Page 106 of A Fury Of Shadows

Mae and Noah carried on eating glumly, like this was par for the course.

Ryu pursed her lips. “Do you mean a hip transplant, grandma?”

“That’s what I said,” Ye-Seul grumbled. “You young ones don’t listen properly.”

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

“And why do you want a hip transplant?” Yoo-Mi said tersely. “You looked as sprightly as a spring chicken when you went dancing with Mr. Choi two weeks ago, at that ballroom dancing competition.”

“Their grandmother does ballroom dancing?” Vlad asked Noahsotto voce.

“She’s a regular showstopper,” the sorcerer murmured.

“It’ll make me more nimble on the floor,” Ye-Seul explained.

“Any more nimble and I’ll have a heart attack,” Yoo-Mi said thinly.

The doorbell rang again before Ye-Seul could come up with a valid protest.

“I’ll get it.” Nikolai rose, his expression that of a man who didn’t think he’d ever get used to life at the Jins.

A familiar voice reached Mae.

“I thought you were only staying a few days,” Bryony said, surprised.

“Did you move in?” Abraham said, suspicious.

“No,” Nikolai said, one hundred percent sullen.

“What happened?” Violet said innocently.

“Yeah, you look kinda upset,” Miles muttered.

Mae could’ve sworn she heard Nikolai grind his teeth.

Cortes, Jared, and Alicia weren’t far behind. According to Nikolai, who’d been keeping in touch with Abraham, the Reaper Queen had finally reappeared a couple of days ago.

“You should move this to the living room,” Yoo-Mi said as the kitchen crowded up. “I’ll make more coffee.”

Tarang lay down beside a sofa. Brimstone settled on the floor next to him. The tiger wrapped his tail around the fox. The other familiars crowded around them.

Mae found herself the object of a battery of not-so-subtle, worried glances.

CHAPTER39

Jared broke the uncomfortable silence.“So, there’s still no sign of Oscar?”

Nikolai flinched.

Bryony glanced at the sorcerer, her expression guarded. “No.”

By the time the dust had settled after their battle with Vedran and the Dark Council, Oscar had disappeared, leaving his familiar behind. The New York coven had taken Drabek into captivity, although there wasn’t much they could do with the familiar.

Unlike Sable, who’d managed to cling to her sanity despite being a victim ofSubjugate, the lynx had lost her mind.

Mae knew Nikolai harbored a degree of guilt over this, even though it was likely due to the black magic in Drabek’s core reacting badly to his spell. She clenched her jaw.

There’s also the fact that she’d been abandoned.

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