Veritas. You, Ashael, and any other member of your family are always welcome here.”
If she knew our father was the very embodiment of death, she’d leave that last part out, my other half thought.
I stifled a laugh. Was my other half developing a sense of humor? Or were we merging more into each other than I’d realized? Whichever it was, I was glad of it.
“Thank you, Denise,” Ian said. “Now, let’s get the rest of our extended family here so we can fight against two power-hungry gods and an arsehole with wings.”
“Here’s a bonus to having a demon as an honorary member of your family,” Ashael said, releasing Spade’s hand. “Tell me where they are, and I’ll have them here in five minutes.”
Chapter 23
It might have taken Ashael only his promised five minutes, but Ian had had to argue with Bones and Cat over the phone for nearly half an hour before they agreed to let a demon bring them here. At least Mencheres had required far less persuading. Ian had only to tell his vampire sire that he was back before Mencheres demanded to see him, brushing off demon teleportation as inconsequential. When Ashael returned from his first round of guest-fetching, he didn’t have only Cat and Bones with him.
“Silver!” I said in delight, vaulting toward the Simargl.
Silver saw me and burst from my brother’s grip. Then, I was blinded by light gray feathers as Silver flew around my head with so much excitement that I couldn’t catch him. When I finally did, I hugged and kissed him while Silver let out a series of loud, happy yips.
“Guess we know where we rank,” I heard Cat drawl. “Hugs and kisses for Silver, but not even a hello for us.”
I supposed that was a bit rude of me, especially since she and Bones had taken care of Silver these past months.
“Sorry. I’m happy that both of you are here, too, of course,” I said, finally letting go of Silver.
He immediately resumed flying around my head, turning everything I saw into streaks of gray. Then, Silver must have finally realized that Ian was here, too, because he left me to fly in happy dips and whirls around him.
I smiled at that before returning my attention to Cat and Bones, since I could now finally see them.
“Your hair looks much better,” I said to Cat before I could stop myself. Then, I fought a groan. Thank you, heightened emotional state, for ruining my verbal filter once again.
Cat snorted. “I know, right? That other shade should’ve been called ‘weaponized drab.’”
It really should have. Now, her naturally crimson hair was dyed a pretty cinnamon shade that set off her alabaster skin. Bones had changed his hair as well. The former ash blond was gone, replaced by a shade of mocha so dark, it matched his eyes. Next to that, his cream-colored skin almost glowed.
“Good to see you two as well,” Bones said, looking more at Ian than me. “We were very concerned.”
Ian gave Silver a final pat before going over to Bones. “I know you have questions, mate, but let’s wait until Mencheres gets here. Then, I won’t have to repeat myself.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” Ashael said, and vanished.
Cat hugged Ian, wrinkling her nose when she let him go. “Why do you smell like you were wrestling with a wet buffalo?”
“Minotaur fight,” Ian replied. “Haven’t had a chance to bathe since then.”
It felt like forever since he’d battled Naxos, but yes, he had gone right from that duel to lying in stasis to here, so Naxos’s scent would still be all over his body. I must have gone nose blind to it.
Cat touched the back of Ian’s head. “A Minotaur? Is that what caused the weird-looking dried blood trail on the back of your head?”
Ian casually batted Cat’s hand away. “Don’t fuss over me, Reaper. We have much bigger concerns than my appearance.”
Cat could be forgiven for mistaking the new scar on his head and neck as a dried blood trail. If Ashael hadn’t redressed Ian in a new tunic while he was in stasis, she’d have seen his other scar, too. I hadn’t forgotten about Ian’s inexplicable new scars, and I intended to drag the truth out of him about them as soon as we were alone.
But that wasn’t now, especially since Ashael returned with a whoosh of shadows. Mencheres was on his arm, and the former pharaoh’s power punched the room with a shockwave of energy; the only outward indication that Mencheres