“I hate the kitchen down here,” Graham said. “I don’t know what I’m talking about, but doesn’t it seem like the kitchen should be as unique as the rest of the room?”
“You’re not wrong,” I said. “Maybe something kinda funky. Like an island with a curved, space-age marble top.”
“Or maybe it should have a stone motif to match the rest,” Billie said, but she seemed uncertain.
“No. No more Flintstones,” Jake said. “This house has enough rock already.”
“It’s also too dark,” Jasper said. “This is where we do white,”
“I want to open it up a little too,” I said. “Take out this wall of cabinets here. It juts out stupidly. And maybe swap out some of the other cabinetry for open shelves. And it’s a wizard’s workroom, so big double sink.”
“Sounds good. We can hash out the specific layout tonight.”
We must have spent a whole hour just trying to figure out how to fit a third bedroom in there, but in the end, nothing seemed right. No matter what we did, the third bedroom would be sunless and damp, or it would require building out. The backyard was large enough to support that, but it would throw off the whole profile of the house.
“The best idea would be a small guest house,” Jasper said. “Then, if the main house could be purchased by a couple with a kid or an elderly parent, but you still have a guest room or office.”
“Build a whole guest house?” Billie said. “Ooh, can I decorate it?”
“It’ll need a bathroom,” I said.
“Just a wizard bathroom,” Jake said. “So…off-grid. Composting toilet.”
“A house like that isn’t going to be bought by the composting toilet crowd…” I said. “That’s your wolf brain talking.”
“Okay, okay, Baroness, so we run plumbing. I guess we might as well take the time, because we’re under house arrest by a geriatric homeowner’s association.”
“Have you built structures from scratch?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah. Extensions, garages…”
“Cool. So you can teach me,” I said.
“My pleasure,” Jake said. “There are so many things it would be my pleasure to teach you, I hardly know where to begin…”
“Maybe I’ll teach you a few things myself,” I said.
“What sort of things?”
The Sullivan brothers had more knowledge on houses than me, and more sexual experience too, but… “How to zap Piers in the balls,” I said. “And maybe how to waltz with a Baroness.”
“I’m game.”
“Really? Even the dancing?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you halfway, in this life. If I expect you to go to our scruffy family picnics, I can take you waltzing.”
I flushed with unexpected pleasure. “That’s actually really sweet, Jake,” I said. “I never actually go ‘waltzing’. I was just challenging you.”
“Well, if you ever want to…” He looked at me. “You’re going to be my wife someday.”
I was left a little stunned by Jake’s bold statement, but then, I was getting a lot of that these days. The other guys were talking to Billie so they didn’t even notice.
“I need coffee,” I said. “And I—I need to make a phone call real quick.”
“Okay…,” Jake said, but even his ellipses were flirtatious.
I sequestered myself in the torn-up bedroom, locking both the doors, and called my brother.
“I was just about to call you,” Harris said the moment he picked up. “What is going on? I don’t have any connection to the wizard world these days outside of my bubble. The faeries sent an envoy inquiring about a disturbance in the realms.”
“Yeah, about that…the walls between the worlds are down. I just had a fight with Piers.”
“What do you mean, the walls between the worlds are down? What did you do? Does this have something to do with that artifact you were asking me about a few months back?”
I told him everything. I wanted to keep it a secret as long as I was trying to keep him from meddling and putting himself in danger, but we were past that now. “…so now the familiars are free. I thought maybe the Sinistral council would be happy with us for tearing down the barriers, but I didn’t expect the familiars to be a part of it. Even the neighbors are on edge, but they decided to help us after they saw the maps and the fighting and everything. Bevan and I are okay; he doesn’t seem to want to leave me, so I think it’s just the familiars that are abused, but the whole thing is definitely complex.”
“Wow.” I could practically hear him rubbing his forehead. “You need help.”
“I don’t need help!”
“Yes, you do,” he said. “You can’t take on both councils.”
“You don’t have any help to offer me,” I said. “You’re too busy defending your own turf. That’s why I didn’t tell you sooner. I don’t want your help.”
“I don’t want you to die!” he roared at me. “You’re the only family I have!”
“But I don’t want you to die either! Ditto! You think mom and dad will ever talk to me again after this!? Plus, you have Charlotte and your bond-mates and the kids!”
“Yes,” he said. “But you’re the only one who understands growing up at Ladyswald and…betraying all of those expectations. The bloodline, the history…”
“Is it true what they always said?” I asked. “That our royal blood is actually more powerful than normal blood? Do you believe that? You studied so much more about all of that.” Harris, as the only boy and thus ‘sole heir’ (grumble, mutter, sexist bullshit), got a crapton more information about the family legacy than us sisters.
“Oh, I definitely believe it,” Harris said. “I wish it wasn’t true, but it is. It’s just another part of how the magical world feeds on human belief.”
“So…our blood is magical, because humans believe that royal families are magical.”
“Exactly. It’s not that we’re better than anyone else. But being direct descendants of Rudolf II, Princess Julia, and all of the others…that’s why Piers was so pissy toward us growing up, I’m sure. He’s family, but he’s not a Hapsburg. Why do you ask? I don’t think Mom and Dad will let any of us sneak in and steal any Hapsburg relics a second time.”
