Then I saw one more text.
Ketheron:Do you need Maximus? Our family says you need space, but I can send him to you magically without coming to you in person while you are immersed in your collegiate activities. I am conducting the Celestial check-ins, but I can definitely retrieve Maximus from home and send him to you. Also, I have spoken to Nyx concerning Torvek’s assault and he is absolutely certain that Torvek has been calmed by Vorzyr and will do nothing further. You are safe. I love you, tiny god. I overheard Sylas giving Kai an earful. He wasn’t satisfied with Vorzyr’s assurances, as is your dad’s way, so he’s insisted Kai oversee Vorzyr’s supervision of Torvek as well.
I grinned at Ketheron’s message.
People often referred to me as the gentle one, but he was another level.
And it was all the more incredible considering how he’d been created, and why he’d been created. Yes… created. He’d been made from different species, abilities and magic—even Celestial—by a twisted partnership between the Celestial Plane and the now destroyed, Chimera Circle that had experimented on and created tons of hybrid beings—my mom and even her best friend, Nyx, being one of them. Pops had been born hybrid, not taken by those despicable torturers. The Celestial Plane partnering with those bastards had been in service of creating Ketheron as a weapon who could stand against Ariana Martel, the only True Celestial who hadn’t been bound by the Celestial Plane and actually had free will, not something they’d relished, and something they’d been afraid of.
But Ketheron hadn’t turned out the way they’d intended. He hated violence and he’d rejected their vision for him. He’d been taken in by my father, Cassius, and then when Father had fallen in love with Mom, Pops, and Dad, Ketheron had come to live with our family, and he was an essential part of it. For a long time, he’d had a child-like understanding of emotions and relationships, and many everyday things—something he’d been working on a lot since I’d been born, so now he’d evolved there, kind of alongside me.
And now he was even in an actual romantic relationship. With the infamous Ambrose Wisteryn—the Black Magic Virtuoso and keeper of the balance. During the Hybrid Liberation War, Ketheron had been fascinated with the ways Ambrose chose to use his immense black magic capabilities—for good. And things had grown from there. A friendship for many years until Ketheron had evolved in that arena. Ketheron still lived in the family home, because of the way Ambrose operated—his secrecy, taking off for days on end to research potentialthreats, that sort of thing. Ketheron needed company around him constantly, consistent care and love.
So, speaking of that sort of thing, Maximus was his favorite stuffed animal, a bear with button eyes that he’d shared with me when I was a toddler. And, honestly, any time he’d ever seen me upset.
I smiled to myself as I tried to absorb all those texts from the entire household.
I went to begin texting them all back, but footsteps behind me had me stilling and spinning around.
I jolted at the sight before me.
Mussed fuchsia hair filled my vision, some strands falling down over sleepy espresso eyes. Tattoos covering the expanse of both arms glinted under the morning light. The thing drawing most of my attention, though? The nakedness.
“Zayn.”
“We need to talk, Win.”
I tensed at those particular words coming out of his mouth.
I mean, they were a little softened and kind of undermined by the fact that he was holding Nuvri in the crook of his arm. But still.
“No,” he added quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that. I would never… not again. Never again, all right? It’s just… now things are finally in a good place, I need to… I don’t want anything fucking with that. So, in the spirit of that, there’s something I have to tell you.”
I gestured at his nakedness that was causing my body to react, and my brain to focus on things that definitely didn’t involve talking—except maybe a little dirty talk.
“Can you… see to that?”
He looked down at himself. “Oh, my bad.” He smirked. “Love seeing you all affected by me, though.”
“Jeez, Z. And while you’re at it, send Nuvri back to the bed, or his absence could disturb Evira’s sleep.”
“Or Vaxan’s.”
“What?”
“I woke up for a few moments in the middle of the night and found him hugging this delightful little guy.”
“That’s unbelievably cute.”
“I know, right? Not really something I’d use to describe our Basilisk Lord.”
“Zayn,” I said, gesturing both at him and Nuvri. He was getting distracted again.
He snapped his fingers, Nuvri disappearing from his hold as he sent him back to the bed with his magic. He then dressed himself in the next moment in a neon-pink and black robe. And he’d even conjured it on already tied at the waist.
I smiled, knowing well that it was him being extra accommodating. “Thank you.” I flicked my fingers and conjured one of my gray tees onto myself. Fair was fair. Also, his attention kept dipping to my bare chest, and I could see him losing his concentration, which was already easily done for Zayn with his bouncing-from-one-thing-to-the-next personality. “And for letting me feed from you last night. Thanks for that as well, Z.”
“No worries.” He grinned. “It was a real good time for me. Not just the feeding, for the record.”
