acutely terrifying.”
“Thanks.”
Meanwhile, Baelfire is laughing and chatting with his family as they stroll behind us. The last few months have affected him a lot, but I’m happy to hear my sexy dragon shifter sounding almost as cheerful as he used to be.
