Page 27 of House of Kallan
I laughed.
“I’m not actually a messy cook, though. I hate cooking in a mess, so I generally clean as I go. There’s just the dishes we use to eat and whatever the food was in. Besides, we have two dishwashers.” He shrugged.
“I love your relationships,” I said.
His smile turned soft. “Me too. There was a time that I didn’t believe families like this existed. Not the polyamorous part, but the friendship and love, you know? That those involved actually liked each other.”
I nodded, though I didn’t actually know. This was the kind of family I grew up in, as most monsters did.
Hadrian stepped back into the dining room. “Would you care to take a walk around the garden?” he asked.
“I’d love to,” I said as I got to my feet.
Aden followed. Hadrian smiled at us and I fucking swooned as he turned back. Aden leaned in. “I promise, he’s not always so formal.”
“He’s going to hear you,” I whispered.
His smile turned sly. “Good. Maybe I really do want a spanking tonight.”
Those are the words that met everyone else as we joined them in the kitchen. Hadrian shook his head, his dark gaze locked on Aden, who had adopted an innocent expression.
Instead of addressing it, Hadrian opened the sliders and gestured for everyone to go out. They waited until I stepped outside to follow and somehow fell into step behind me, leaving Aden at my side.
He gave me another bemused look. “See? This will be normal for a while. Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said. “You’re good company.”
His smile made me smile. Aden offered me his hand, and I placed mine in his. “So,” he said. “What species are you? I can tell you’re divine because you kind of glow like the rest of them do.”
I glanced back to find everyone lingering a few paces behind us, following at a distance. The angelic glow wasn’t something I tended to notice, but then, I’ve been seeing it my entire life. Aden wasn’t wrong. Except Hawthorn, they were all angels of some kind. And yes, they all glowed.
“I’m a virtue,” I said, glancing down at my hand. I didn’t even notice my glow anymore.
“Is that an archangel or an angel?”
“Archangel.”
“What’s your power?” he asked.
I laughed because it reminded me of superheroes and villains. “I can change my appearance at will, and I can also transferailments from one body to another. For example, the woman that Toby handed me who was practically dead from being torn apart by her unborn child?” Aden grimaced, a shiver going through him. “I transferred all of that to one of the Silence operatives that Tyrus had bundled up in the shadows. He suffered her death while she healed.”
Aden looked at me with wide eyes. “That’s an option?”
“Yep. When there’s a virtue around, willing to be the conduit.”
He sighed. “You guys have all the cool things.”
“Yes, and no. There aren’t many archangels left in the world since Silence decided we’re too powerful a species to live. We’ve grown up hunted, always looking over our shoulder.”
Aden nodded. “In a strange way, I completely understand that.”
I looked at him. At first, I thought it was just the knowledge that Silence was now hunting humans too, but no. The dark expression in his eyes said something else entirely made him understand.
Deciding it was time to change the subject, I turned my attention to the backyard. “This is stunning,” I said. We were following a light stone pebbled path that wove through beautiful trees and flower beds filled with exotic flowers. There were little pockets with seating, a table, a hammock, and a little pool filled with bright fish.
“Thanks,” he said. “I don’t like to be bored so I tend to find hobbies that keep me entertained for a while.”
“You do the gardening too?” I asked. “There aren’t enough hours in the day for all your hobbies.”
