The chunk in question ignites with Hell fire as soon as Darcy’s seated on my bloody leg. He watches it burn, then wraps his arms around my shoulders and presses his face into my hair. I hold him steady as he recovers from that ordeal.
For a beat the people in the room are silent, but then a voice I’ve never heard says, “That was hard to watch, but I’m glad it’s over. Hurk.”
I look around for the person talking, and all eyes are on Romily, who’s smiling like a maniac. “Oh hey, it looks like Grandma Bone showed Tag how to do the voice thing.”
“Is that what you sound like?” Bellamy questions, completely aghast—he’s totally a drama queen.
“What voice thing?” Gregory demands grumpily.
Romily’s laughter is pure joy, and it completely breaks the solemnity of the atmosphere after Darcy’s ordeal. “Grandma Bone had a spell integrated into her realm that allowed me to ‘talk’ like this.”
“The spell is integrated into the realm? How?” Santanos asks, genuinely curious.
“Do I look like a magic expert? It’s just part of the rules of the realm. It makes it so that a mute boy like me can talk when I’m in that realm,” Romily explains. “This is exactly how I sounded in her realm, too. It’s weird that I sound midwestern, right? I thought I would at least have the same accent as my parents, but it turns out I sound like a newscaster.” His tone becomes that of a TV reporter. “In today’s news, Darcy Hellspinner has been promoted to first cousin for his bravery in the face of being skinned alive.”
I chuckle, laughing with everyone else in the room and turning to kiss Darcy’s Adam’s apple.
Darcy blows out a breath and hops off my leg, grabbing his pants and pulling them back on as I stand. “I never even agreed to be in your weird little family.”
Fox grunts at that and levels him with a blank, yet somehow deadpan, stare. “You killed Bacchus.”
Darcy straightens his shoulders, standing to his full height. He’s still the shortest person in the room, but somehow his ego makes him feel twelve feet tall. “I would’ve done that for anyone.”
I hold out my hand to Darcy again, offering him the support he needs to acknowledge the truth to his new family. “You did it for yourself, and you deserved to have that notch in your belt, but you love being part of this family, and they deserve to knowthat.” I look at Fox after saying that. “You mind if I blow my guy here? He deserves a reward.”
“Here?” Bellamy protests.
“I meant, this guy here,” I laugh, shaking my head at the guy who would probably like to join me if I was the sharing type.
I’m not, but Bellamy is hot, and I wouldn’t mind seeing him down and dirty. Actually, I could probably say that about every person in this room.
Fox stares at me blankly for a moment, then stands, pulling Romily along with him. “I’ll show you the guest room.”
I knew these guys weren’t the type to get uncomfortable about sex things. Bellamy, yeah, but the rest of the family seems to be of a mind to acknowledge and enjoy their sexuality.
Speaking of, it’s surprising how many same sex pairs there are in this family. I’m not against finding your tribe, but usually there’s more diversity in found families, right? “Where are the lesbians and aces in this family?”
Romily answers with a happy little dance in his step. “My sugar daddy and her wife are currently on vacation because they’ve just been promoted to citizens after Bellamy took over being the Avatar of Good from Annette, and I haven’t had the chance to add any ace people to my family yet.”
“We can keep an eye out to add diversity, but you’ve got a big family already.” Eight that I’ve met so far, not including me, and I’ve heard of the four dads and now his sugar daddy and her wife, so that’s twelve. That’s a nice number. Thirteen if you include me.
“Altogether we’re sitting pretty at fifteen. You’ll meet my bestie Akile and his brother Ace. Lol. We’ve added an Ace, but that’s not his sexual descriptor. It’s his interim name. He hasn’t figured out what his forever name is yet.”
“You can work on that after you figure out what to call yourselves when you change your names,” I suggest.
Romily turns wide eyes on me. “I should probably prioritize it since he’s looking for a forever name now, and I don’t need to change mine for at least another ten years.”
Fox stops in front of a door and pushes it open for us. “I’ll have the butler bring up lunch for you in about an hour.”
I reach out and squeeze Romily’s wrist. “You’re a good friend. Helping Ace find his true name is a great priority,” I tell him, then I smile at Fox, who doesn’t seem like the touchy type. “Thank you for this. Taking a break from this rollercoaster of a day is going to be helpful.”
Fox nods once, then pulls Romily down the hall to a different door. They look like they also need a break.
I lead Darcy into the room, closing the door behind us, and take in a modern ocean theme complete with lighthouse artwork and oceanic murals on the walls. The bed is covered in a duvet with anchors on it and the pillows have various ships. “It’s definitely a guest room,” I comment, pulling my shirt over my head.
Darcy’s smile grows on his face as I toss the bloody shirt aside. “The decor does scream ‘themed hotel,’ doesn’t it?”
I reach for his black metal band shirt and pull it over his head, leaving him with just his silver chains decorating his chest. “Don’t want to talk about the decor right now,” I confess, pushing him toward the cuck-chair. “Sit down and let me suck you.”
