Kushiel’s smile was bright and sweet, and if his aunt wasn’t in the room, he would probably drag Kushiel back to bed. He might have done it anyway, despite whatever teasing his aunt would unleash on them, but they did have work to do. Unfortunately.
“Alright,” Cass sighed, letting go of Kushiel’s hand and grabbing dishes to bring to the sink. “I suppose we ought to contact them and see if they can meet up. It would be nice to figure out exactly who’s in our suspect pool.”
Kushiel jumped up and grabbed the rest of the dishes, rushing to the sink to get there before Cass did. “I’ll wash up, Cass, if you want to contact them,” his sweet angel said.
Cass sent off a text to Michael about meeting at the coffee shop, and he saw that it was immediately read, so hopefully the man and the demon were available.
“He does dishes too? He’s definitely a keeper, then,” Aunt Ro whispered in his ear.
He would have jumped if he wasn’t used to his aunt randomly sneaking up on him. Damn ghosts.
“Yes, Aunt, he really is. I expect you to treat him like one of the family,” Cass whispered back. Might as well get it out of the way now. He turned to look at his aunt, shock clearly written on her face. He knew she had been mostly teasing him.
“Cassius…” she said, trailing off.
Cass felt rather proud. Leaving Aunt Ro speechless was an accomplishment.
“I’m keeping him,” Cass said, answering his aunt’s unspoken question. “Forever.”
“Forever, forever?” she whispered.
“Yup,” he replied, and they both looked over at his angel, who was bent over the sink, his glorious black wings folded up behindhim, his head bent to the task at hand. “Forever forever. Even if he doesn’t know it yet.”
“Oh, Cass,” she murmured. “Everlasting love. How truly romantic.”
Cass looked over to see tears in her eyes. Her dress also now had sunflowers all over it. He couldn’t suppress the chuckle it gave him. Aunt Ro had always been a bit of a romantic at heart, and she always wanted what was best for him.
“Are you really sure?” she asked him. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up…” she continued.
“I can see it, Aunt Ro. I’m sure,” Cass answered.
She looked a little shocked at that, but Kushiel was wrapping up the dishes, so Cass glanced back at his phone and saw that Michael had replied, asking if thirty minutes worked. Cass sent a thumbs up emoji just as Kushiel was shutting off the water.
“We’re all set to meet up with them in thirty,” Cass told him. Kushiel walked over, and he shimmered the tiniest bit, which made Cass think that he’d put on a human look. He shifted his sight, and sure enough, the wings were gone, and he was dressed in jeans and a sweater. Interestingly, the scarf was also now gone. He went back to his regular vision, and Kushiel’s true form now included not just white, flowing pants, but also his scarf.
Interesting.
“The scarf is part of your angelic form now?” Cass asked. He didn’t know that angels could change that.
“Yes, well, it seemed easiest to always have it on,” Kushiel admitted. “This way I can see what you see, and I don’t disregard the idea of ghosts in general.”
Cass nodded along, and then he realized a very important fact—when they had been chatting in bed about Lucifer’s message, Kushiel hadn’t had the scarf on. He’d been naked, yet he hadn’t disregarded ghosts. Cass wondered if it was simply that not enough time had passed; it wasn’t like they totally forgotabout ghosts, after all. They remembered the ghost department in meetings and in general, but they just tended to not think about them. But Kushiel had still had ghosts in the forefront of his thoughts.
The other possibility was that perhaps the soul bond, which was growing stronger every time Cass checked, would enable Kushiel to see what Cassius saw. It made sense in a lot of ways, and the scarf had felt so much to Cassius like looking in a mirror. He wondered if eventually Kushiel wouldn’t need the scarf at all. It was something to think about, that was for sure.
But for now, Kushiel was standing patiently and waiting for him, and Cass realized if they were going to walk to the coffee shop, it was best to head out now. He grabbed Kushiel’s hand and he led the way out of the house.
They were just stepping outside when he heard a throat clearing behind them, and they both stopped and looked back at Aunt Ro.
Oops.
She merely raised an eyebrow at them, obviously a bit miffed at being forgotten.
“Umm, well, I suppose you could come along if you’d like,” Cass invited.
“And who will watch your ghost?” she harrumphed.
“I don’t really think they need watching, Aunt, but if you’d rather stay here, feel free to do so. Or go do whatever ghostly things you do when you aren’t with me,” he responded drily, and then he shut the door behind them and led Kushiel down the walkway.
