Basil (The Brinnswick Chronicles #3) - Michele Notaro Page 0,2
to us. I was lucky enough to have Bonded with a dragon when I was pretty young, and Blaze was sweet yet fierce.
Stretching my arms over my head, I walked up the driveway to the big house on my coven’s land. When I was six, my parents and all the other adults in our coven were killed in a horrific attack. My older brother Ailin had only been sixteen at the time, but his full power had come in that night when he’d protected all the kids from certain death. There had been fifteen of us, not counting Ailin, and when the magical government had finally showed up—too late to actually help us—instead of letting them take us, Ailin had claimed the title of coven leader and taken responsibility for all fifteen of us. At only sixteen, he started raising us as his own.
In every sense of the word, Ailin was my father, but since he was technically my brother, I didn’t let him know my true feelings on the subject. It was my right as the little brother to be a shit, a right I took advantage of.
All of us still lived on coven land, though all of the original fifteen of us were in houses of our own around the property—it was a huge property so there was plenty of space. Many of my siblings—also not by blood but in every way that mattered—had found their viramores, so they lived on the land as well. Basically, my family was fucking huge.
The big house was where I grew up, where Ailin had moved all us kids after that fateful night. It was also where everyone gathered for meals several times a week. It was always open for any of us to come and go, and there was always food being cooked and served. My younger brother Tio was a chef, so he cooked for everyone a lot, and my older sister Opal did as well.
Ailin lived in the big house with his viramore Sebastian, and because my brother was actually insane, he and Seb adopted three kids a couple of years ago. As if he didn’t already have enough of us. So the five of them lived there, and everyone else came and went as they pleased.
All our homes were also made out of living trees. As in, Ailin used his earth magic to ask the trees to move and reform into functioning homes, and inside the homes, there were plenty of pieces of furniture also made from living trees. Growing up, I hadn’t realized what a big deal that was since it was normal to me, but after seeing the homes others lived in, I knew it was actually pretty awesome. I’d been told by some of our coven members that didn’t grow up here that our houses looked like they belonged in a fairytale. I’d have to agree.
My family was huge and crazy and everyone was always in everyone else’s business. It was annoying as fuck, but I couldn’t imagine living any other way, and I honestly wouldn’t want to. Not that I’d ever tell Ailin that.
“Hey, kiddo,” Ailin called over from the yard where he was watching his two-and-a-half-year-old Remi play in a little baby pool. “Tio’s almost done with dinner, are you staying?”
I shrugged as I made my way over to him, then plopped into a lawn chair and said, “Sure. I’m starving.”
“What did you do today?” he asked as he smiled at his son and gave Remi a little splash.
“Tracked a gnome wanted for murder and a whole list of other terrible shit.”
“Did you get him?”
“Yeah. Just dropped him at BCA Headquarters.”
“That’s good to hear.” He splashed the baby again, then eyed me. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. I ran into a hunter.”
“Okay…?”
“He was by himself, and apparently, hates witches.”
Ailin smirked at me. “You sure he didn’t just hate you on sight? With that scowl and that crazy hair, you look like a mean fucker.” He had no filter, even in the presence of a two-year-old.
I snorted. “Gee, thanks.”
He pushed my arm, then leaned down to tickle Remi’s belly for a minute. The little boy giggled like crazy, making me smile at him, before he moved away from his dad to catch his breath. Ailin was smiling so wide and bright it almost hurt to look at it.
As I put my hands on my head and stretched my legs out in front of me, he said, “I heard they found a dead witch