“Yes,” Odin said. “I'm sorry to say this, but Hermes is not one of our allies. He's done us a good turn in the past and Pan is his son, so we will try to help him. But if the trickster starts targeting us because of this, I'm going to suggest we step back.”
I sighed. “It will be hard to get Pan on board with that.”
“Yes, but he's a father. He will understand.”
“This is about his father. I don't think he will.”
“Then he will have to try harder,” Odin said firmly. “Or he will be upset with us. But I'd rather that than my family be in danger.”
“You just said that you don't think we have anything to fear from the trickster.”
“I don't. Not at the moment. But as Azrael said, he's insane, and so things could change. Rapidly. Then we will have tochange our plans.”
“I need to go to sleep,” I said. “I can't process all of this right now.”
“All right. I think I need to let this stew awhile anyway.” Odin leaned over Az to kiss me goodnight, then he went up to his bedroom.
It was Azrael's night with me.
“I'm sorry,” I said to Az. “I'm too tired for—”
“Carus,” he interrupted. “Stop. Just come here.” He pulled me in against his side and then turned to spoon me. “Thank you for tonight. The fundraiser was a success, and you were a big part of that.”
“Of course. I just wish I could have stayed till the end.”
“It was fine.”
“Are you going to go into the toy business?” I grinned at him over my shoulder.
“We'll see what Mr. Gray's proposal is.” Then he frowned. “The man's name makes everything sound naughty.”
I chuckled. “Maybe use his first name.”
“Good idea.” He kissed my cheek. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Az. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Chapter Six
I slept in as late as I could the next morning. As a mother, that usually meant around 8 AM. And that's very, very lucky. But with the party wearing the children out, I got to sleep until 10. It was magical. I woke to the smell of coffee and baked bread, making it even more wonderful.
Stretching, I sighed, then sat up and looked over at the kitchen where Kirill was at the stove and Azrael was sitting at the table, sipping a cup of coffee.
“Good morning,” they said in harmony.
“Good morning.” I rolled out of bed on the bathroom side, which was opposite from them, and kept the momentum going, taking me into the bathroom. My legs stayed stiff and straight until they warmed up.
Closing the door behind me, I yawned, then went to do my morning business. After washing up, I pulled on my fuzzy robe—hung on a peg near the door with my husbands' robes—then went to join the guys in the kitchenette.
“Wow, some time to ourselves,” I said as I accepted a cup of coffee from Kirill. I kissed his cheek. “Thank you, babe.”
“You're velcome,” he said. “And, da, babies still asleep. Hopefully, zey vill sleep all morning.” He winked at me.
“They're not babies anymore,” Az said as I joined him at the table. He leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Our boys are getting big.”
“Yeah, and that's with them maturing normally compared to the others.” I grabbed a sausage from the platter of assorted breakfast meat on the table.
