would be a terrible hypocrite if I didn’t forgive you. I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have when I was under the thrall of that mermaid on Lagoon world.”
“You weren’t under thrall. You were on mushrooms.” Rhys rolled his eyes. “And I know you didn’t know they were psychedelic, but neither did I, and I didn’t end up in a mermaid orgy. Fen didn’t either. Evan was smart enough to hate mushrooms and refuse to eat them.”
“I don’t want to know what happened, do I?” It seemed to me my children had too many adventures.
“Only with Lee,” Rhys replied. “I merely sat in a forest and talked to what I firmly believed at the time was Papa Smurf. He was every bit as wise as one would think. And all Fen wanted was endless belly rubs. He immediately changed to wolf form and spent hours doing that thing where he rubs his back on the floors and his legs flail. He drooled a lot. Lee was the only one who ended up servicing horny mermaids.”
“Ah, yes. I remember a day I spent in a mermaid grotto,” Dev began.
I pointed a finger his way. “No. Absolutely not. This is not going to degrade into a session where you and my son, who was eleven a few days ago, do a top-ten list of supernatural creatures you’ve fucked.”
“It’s way more than ten.” Lee’s mouth shut suddenly and then he grimaced. “Sorry, Mom. So back to the subject. Rhys did a little magic today.”
“Off the charts magic that was felt all the way in Germany,” Danny corrected.
Lee gave his brother a thumbs-up, seemingly happy to get the attention off himself. “I always said you would explode someday.”
“I did not explode,” Rhys argued. “I merely unleashed a bit of my power.”
“He grew flowers all around Shy. It was disgustingly romantic,” Lee said, his nose wrinkling. “Did you even think about it? Like now she’s going to expect that all the time. She’ll want an orange and you’ll have to grow an orange tree for her. You need to learn to lower their expectations, brother. None of my women expect anything from me but an orgasm.”
“Lee!” He had to remember his mother was in the room.
“It’s because you don’t have anything to give them but an orgasm.” Rhys completely ignored me. “All of the blood in your body is constantly in your dick.”
“Boys, can we argue about Lee’s private life another time?” Danny asked. “Though you should know we’re having a long talk, son. A long talk.”
Lee frowned. “I’m not going to like this talk, am I? I would like to point out that I was denied maternal affection at a time when it was so important. Can I be blamed for seeking out love and care?”
I pointed my baby boy’s way. “Don’t you blame that on me. Your brother is practically a saint and he missed me, too. You will not blame your degenerate ways on me.”
“I did get a big dose of Papa’s DNA,” Lee attempted.
“Lee,” Dev began.
Lee stood and straightened his shirt, his chin coming up. “Well, I can see Rhys is now the golden child simply because he can make the seasons change. I shall go and check on supper. I can still do that.”
I reached up and gripped his wrist with my free hand. “Will you check on Dean?”
His lips kicked up in a grin that let me know he was utterly unaffected by the events of the day. “That’s what I was going to do. He was doing great earlier. I’m going to call him the Curse Eater from now on.”
“I need you to ask him a couple of questions, but I want you to do it without making a big deal out of it.”
“You want me to gather intel. I’m good at that,” Lee promised.
“He actually is,” Rhys acknowledged. “No one suspects he has any ulterior motives. Not when he acts like a moron most of the time. It’s an effective tactic.”
Lee shrugged that off. “My sunny nature puts people at ease. People want to talk to you when you’re not a morose bastard all the time.”
“I’m worried he got that from me,” Danny said under his breath.
I was absolutely certain he’d gotten that from Danny, but I wasn’t going to point that out. “Ask Dean what he knows about his father. I don’t think it’s much, but if anyone can get something more out of him, it’s you.”
“Done,” Lee vowed. “Trust me. I can talk