“Oh…just…Piers is always so jealous of our blood, even though the Nicolescus aren’t exactly nobodies.” Really, I wanted to know more than that. I wanted to know if my blood had power I could use—and how far that power could go.
“I am going to send help,” he said. “I’ll find a way. And one thing I am very good at is digging up information. I’ll research the covenants. You just take a step back. I’m worried you don’t have the resources to deal with what you’ve unleashed.”
“Okay. If you insist.”
“I do. You’re in over your head. I’ve been in over my head, and it’s a situation best avoided. I’m not about to let you get killed. I’ll come out there myself if I have to.”
“No!” I snapped. “You’re a dad. You stay right where you are. Just…do what you can.”
He made a frustrated sound. “We’ll see.”
“Can I…um…is Charlotte around?”
“You want to talk to Charlotte?”
“Yes! She’s my sister in law! I was thinking we should get to know each other better now that I am also disowned.”
“That’s sweet,” Harris said, a bit sarcastically, but when was he not? “Are you having troubles with your menfolk? You could talk to me about it. I know all about how to work as a team.”
“I don’t think we really want to talk about that to each other,” I said. “And I want the woman’s perspective.”
He put Charlotte on, and I immediately felt awkward. Charlotte and I were pretty different. She was a sweet southern girl, but nothing like Billie either. Charlotte was nerdy, funny and enthusiastic, and she was also now a mom despite being younger than me by several years. I had career confidence, but she seemed like the head of a family. Whenever I talked to her I was
just reminded that I was very alone in the world.
But now you’re far from alone in the world, I thought. That’s exactly why you should talk to her.
“Hi, Helena! How are you? You wanted to talk to me? Harris said you’re having guy problems.”
“I didn’t tell him to say that. I’m really not.”
“Well, I know how he is,” Charlotte said dismissively. “How are things going? Okay? He had a worried look on his face in general.”
“I just want to know how it works!” I exploded. “Like…is there a schedule for how you spend time with your guys? Do you just know each other so well? Do you worry about leaving someone out? And you have an incubus too, so is he like…does he get more attention? How did you figure out who to have kids with?”
Charlotte laughed. “Uh…I guess it all just sort of happened. We had more of a schedule at first. But it’s flexible. Sometimes we all just, you know, are all feeling it. And sometimes no one is, especially when Cassandra was born. The good thing about having an incubus around is that just him being there really gets me going…”
“I have two,” I said. “Well, one was reborn as an incubus but I guess he actually has the soul of a demigod. Either way, the mojo is definitely present. Then I have Graham, but the thing with him is, he thinks like a normal human. And then I have these werewolves who are more like family men.”
“Do they all get along with each other?”
“They seem to want to get along, at least.”
“What’s the problem, exactly?”
“I’m not sure,” I whispered. “I think maybe I’m just scared of messing it up. I want it to work.”
“Hm,” Charlotte said. “Let me try and put on a therapist hat for a second, and bear in mind I’m not very good at it, but…you said that they want to get along.”
“They do get along,” I said. “But they haven’t known each other for many years like Harris, Monty and Alec.”
“Do you think they all get along just because they want you, and they’re in a friendly competition? Or do you think they might want more out of it? Because, it is true, your brother and his friends really lean on each other. They each have different skills just like you’d have in a couple. And it doesn’t matter if my time gets divided because they like just having guys’ nights for magic competition or playing video games or…researching together.”
I laughed. “I know who the leading man is on that one…”
“So we’re all stronger because of it. And Firian managed to fit in because he was my familiar, so he wasn’t going anywhere.”
“It’s a good question…” I had been so focused on how I got along with all of them and what I needed out of a relationship, and just praying they would all get along, that I didn’t consider they might get something out of a relationship with each other too. “Jake and Jasper are twins,” I said. “I think they don’t really want to be apart.”
“Ooh,” Charlotte said. “Twins?”
“It’s not as weird as it sounds! After a while they don’t look alike that much! And they don’t—uh—” I wasn’t actually sure if there was much they wouldn’t do. “It’s not weird.”
“Psssh. Not weird. Hawt,” Charlotte said. “And then you have two incubi and they’re always down to clown.” She paused. “A therapist probably wouldn’t say that.”
“It does seem like Byron is starting to mentor Graham on his incubus journey,” I said. “Graham’s loosened up a lot since he started talking to Byron more, and I think he needs someone to just shake off the human guilt. But I think what they all really want is…a family. A team. Or maybe I’m the one who wants more of a family. Either way, they’re not here just for sex. In Graham’s case, I think he’s actively suppressing his sex drive in order to have a family for the first time in his life.”
“I understand that. Well, I think you’ll be more than fine,” Charlotte said. “I love having a big family. I wouldn’t mind having a family of ten or some crazy thing.”
“Oof. Not ready to go that far yet. But thanks. I feel a little better.”
