Page 18 of Misbehaving With Minotaurs
“Not a bad way to go,” he muses, glancing at Iggy, who’smercifully sitting on Miriam’s shoulder, whispering something in her ear.
“He’s been talking about jobs, actually,” Morgan muses. Her typical smile grows wicked. “Actually, I’m trying to convince him to oust his mother so he can run the monster world. I think he’s coming around to the idea.”
There’s silence for a moment before Lou looks at her niece and pops a bite of pasta in her mouth. “Why don’t you do it, Mor? You’d be kickass, and you’re already so drawn to serve with your black magic. You could heal, but at scale, maybe…”
Morgan’s eyes roll up as she seems to consider it.
Manorin looks between the girls with a playful smirk. “Am I now party to a revolution? That’s delicious.”
Morgan snorts. “Well, errr, you might be. You don’t happen to have a close personalfriendshipwith Evenia, do you?”
He chuckles. “I suspect the concept of friendship is foreign to her, so, no, but sheismy boss.”
Morgan pales, if that’s even possible. “Oh, well, perhaps don’t say anything to her. We’re all talk at family dinner anyhow, right?”
Lou shrugs as blue flames dance in her eyes, her battle magic rising at the idea of an altercation with Evenia. “Oh, I dunno. I’m the only blue witch in the haven system. I could always run her out of the office at HQ, and you could simply take over.”
“Yessss, queen!” Thea shouts, depositing a ladleful of pasta onto her triplets’ plates. “Revolution away, girl. We are here for it.”
Manorin places a hand over his heart, which draws my eyes to his chest. “And I promise not to breathe a word of this to anyone. Cath knows me well; I can keep a secret.” Crimson eyes flick to mine as he takes a sip of wine. “I’m good at secrets, right?”
I clear my throat as I nod. I can’t trust myself to say anythingelse about what an excellent secret-keeper Manorin used to be back in the day.
Two hours and six bottles of wine later, the triplets cackle as he delivers the punchline to a joke. Iggy’s asleep against Miriam’s chest, and my heart is so full.
Thisis what I love about Ever. This friendship, having my dearest Annabelle filled to the brim with laughter. Family dinner with monsters who are in no way related to me, yet my family all the same.
But what about love?a little voice whispers in my head.What about romantic partnership?
My mind drifts to Vikand, but I can’t honestly see him at this sort of thing. I’ve invited him to these weekly dinners a few times, and he’s always declined, saying it wasn’t really his thing.
I’m starting to think nothing ishis thingoutside of his books.
“Manorin, how’d you let Catherine get away?”
Morgan’s question jolts me out of my errant thoughts, and I set my wine glass down. Oh gods oh gods, how did that topic come up? I dart a look at Alo, but he raises both hands quickly in a denial of guilt.
Manorin’s expression goes serious as he looks at Morgan. “I didn’t. She moved here to help develop Ever, and I remained at Hearth HQ, eventually taking over the skyball program.” He sits back in his chair and rolls his shoulders, smiling softly at me. “We just sort of fell apart, if I’m honest.” He glances at Morgan again. “It was a long time ago.”
I look around the table, but it’s Wren I land on. She sips her wine quietly, looking at me with a thoughtful expression. Of the Hector triplets, she’s the most brutally observant. She won’t pepper me with questions later like Thea or Morgan would, but shesees everything.
“Hundreds and hundreds of years,” I confirm. “Lifetimes, seems like.”
The table falls silent until Alo clears his throat, gesturing atIggy, whose head flops back against Miriam’s upper arm. “We should get outta here and get Ig to bed.” Dark eyes flash to me. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner, as always, Cath. This is the highlight of our week.”
I look under the table where Minnie nurses all three hellhound pups. “Shall I bring them to you when they wake?”
Miriam laughs. “Oh no. As soon as we take Ig out of here, Minnie will follow, and the puppies will too. They’re at a compliant age, it seems, but I’m sure that’ll come to an end inconveniently soon.”
The moment Alo and Miriam stand, Minnie grumbles and shifts onto all four legs. When she falls back down with a yip, looking at her back end, we all drop to the floor to peer at her.
Morgan crawls under the table and places a careful hand on Minnie’s belly, closing her eyes. After a brief moment, she looks at Manorin. “Any chance you can carry her next door and lay her in her bed? Her stomach’s bothering her, but I think I can heal it. I’d just rather she be in her comfy spot first.”
Manorin stands and grabs the table, pushing it to the side to expose Minnie and the pups.
The hellhound licks her lips, tail wagging softly as Manorin approaches her, speaking in low tones. When he scoops her up into his big arms, my heart nearly melts. He talks quietly to the big hellhound, who whines as he begins walking toward the hall.
“I’ll grab the puppies.” Morgan reaches down and picks them up, cradling them to her chest.
