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Her giggle was loud. Everyone heard.

The jiangshi knee crawled closer, grabbed my ankles, and kissed both my boots. He muttered something again.

“He says you may command him. He is your servant.”

“Tell him I said he is to use his power to do good to everyone that needs help. Outside of that, he is to live a happy and peaceful life for as long as he has left.”

Maybe that would prevent Tony from trying to repossess his magick one day. I wasn’t sure he could do it since by then the talisman would be a permanent part of the jiangshi’s bones. But I had seen him pull power from Ezra and return it to Dylan’s stone. It was best not to underestimate the angel.

There was no need to worry about that today, though, now was there? Tony could have popped here if he’d felt what we were doing, but he didn’t. I truly wished Zenos had been here to see how far I had bent the rules. He’d have been very proud.

I reached down and pulled one of the jiangshi’s newly restored hands off my boot. I tugged on it to pull him to his feet. When he stood again, I patted his chest to remind him of what he’d suffered.

He bowed his head to show his understanding. Then he turned to Mulan’s family and held open his arms. He said one word to them—I assume it was the sister’s name because she ran to him. Then they were both weeping and talking over each other as she checked out his resurrected form. He was handsome and I wondered what he’d done in his time to deserve being turned into a walking dead person.

“Wow,” I said, staring at the emotional reunion. “I guess he did love her.”

Mulan shrugged. “So it seems. At least he is not old man anymore.”

Her parents eventually rose and walked to check him out as well. They looked him over and inspected the talisman burns on his chest.

Mulan watched the happenings with an emotionless expression. They were a happy family without her being part of it. I wondered how badly that hurt her. I simply couldn’t imagine Ma ever disowning me over my powers unless I used them wrong. If I abused my magick, she would try to kill me to stop me from doing it. I guess my family was just... well, I supposedifferentwas a good word.

The last thing I expected was to have her parents and sister come and kneel at my feet. Mulan raised an eyebrow as she glared down on their bowed heads.

“What in Danu’s name is going on now?” I asked. “I’m so damn tired of yer people, Mulan.”

She barked something at them. They answered her quietly without meeting her gaze. She covered her mouth and for a tense few seconds, I thought she was going to cry. I wanted to kill the three of them for traumatizing her over and over.

Then to my utter surprise, Mulan burst out laughing. She laughed and laughed, bending forward to hold her stomach. She laughed every time she looked at them... or me.

“Are ya going to tell me what’s going on? I’m ready to kill them for upsetting ya again.”

“Oh, Aran,” Mulan said, wiping at her eyes. “My father wants to adopt you.”

I uttered a swear word I don’t normally use and held up my hand to stop her from saying anything more. When that only sent Mulan into another round of hysterical laughter, I rolled my eyes and walked away from all of them. It was so ridiculous—they were ridiculous.

Both guardians looked me over as I walked by. I saw something in their eyes I didn’t recognize. It looked a little likefear at first, but it also could have been their arrogant belief that they could have handled the jiangshi better than I did.

“Now what,” Zara asked.

I looked at Zara. “Mulan’s family moves into a hotel and we get to enjoy the rest of our vacation.”

“So nothing more today then. I’m going back to my research.” She rose and headed to the door.

I called out to her. “We’ll have Ben out next week to meet ya.”

She stopped and turned. “Who is Ben?”

“He’s our boss,” I said, watching her smile bloom. “If he’s agreeable, we’ll find something for ya to do.”

“Thank you, Aran. Or should I say Goddess Aran? No wonder Mulan was laughing so hard.”

“Don’t go there,” I said, pointing at her. “Really. Just don’t.”

I turned to Rasmus. “Am I going to hear something fromyouabout this?”

“About this from me? No. I’m quite proud of you. The angel might have something to say about it later.”