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“Yes, I suppose we do,” I muttered. “But this wasn’tallMulan’s fault. I need to be more decisive when I’m convinced of something. Conn has fussed at me for my hesitation since I’ve known him. He also thinks I’m too merciful and gloats when that tendency causes me all kinds of trouble. The middle ground is indeed the hardest road for me to walk. If I’d suspected about his possession, though, I promise ya I would not have hesitated.”

Gale smirked at me, took my washcloth, and dipped it into a pan of cold water to re-wet it. “Your other weakness is that you care more for others than for yourself. That’s foolish for someone with your powers. I’m sure it worries your mother daily.”

I shook my head at that one. She didn’t know Bridgette O’Malley the way I did. Ma was more of a risk-taker than I was. She would never have stayed in prison for all those years. I was a bloody coward compared to my mother.

“Isn’t caring for others supposed to be a good quality?” I asked.

Gale laughed but I think it was at my sorrowful expression and disappointed tone.

She smiled at me. “If you don’t mind your sympathetic tendencies causing you a concussion now and again, I suppose you could consider it a good quality.”

I cautiously stood and tested my legs. “I have to tell ya, Gale, your son sounds just like ya when he lectures me. Ya share the same dry wit and sarcasm too. It’s an effective combination. I feel nearly as guilty about what happened as the Wu Shaman does.”

“Then I’ve done my job,” Gale said. “I hope Henry is as successful with Conn.”

Chapter Thirteen

It took another hour and several cups of tea for me to feel strong enough to hunt Mulan down. Both vehicles were still in her driveway so I knew she hadn’t run far this time. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be chasing her all over the property, either.

I patted my chest on my walk to her house and thanked the Dagda stone for its help. It buzzed against my fingers instead of answering me in words. I was just fine with that. We were learning to communicate, which didn’t mean always having to speak to each other.

Goddess, I wish I’d talked to it twenty years ago. It might have warned me about Jack.

If my dragon mage teacher had been around to witness what had happened, I think Zenos would have approved of my new Zen-like acceptance of my artifact. But there had been no sign of the dragon mage during all the chaos. Like Rasmus, Zenos had a habit of simply disappearing when the mood struck. Being irritated about that tendency in one male was all I could manage. I refused to do it with any male I wasn’t sleeping with... and Zenos was definitely in the latter category.

One day soon, I was going to not do it with Rasmus, either. I was going to teach myself not to care if he read books while I fought a demon. Or that he watched me get thrown at a wall without bothering to stick around and check on me after it was all over.

Maybe I needed to face the fact that he would never be the romantic hero who rescued me from myself. No, he was going to be someone who stood by and watched me make mistake after mistake without saying one damn thing to stop me.

But he’d certainly grill me later about why I did what I did and what I thought it meant—the stoic alien bastard. And that was how I saw him. He was a little green guy but he wasn’t human either. He wore a handsome human skin suit but repeatedly failed to convince me we were alike.

I found Mulan in her kitchen slumped over a cup of her calming tea. I let myself in and slid into a chair while I waited for her to acknowledge my presence.

“Do not look at me,” she ordered. “Look away from my shame.”

I rolled my eyes at the drama. “Cut it out. Ya stopped the demon, Mulan. I have a new statue in my foyer to prove it. So where’s the shame in that? Gale told me yer family begged ya not to end his treacherous life. They’re yer weak spot. Fiona and Ma are mine. I understand.”

Mulan shook her head. “I failed my family and failed you. I brought dangerous demon into your home.”

“Ya didn’t fail me, so let that go. The demon was mirroring me and I couldn’t make a fast enough decision about how to fight him. Ya need to stop talking about the past—we both do. Ya need to be thinking about what ya’re going to do once yer demon brother-in-law unfreezes. And I have a bigger problem. Zenos gleefully warned me that Ezra was going to unfreeze soon as well. Goddess knows, I can’t count on guardians or angels tofreeze him back again. Rasmus barely put down his damn book when I got thrown at the wall.”

“I froze demon in place. Your guardian added his magick to mine. Rasmus said frozen state would last two days or maybe three. My family begs me to do nothing to harm old demon. I told them I was Wu Shaman. They say I am unfair and taunted me about Conn. I say at least Conn never tries to possess them. I say he bought back their property. Nothing I do ever pleases them.”

I paused arguing to nod. “Ya’re right. They’re unpleasable. I’ve seen that for myself.”

I leaned back in my chair and tried to see the situation from Mulan’s point of view. Ma and I often argued over things I did, but even when she disapproved, she was always there for me when I needed her. Love made ya tolerate things. I tolerated Jack because of love, even when I shouldn’t have. Similar to Mulan, I had been driven to be as good to my husband as possible.

But maybe Mulan’s parents didn’t actually love her. Or worse, maybe they loved that old demon more. I had a feeling they were using him just as much as the demon was using them.

Unfortunately, I had zero proof of my theory. I couldn’t understand a single word of what they said.

A cup of Mulan’s calming tea suddenly slid in front of me. I hadn’t even seen Mulan making it. Maybe I should have stayed on the couch in the foyer longer. Maybe I shouldn’t be here checking on her, but instead, resting up for the bigger fight that was coming.

Mulan was right. Any action she took about the old demon was going to seem like an action against her family’s wishes. Technically, no law said ya couldn’t allow yerself to be demon-possessed if ya wanted to be. The law only said that the demonhad to restrain his inclinations to possess humans and make them slaves.

Any action I took toward the demon now was going to make Mulan’s family openly hate me but it might be worth it. I suspected they disliked me anyway. They whispered and glared whenever I was around. They had absolutely no awareness of their rudeness.

Goddess, they were the worst guests ever.