Not sure if that was a good thing or bad thing, Thorn shifted his feet. “Do we have your blessing?”
Acheron turned back toward Simi. “Is this what you want?”
She shrugged. “The Simi’s heart is a complicated thing, akri. It’s lubbed him since he made me laugh ’cause he was trying to scare me.”
Shaking his head, Ash let out a long, tired sigh. “Fine. I won’t stand in the way, but you cannot take her to Azmodea. Ever. Not for any reason. You understand? Those are my terms. I don’t want her near your father or Azura.”
“Understood and for the record, I wasn’t going to take her there.”
“Good. So, where are you going with her?”
Thorn grinned. “I was thinking of a temple in Katateros …”
He expected Acheron to protest or insult him. Instead, he nodded. “There are dozens that are unoccupied. Sounds like a plan.”
Thorn felt the color drain from his face as his ploy backfired. “That was a joke.”
Laughing, Styxx put his hand on his shoulder. “Nope. My brother has spoken. Looks like we’ll be neighbors. But don’t worry. Ash only visits when the human world is about to end.”
Great. Thorn wanted to protest, until he looked at Simi.
The happiness in her eyes was too great. She seemed to love the idea. “Is that where you want to live?”
“Oh absolutely! Then the Simi won’t have to rearrange her room. I can leave it as is and all things Simi will be nearby, but we can decorate the new place all scary like you like. Maybe even move your bony throne there.”
Thorn actually felt Ash’s stare on him. It hung hard and heavy. Almost the same as when Ash strangled him.
Only worse.
It was a good think he loved Simi enough to tolerate his future father-in-law.
Thorn offered Simi a smile. “We can live wherever you want.”
Clapping her hands, Simi threw herself into his arms.
Thorn caught her against him and closed his eyes at how good she felt there. It was incredible.
Until he saw the look on Acheron’s face as the Atlantean god cleared his throat.
Sin laughed. “You’ll live, Thorn. But you will never be comfortable around him, and he will never stop glaring at you.”
“And now you know why we live here in Vegas,” Kat said. “Dad might be able to pop in whenever he wants, but we’re just far enough away to where he usually has better things to do than make us crazy.”
“Fair point. And note taken.” But there was one major difference.
Kat agreed to live away from her father. Simi …
The happy look she had said that he was trading a private mansion with no interference to a temple right up under a god he knew wanted to skewer him.
Joy. Oh joy.
But one look at Simi’s happiness and Thorn realized he’d rather live there than anywhere else.
“We are going to be one weird family, aren’t we?” he asked.
Ash looked over at his daughter and Sin, then to his brother. “We’ve been that for a long time, brother.”
Simi smiled. “Well, y’all know what the Simi says… We have three kinds of family. Those we are born to, those who are born to us and those we let into our hearts.”