“You might want to start with a schedule, though,” Charlotte said. “Just for now. It takes the guesswork out of it all. I’ve mostly just embraced my role as a love slave. When I’m not raising the kids. Or scolding my grandfathers for unruly behavior.” She snickered. Right…I forgot that bond-mates and werewolves ran in her family.
“I wouldn’t mind being a love slave if I had the time.”
“Girl, you better make the time. You’re not going to want to start when you retire. You don’t want to look back and think about all the incubi dick you could have had.”
“You make good points.”
Chapter Seventeen
Helena
“It looks like there’s a home improvement big box and an upscale home fixtures store both about 45 minutes away, and we’ve got the van so I could go get the first round of supplies,” Jake said the next day.
“Is it safe to leave our bubble?” I asked. “Maybe I should go with you.”
“It’ll be safe,” Jake said. “It’s all main roads from here to there and I’m going to flow with the rush hour traffic toward Los Angeles. The council won’t have a chance to get into a magical fight with that many humans around. I’ll probably be gone for a while because of that. I know you wanted to finish up with the wallpaper today, so I won’t pull you away. But I need to hit the road right now.”
“Okay, well, I made a list of all the stuff we needed.” I fished the paper out of my pocket, unfolded it, and passed it across the table to him.
He looked at my list with a small frown. “Jasper—maybe you should come with me.”
“Is it too much?” I asked. I got pretty detailed with the notes after our discussion because I had figured out that if I didn’t cover everything possible, Billie would just go buy something that wasn’t in the plan. But I wasn’t asking them to buy a cast iron tub or anything heavy. Jake didn’t need manpower. He might need the empty seat space, however.
“It’s a long list,” Jake said.
“Most of it is actually just my little extra notes,” I said.
“I told you to send it to my phone.”
“I don’t even remember you saying that, but…”
“Helena, you should go with him,” Jasper said. He looked at Jake with brotherly eyes that conveyed a lot of love and trust in a blink. It was really cute. But I was still confused.
“Fucking fine,” Jake said. “Come on.”
I shot both of them a look and yanked on my boots, and followed him to the car, but once we were out there I said, “I’m not sure I really want to come with you with this mysterious attitude all of a sudden.”
“Jasper knows I don’t like talking about it,” Jake said. “But I guess he’s right that I have to be honest with you. Just get in the car.”
It’s never comforting when a man you’re starting to like tremendously starts saying cryptic things about needing to be honest when locking you in a vehicle with him for the rest of the day, but I could handle him.
Jake jammed an old drink cup into a trash bag and tossed it all in the back seat, turned on the ignition, and snapped off the radio. He buckled his seat belt.
“What’s your deal?” I asked, crossing my arms. “Why are you mad?”
He started driving. The old lady in the pink house waved at us. I assumed the dog sitting politely beside her was Walter.
“I’m not mad at you,” he said. “I’m—”
“Shit,” I said, as we drove by the house that was for sale. “Look!”
Caleb and Kiersten’s van was parked outside. “How did they get past the barrier? We don’t need them here,” Jake growled. He slammed on the brakes, leaving his van parked right in the street, and flung himself out. I was right behind him.
Caleb was snapping some pictures with his cell phone. Kiersten’s usually polished appearance was looking a little frayed at the edges. Her blonde hair was actually darker today, more
the same color as mine instead of a perfectly pale Nordic blonde, and she looked tired. Ohmigod, she illusion-dyes it? She had a baby carrier with her with a newborn sleeping inside, which explained the exhaustion. I guess she was human after all.
“Oh, hi, guys!” she said. “Don’t tell me we’re going to fight over a house again! We came to play ball this time. I guess Greenwood Manor didn’t turn out, huh? I saw it was still on the market.”
I knew in my gut that Kiersten and Caleb were just getting used by the council. Kiersten had abandoned her newborn almost immediately to fly to Louisiana and try to buy Greenwood Manor out from under us. Now they were trying to operate on our turf and probably spy on us.
But then, they can’t be. The barrier would have kept them out. Unless they have some powerful magic to get past the barrier and spy on us.
Jake just went for it. “Who sent you here?”
“Sent us here?” Caleb laughed nervously. “We sent us here. I’m sorry about the other time, but the council decided we were pretty useless, I guess.”
“You’re always exactly where we want to be,” Jake said. “I don’t buy it.”
“Excuse me? You’re on our turf,” Kiersten said, petting the baby’s head. “This is where we work. The greater Los Angeles area. I know you know this.”
“What about the last two houses?” I asked. “That was my turf and Billie’s turf, if you want to talk turf.”
“Do you have the money to buy this house?” Kiersten asked.
“I…”
“Yeah, I thought so. We’re done,” she said. “We’re putting in an offer and we’ll be right on your street and I guess we’ll see who does a better job. You ladies don’t know Cali witches. I saw what you did to that poor mansion.”
My eyes widened. “Excuse me? That mansion is a dream house.”
“Then why hasn’t anyone bought it?”
“Because they’re crazy!”
“Hey, ladies, don’t fight,” Caleb said. “I’m sure Helena’s home design are great for a place like the back roads of Pennsylvania.”
Phantom of the Library Page 12
