Page 60

“We’ll have them delivered,” Clark said with a mild smile and handed the spatula to Sage. “Don’t let them burn. I’ll be outside.”

I watched him walk out, wanting to stab him with my fork or steal his heart and bury it in my backyard. I don’t know. Something unhealthy and unhinged. I wanted him to want me, to live in my house, sleep in my bed, and tell me all the things he always said without sounding like a mockery of affection. I wanted my husband back without it being a lie. How much was a lie? Was all of it? He cared about my protection. I believed that. But if he actually wanted me, why was he sitting out in the muddy yard instead of with me?

Ray came through the kitchen door, and I noticed immediately that his aura was much less black than it had been, blending into a muddy brownish green instead of all darkness and despair. I registered that before he looked up at me and I realized with a shock that he’d shaved his face. And he looked every inch a teenager. And to think I’d kissed that baby!

I offered him a weak smile. “Your aura looks nice.” Was that even a compliment? I had no idea.

He smiled in return, looking even younger and more cherubic. He had a round face thing going on. “Thank you. I’ve been setting traps in the woods that will kill any intruders.”

“Traps? Like anyone who goes in the woods? Like my children?” I looked at Jerome and James. Jerome was eating waffle out of James’s hair. Twilight zone.

Ray of Sunshine, who we couldn’t call that anymore because he actually looked mostly cheerful, shook his head. “Of course they won’t hurt the kids. They’re your blood, and you’re you.”

I glowered at him. “That’s not comforting.”

“The traps are keyed to your husband’s blood.”

“Soon-to-be-ex-husband,” I corrected then sat down and started to eat, ripping into my waffles viciously. I took a second to scowl at the two brothers who lurked by the door like they were nervous about joining us. “Sit down. Eat. So, you two are staying in the house? What about Scilla?”

Ray sat next to me and offered me another sweet smile. “I wanted to talk to you about that. Do you think you could talk to her? She’s in the parlor here, refuses to sleep in one of the rooms Sage found for us. She’s not convinced you’re the heir to the House, and she’s terrified of your husband.”

I nodded and took another savage bite, eating with focus until I was finished. I felt slightly less growly, but I still had a husband sitting outside in the rain, an undead bear standing in the hall, two teenaged boys who’d each wanted to kill me at some point, one of whom I’d kissed, and Scilla, who probably had all the issues considering how long she’d been invisibly tied up on a couch, magically feeding Clark’s sister.

I stacked waffles on a plate, drizzled syrup over them, and headed for the parlor. Ray fell in beside me but hesitated when he saw the grizzly in the hall.

“Do you know his name?” I asked him, nodding in the bear’s direction. He looked like a dead and stuffed bear.

He shrugged. “It has a name? Terrifying. It always gave me the creeps. So, what’s your plan for Scilla?”

I shot him a look. “Plan?”

He nodded, sincere and eager. “What do you want her to do for you?”

I stopped and looked out the window at the endless rain with flickering thunder gathering around my husband. “I don’t want her to do anything except rest. She must be exhausted. I’m tired, and Donny only stole a little bit of my magic and energy. What is he doing? If he’s so sad without me, he should make a deal to be with me instead of swearing you to some stupid oath.”

“He’s not sitting out in the storm because he’s emotionally depressed.” Ray’s voice was amused, his smooth face alight with amusement.

Clark had specifically told me that’s why he was out there. Then again, he was the biggest and stupidest liar I’d ever met. I put my hands on my hips, and the bear’s eyes moved, tracking me. Terrifying indeed. “Then why is he out there in the drizzle?”

“To use the elemental energy to charge his magic. Obviously.”

I stared at Ray. “Part of his magic is sitting in the rain? Why wouldn’t he tell me that? And why would he need to charge his magic for days?”

Ray shrugged. “He thinks he needs a lot of magic, likely to defend you from the Council and other enemies. The Council’s Teeth has a lot of enemies, and a lot of them are extremely dangerous. Since he’s retired from the Council and thrown in his lot with a bunch of dark magic users, the Council will want to shut him down quickly.” He said it so cheerfully. It was almost unnaturally cheerful, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.

I definitely didn’t like Clark lying about why he was sitting out in the mud. Did he think I was too stupid to understand? Did he just like messing with me? Maybe he liked looking like a lunatic with his face-tattoos and long pale hair and wet shirt slicked to his muscular body like a second skin.

I shook my head and focused on where I was going, which was the parlor, where I found Scilla sitting in the center of the couch, knees up, arms wrapped around herself, looking like a fragile porcelain doll that would shatter at any second. She desperately needed intervention, something normal to do, to give her focus and help her move past the horrors.

I gave her my most cheerful directive smile as I sat down next to her on the couch. “Scilla! You look great! These are for you.” I held out the plate, waiting until she unfolded enough to take it. “What’s your magic like? Ray’s all woodland stuff, Donny’s dark arts aggressive stuff, and you’re…” I took the fork and cut a triangle out of the waffles and held it out to her face. She didn’t answer so I continued. “Because I need someone to help me educate the kids while they’re homeschooling. I don’t know anything about magic, but I’ve got three suddenly magical kids. Like Jerome and his bugs. We all need training before we do something that hurts someone, and it’s likely oneself, don’t you think? I know that when I first tried to raise a dead body, it didn’t go nearly the way I’d hoped.”

While I’d been rambling, she’d automatically opened her mouth, letting me feed her like a baby bird.

“You can raise the dead?” she mumbled around her bite. She sounded more than half dead.

I cut another piece and shrugged as I held it out to her. “Yes, but it’s the part that comes after the raising that’s the most important and takes the most foresight. You can’t just raise a cemetery without having a plan for what to do with them once they’re awake. To be honest, I would have probably gotten killed by all of them if Clark hadn’t showed up and laid everybody to rest.”

Hunger flashed over her face then she picked up the waffle and started eating like she was starving. Maybe she was. When the stack was gone, she looked up, face smeared with syrup and jam. “You shouldn’t give me something imbued with so much power and energy.” She frowned at the empty plate. “Although I do feel much better.”