“Orrrr…” he continued. “Maybe the three of us could have dinner at Gran’s.”
My head popped up. “Really?”
He smiled sweetly. “Sure, why not? I don’t think she minds how much time I spend at your house since she’s free to be with my pops now, and I can see him, too. But wouldn’t it be nice to take a night off and just all be together? Since Ego doesn’t know anything about the paranormal, we won’t talk about the Dream-veil, or magic, or ghosts, or anything like that. We can just…”
“Be normal.” Excitement built in my chest. This was it. Why I felt like I had to cling to King anytime we weren’t working. Why I wanted as much of his attention during the daytime hours as I could. I finally understood why I was so worked up all the time, feeling like I needed more time with him.
Nothing in our lives felt…well, normal was the right word. A part of me worried that without all of theotherthat came with this paranormal world we’d magicked into, that we wouldn’t have a connection. And I wanted that with him more than anything. I wanted Skylar Reign and Kingston Porter to be in a relationship. Not just the Dreamwalker and his tether. I wanted it to be about more.
“You don’t mind?” I asked, not even trying to hide the hopefulness in my tone.
Holding me close, he pulled his phone out of his pocket, scrolled, then hit connect and put it to his ear. “Gran, we were thinking about asking Sky’s cousin to join us for dinner at our house. What do you think?”
He listened for a minute, then winked at me with a smile on his face. “Okay, we’ll probably have to go pick Ego up at the manor, but then we’ll see you soon.” He listened. “Love you, too.”
He shoved his phone back in his pocket. “All set.”
Sonny cleared his throat loudly. King grinned. “Call Ego, and I’ll finish up here.”
“Thank you,” I said softly, then kissed his cheek and stepped outside to call my cousin.
“Areyou sure it’s okay with your grandmother for me to come, too?” Ego asked as we got out of King’s vehicle.
“Of course,” he replied easily.
The two hadn’t had the best start, and they still hadn’t been able to spend too much time around each other since Ego generally didn’t get up until King had already left his fencing practice for work in the morning, and we didn’t always go to the manor for dinner. But they were getting more comfortable with each other.
I knew my cousin thought my man was odd after seeing him out at the pond a few times, looking like he was talking to himself instead of the ghosts who were hanging about. But for me, he was giving him a chance. And now that King knew Ego wasn’t just some famous diva popstar, but my cousin, he’d loosened up quite a bit. Was the cheap thrill I got that he’d been jealous bad? Oh well.
Upon entering their home, my eyes widened. Gran had done some redecorating since the last time I’d been here, and it was…awesome. But…I glanced surreptitiously at Ego. His gaze bounced all over the place like he was trying to take it all inat once, and I got it, because so was I. It looked different than when I last saw it. Transformed. There were candle sconces on the walls, vintage gold-framed portraits I hadn’t seen before and shelves with small jars with flowers sticking out of them and small crystal statues of goddesses.
“Shit,” King mumbled. “I thought she’d?—”
“Ego,” Gran said, appearing in the mouth of the doorway into the kitchen. “It’s so lovely for you to join us. Come in, come in.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Ego responded politely, trying his best to school his shocked expression into a semblance of civility.
If I’d thought the witchy entryway was a lot, it was nothing compared to the kitchen. There was a cabinet of small bottles that looked like potions hanging on the wall, and a black cat curled up in a chair. With the way it lifted its head, peered at us with disdain, then went back to sleep, I had a feeling that was Duchess, the normally golden feline.
But what really stood out more than anything was the steaming black cauldron on the counter. Okay.Wow.On any other day, I’d be completely geeking out over that, but today was not that day. What would Ego think? And if that wasn’t bad enough?—
“And who might this be?” Pops asked as he swung an arm over his wife’s shoulders.
Were theykiddingme? Sure, Pops looked completely solid right now, but fuck! He was a ghost! Had anyone ever told Ego that Gran was a widow?Omgosh. This could be bad. Really, really bad. I’d talked to Chance and Elyse, and they’d agreed that maybe it was time to let Ego in on our secrets—at least some of them—but this wasn’t what I’d had in mind. Even my invite for dinner had consisted of joining Gran for dinner—not a deceased member of our family.
Gran beamed up at her spirit-husband. “Lee, this is Ego, Sky’s cousin. They came for dinner.”
King managed to snap his mouth closed before me. He half-turned to Ego with a stiff smile. “Ego, meet my grandfather, Lee.”
Indeed, Ego looked distracted, like he was searching his memory banks for any mention of this Lee character. Which, he wouldn’t find because we’d never mentioned him because he was a ghost, for-fucks-sake.
“Ah…hello, sir. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you for allowing me to join your family for dinner.”
Lee chuckled, thankfully not holding his hand out to shake. Spirits like Lee, while able to hold their corporal form amazingly well, even their touch was remarkably solid, it still felt…different. Not quite real. Maybe that was because I knew when I was dealing with a ghost, so my mind told me it wasn’t the same, maybe not, but I didn’t want to take the chance that Ego would notice something was off.
“No need to thank us. Dinner’s on King and Sky tonight.”
King lifted his arms, dangling the bags that contained the makings for our meal. We’d stopped on the way to pick up Ego and grabbed a premade salad for us all to share, as well.Shit. Eating.What was Pops going to do? Excuse himself from the table before the meal? Sit with food in front of him and stare at us? This was a nightmare.
