Page 78 of Cathmoir's Sons

I twist to look at Law. “I never noticed a crown.”

He shakes his head.

Jou shrugs. “Maybe it’s still manifestin’, but I could see it.”

“Do I have a crown?” I ask Jou.

Jou snorts. “You got twenty-foot, electric blue crow wings flappin’ around you. You don’t need a crown.”

I grin over my shoulder at Law again. “Mine’s bigger.”

He huffs but he’s grinning.

The twins tear back into the room, carrying armfuls of stuffed animals. A few are recognizably cats. A few might havebeen before they met the Terrors. Others bear no resemblance to cats. I see Pokémon, dinosaurs, puppies, and something that might have been a flamingo draped over Nor’s shoulder.

The menagerie gets dumped at our feet. Then the Twins each pick up a stuffie and gravely introduce them to Law. Purring, he greets each one and admires it appropriately before handing it back.

We all struggle not to laugh as we watch the big, bad Cait warrior meet “Mubble,” “Feffer,” “Peppa,” and “Whumpy.”

“Getting’ back on track,” Teddy says, the corners of her mouth twitching. “If you’re not gonna turn in your tenure project on time, it’s better to get ahead of it. Ask for a year’s sabbatical or sommat.”

I take Feffer when Gal offers me a floppy pile of brown fur. “I’m not confident I’ll be at Bevington in a year. Remember Rowan Wright?”

Teddy grimaces. “Plonker.”

“Plonker with incriminating photographs of me and Law.”

Teddy tugs at her lower lip as she does when she’s puzzling over a problem. “Could he be convinced not to show them to anyone?” she asks.

“Sure, if I give up my teaching position, give him credit for the Magi of the Mists, and stay out of the search for Ulune’s Daughter. Oh, and he’ll probably want a b.j. or two?—”

Law growls. Alarmed at the effect his growl might have on the twins, I glance down. They’re both looking up at Law with wide eyes. I expect at least one of them to cry. Instead, Gal turns to Nor and tries to imitate Law’s growl while shaking a shapeless, blue stuffed animal at her twin.

Law buries his chuckle in my shoulder.

“Right,” says Teddy. “Serious plonker. Any reason we can’t just lure him into Faery and off him?”

Law chuffs. “I suggested the Quaking Bogs already and was told I was being excessively bloodthirsty.”

Teddy levels a finger at me.

“There’s no such thing as excessive bloodthirstiness in academia. You should know that. All’s fair in love, war, and tenure applications. Look, you can’t let him control the narrative. That’s career suicide. If you’re seriously abandoning tenure track, I’m not gonna try to talk you out of it. Carrie clearly wanted you to go after Ulune’s Daughter or she wouldn’t have thrown down the gauntlet at her funeral. You’re one of the very few who has a chance of recovering whatever it is Carrie was protecting. If you can’t do that and tenure, I support your choice a thousand percent. But that’s no reason to burn your career. We get ahead of this thing. I’ve got an idea for how to deal with your teaching position while you take a sabbatical to go treasure hunting, but first you gotta weather the storm of going public with your relationships. It’s gonna end up in front of Academic Standards, so you have to get Emilia on your side. Go to her straight away. Offer her a package deal. Somethin’ so good she won’t turn it down no matter how pissed she is at you for creatin’ another scandal.”

I nod. “Ulune’s Daughter—whatever it ends up being—for Bevington’s museum. That’s unquestionable.”

“Good,” says Teddy, rubbing her hands together. “Charlie, how d’you feel about coaching the Swingers again, love?”

Her husband grunts. “As long as I get to lobby the Aedis Astrum while we’re there.”

“Go for it, big boy,” Teddy says. She pats her husband’s knee. “Better tell Dar and the King of Garlic. They’ll want to buy a new house or sommat.”

I glance from Teddy to her husband and back. “A new house?”

Teddy sits forward so Charlie can climb out from behind her. “Aye. Unless you fancy us livin’ upstairs from you?”

I don’t. I also don’t quite understand what’s going on.

“Let me offer you Cait House as temporary accommodation,” Law says smoothly. “My parents built for a large family but after complications with my younger sister’s birth, they stopped at three. We have an absurd number of guest rooms and my parents would be delighted to have little ones underfoot again.”

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