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It was such a human-male thing for him to say that I nearly laughed, but right then, I was too comfortable to challenge hisother lack of emotions. Instead, I snuggled in closer and let my eyes drift shut. “Wake me in five minutes, will ya? I want to talk about the fairy too.”

“We’ve got a few more days with the fairy.”

“But not with the Chinese demon—I mean, the jiangshi?”

“No. He could wake up any time.”

“Then I don’t have time to be napping.”

Rasmus squeezed me. “You need to rest while the Wu Shaman is sitting in the foyer watching him. We’ll tell her what he is later. She’s trying to reconcile her feelings for her family with her dedication to her magickal work. They’ve ruled her decisions for too long already. This is something she needs to think through.”

“How do ya know all that? I just left her at her house. She was brooding and drinking tea.”

“Orlin gave me back my omniscience because of Zara. That way no matter where I am or what I’m doing, I can still observe her. Right now, she’s got the demon wolves in the blue house with her while she’s researching. They’re getting along now. I had Dylan explain the ruse to the demon wolves because they understand him best. They’re playing along with Zara just as we are.”

“Should I be grateful ya’re working behind the scenes and keeping our normal things going?”

Rasmus ran a hand down my back until it rested on my hip. “I could keep you going too if you’d stop being mad at me. All I want is to take care of you, Aran. I’ve done my best to show you I wouldn’t interfere with your work decisions. What else can I do to make things up to you? Watching you get hurt is not on my list of favorite things to do.”

I sighed against him. So he’d kept away from my problems on purpose and not gotten involved intentionally. Sometimes Iwas my own worst enemy. I still didn’t know how I felt about his damned guardian neutrality but I could see he meant well.

I lifted my face and kissed his jaw before dropping my tired head back down in the curve of his neck. “Will we need to put a camera in Zara’s room when ya move back to mine?”

“I don’t know what to do. We’ll figure something out that works for both of us,” he said in a husky whisper before brushing his mouth gently over mine.

Our nap didn’tlast long because Gale arrived with dinner sooner than we expected. The new coffee table held everything with room to spare. We coaxed Mulan out of the foyer and into eating with us. I needed to run Rasmus’s theory by her and see if she agreed but was trying to wait until she got some food into her stomach.

Mulan only picked at her food but it wasn’t because it wasn’t delicious. Gale was a master chef and so were her kitchen crew. It was going to be quite an adjustment for me when we sold this place. Cooking for myself again held no appeal after getting to eat Henry and Gale’s offerings.

I told myself I was eating to heal and shoveled in another big bite while Mulan ate an infant-sized morsel off her fork. A knock at the door to my quarters had us all pausing to see who was interrupting dinner.

“Conn!” Mulan exclaimed, dropping her plate on the coffee table to jump up and run to him.

He swept her up and hugged her tight. “I’m sorry I turned you away earlier. I thought you had enough on your mind without worrying about me.”

I smiled and kept on eating. Good thing I did too, because it didn’t look like Conn intended to turn loose of her anytime in the next century.

“I’m glad to see ya survived yer purging,” I said between bites. “Do ya want some dinner?”

For the first time since I had known him, Conn looked ill at the mention of food.

“Do you remember having morning sickness with Fiona?” he asked.

“Yes. All too well,” I said with a grin. “How long is yer nausea going to last?”

“According to Henry, it will last a day or two. If that creature is a demon, he’s a very powerful one. I felt completely drained after purging his essence. I strongly regret not paying more attention to your warnings.”

“He managed to fool a lot of people. The stone warned me.”

Conn raised an eyebrow. “How often do you talk to it?”

“As often as it feels inclined to get involved in my business,” I pointed to Mulan. “I can talk to her staff as well. I’ve learned they have a lot in common.”

Conn glanced down at Mulan and then back at me. It made me wonder how much of the truth he knew. I could see The Dagda holding back from both of us until he was good and ready to tell us. Zenos, on the other hand, didn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own.

As Conn studied me, I inclined my head to Rasmus who was eating the vegetarian version of my beef stew. “Rasmus thinks Mulan’s creepy brother-in-law is a jiangshi and not a demon.”

Mulan gasped. “A jiangshi?” She pulled out of Conn’s arms and dashed back out into the foyer.