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Gale narrowed her eyes at Conn and sighed at his snickering before walking to Mulan. Looking pained, she reached down and patted Mulan’s head. “Do not worry about what we think of you. Connlander deeply cares for you and that is all we need to know. I’m sure you’re a nice person in your own way, dear.”

“Yes,” Mulan said, lifting her chin. “I am nice person. And successful hairdresser. Also, Aran’s partner.”

Henry snorted as he stooped and picked up Mulan’s staff. Looking completely unaffected by touching it, he handed it back to her. “That staff of yours packs quite a magickal punch. Is it hard to control?”

“Staff has cranky days,” she said.

“Yes, I’m sure it does,” Henry said, and then he also patted Mulan on the head.

If she hated their head patting, Mulan hid it well. I’m surprised she didn’t smite them to prove her power—or at least smite Conn to make a point. Maybe he’d be spending the night somewhere other than with Mulan.

I reached up and ran both hands through my hair, tugging hard on the strands to snap me out of my daze. “Conn... I can’t believe ya didn’t warn us. We don’t even have a bed to offer them.”

Henry turned to smile at me. “If you allow it, we can help you make this house into something much more pleasing than a museum.”

I looked over at their mischievous child. Conn’s wicked grin did not reassure me. I knew better than most that it only warned of more troublemaking.

I would not be forgetting this surprise any time soon.

I smiled at Henry. “How much money will yer help cost me, Henry? I spent most of what Conn and I had saved just to buy my half of this place.”

Gale turned to me. “We do not require money, Aran of The Dagda. We only require your permission to stay. Will you let us help you and your odd menagerie of people as we see fit?”

“Sure,” I said, looking at both of them. “Does that mean we’re okay here? We’d have given ya a much better welcome if Conn had simply told us.”

“Gale and I are fine. The jury is out about how the rest of you are doing,” Henry said, not cracking a smile at his joke.

My gaze narrowed. “That better not be an insult, Henry. And ya sound just like Conn.”

“No, dear,” Henry said favoring me with a genuine smile. “I am the demon king’s sire. It would be more proper to say that Connlander sounds like me.”

After that, I gave up trying to make conversation with Conn’s parents. They didn’t look a day older than I did. Had they regenerated over and over throughout time? Or had Conn hidden them so well from the world that they had lived a truly eternal life together?

Goddess, I barely could stand Rasmus sometimes. How had they kept from killing each other?

Then I sobered in my thoughts enough to wonder what they had thought about the Great War and their son’s sacrifice. Thinking about how long they’d been around and how much they’d seen made my head hurt more than one of Rasmus’s philosophical explanations.

Henry’s sudden good humor was giving me a headache too at the moment. But I would learn to deal with the headaches if Henry and Gale could truly turn this museum of a house into anything that remotely felt like an actual home.

Because from where I stood that was going to take a bloody miracle.

Chapter Eleven

The constant pinging of my phone informing me I had multiple messages kept me from going back to sleep. Fiona was messaging that she and her Gigi were going shopping to get some things for her new house. She was buying a suitcase to bring things home with her. I typed “yay” even as sleepy as I was.

Once my eyes were open, though, I realized the wonderfully delicious smell of bacon had permeated the nearly empty bedroom of the incredibly empty house.

Last I heard, we’d all agreed to fend for ourselves for breakfast until the rental house was ready to be released back to the owner. I’d been getting by on breakfast bars for several days now. It pleased me greatly that the kitchen was functional enough to cook bacon in because that promised the possibility of cooking other meals there. I’d only glanced at that room before we purchased the property and hadn’t paid attention to the details. The sheer size of the house had overwhelmed me too much to appreciate the minutiae.

But who was the chef doing the cooking? My stomach rumbled in curiosity and hunger.

Despite the pillow next to mine being empty, I’d yet to see Rasmus cook anything. The guardian was finicky about what he consumed and stocked the refrigerator with healthy, cold fare. Or at least, he claimed it was healthy. He didn’t begrudge me the comfort of a hot meal, but he didn’t always partake of it.

Had Mulan come over to cook so she could impress Conn’s parents? I could see that being true. She would have known I was starving away in here. I considered the merits of getting dressed and following the smell to find out.

It was fully light in the bedroom Rasmus chose for us, which meant I had slept in this morning. His need to christen our room with several hours of moaning pleasure had made that extra sleep a necessity this morning. I kept thinking any day now he’d tire of having sex with me but that didn’t seem to be happening. Some days I was grateful. On other days—like today—I wouldn’t have complained if Orlin had needed to retrieve him so he could help with critical guardian tasks.

Just as I was grinning over my thoughts, Rasmus opened and backed through the bedroom door carrying a tray. It contained a large mug, a whole carafe of coffee, and a plate of food. I could smell the bacon. My stomach rumbled in anticipation.