Nodding, the little guy trundled off, and he had to admit it was kind of pleasant. Aspen came to lean on his leg, giving him a curious look from her bright, wolfy eyes.
“Get used to him, baby girl. He’s gonna be around, I think.”
Orion nodded, putting the heavy tray down on a table. “Yeah, once you get an infestation of house spirits, they don’t go anywhere.”
“Good to know. Now you can go get Corbin.”
“Cool, I’ll be right back.” Orion headed off, humming that same jaunty tune, and he had to admit he loved this family so much. Everyone had their own personality. No one was suspicious of each other or torn up by court rules. In fact, he thought his brothers were learning a great deal from his new brothers-in-law and from their mates. They were relaxing around him and not seeing him as competition anymore.
Evander straightened the tray Orion had laid down and looked around at the preparations, wandering over to where Cosmo and Cullen were laying out a bunch of gayly wrapped presents. “Do you need me to do anything, guys?”
Cullen whirled and hugged his neck, surprising him. “You’ve already done something amazing,” he said. “Look at this place and those cradles. They’re gorgeous.”
“I had a great deal of help from Hawk on that,” he admitted. “He’s very good at woodwork, and apparently Gavin told him some tricks of the trade as well.”
“Well, I think it’s amazing.” Little sparkles that looked like tiny fireworks flew from Cullen’s ears, exploding around their heads.
“You did a great job,” Cosmo told him. “Now could you tell him I’m not mad at him?”
Corbin had been avoiding Cosmo just a little bit since the incident with Elliot and the bird.
“I will, but I think that maybe you’re going to have to do the same. He feels terrible.”
Cosmo rolled his eyes. “None of us could have done anything. It was a bird. And trust me, Isabelle did a great job. Did you see her burning the feathers off that thing?”
“Well, no, but I did hear about it.” He winked even as Cosmo turned even brighter pink.
“Oops, sorry.”
Evander chuckled. “Yes, everyone has their limitations. Hawk cannot come to the Land of Summer. You felt unwelcome sometimes in the place you were born because you had dragon blood. Your father must stay in the Land of Summer for an eternity to be with your mother. I cannot go to the land of the dragons.”
Cosmo nodded. “And then there’s Orion.”
Cullen’s eyes flashed a bright purple, and he shook his head. “Okay, so there’s Orion who can go anywhere, totally, and who’s super magical, but, you know what? He doesn’t heal quickly. He can get hurt by anything. It takes a lot to harm any of us—Orion doesn’t need any kind of special weapon to get hurt, or die, and his blood cures fucking vampirism. Do you have any idea how I worry about him? About people taking him and using him? Your people, human people, vampire people.” Cullen shook his head. “You’re right, Evander. Everybody has their limitations. Orion can go where he wishes. You have giant antlers and are like a stud.”
Cosmo arched one pink eyebrow. “Actually, sort of officially, isn’t Orion the stud?”
Evander started to laugh, suddenly absolutely tickled, and he laughed so hard that the house shook with it, his entire body hurting with the release of his amusement.
“What’s funny? I want to laugh too.” Corbin gasped as he walked into the room. “Oh, look at all of this!”
“Hello, love. We were just laughing at how studly Orion is.” Evander moved to kiss his mate. “They tell me this is a shower.”
So many words that meant the same thing. The fae language was much simpler.
“Okay, oh, this is lovely. Thank you. Thank you all so much.” Corbin came to him and hugged him tight, tears in his eyes, that rounded belly pushing into his hip.
“I just want you to be happy, lethean. It’s all I want.”
Lady Calla came in, peering quietly, Lare at her side with a tray of goodies in one hand, Blaze in the other.
Corbin blinked. “Uh?—”
“Your spirit of the home led me to the party.” She nodded to everyone, even offering him a smile. “Thank you for the invitation.”
“Mother, this is a surprise.”House spirit?
He literally showed up a few minutes ago. Lare. From Rome. He’s very?—
