Page 92 of The Bone Man

“I don’t think so.” I park the van and press the button for the garage doors to close. “If they could track her, they would have gone for her sooner, right?”

Marceau shakes his head in frustration. “Lia’s ability suppresses magic. With Aediva’s chaos powers unstable, she might not have let the kid out of her influence until recently. She could have been unconsciously suppressing some kind of tracker on Aediva at the same time.”

“It’s possible.” I climb out of the van, and Marceau follows. “She should keep Aediva close, just in case. Once we deal with the other Bone Man, Berdherst’s need to reclaim her will vanish, so he should give up.”

“I can get behind destroying another of those monsters.” Marceau lifts his shotgun. “I far prefer blowing things up over babysitting.”

“You and me both.” I pause on the stairs. “Hopefully Flint returns home soon.”

Marceau chuckles. “I never thought I’d hear you say that.”

I glance up at the door that leads into the house. “Children…make me uncomfortable.”

“Me, too,” Marceau admits. “They’re fine in small doses, but I can’t say I love being around them the way Flint does. I just don’t know what to do with them.”

I reach out to place a hand on Marceau’s chest. “I don’t suppose I could take a nap through this ordeal?”

Snorting, he slaps my hand away. “No way. If I have to deal with this, so do you. We suffer together. That’s part of being a team.”

“I don’t know why webothhave to suffer,” I grumble as I turn and trudge the rest of the way up the stairs.

Marceau pokes me in the back. “You’re the one who wanted a corporeal body after the fight. I didn’t kick you out.”

“Maybe I was too hasty. You used a lot of fire during the battle.” The sound of children drifts through the door, and I pause with my hand on the knob to give Marceau my best beseeching gaze. “Please, can I just go back inside you until they fall asleep?”

“No way in hell.” Looking far too amused, he points at the door. “Get your corporeal ass in there.”

With a resigned sigh, I open the door and step into the warmth of the cabin.

The sound of children comes from the living room, and I glance longingly at Marceau’s room before his hand on my shoulder steers me in the opposite direction.

His body presses against mine, and his lips graze my ear as he whispers, “Just think of this as practice for when we bring home baby ignis demons.”

Warmth fills me at the words. “That’s not the same. Baby ignis are silent and will live in the fireplace.”

“Until they get a mind of their own and go wandering about, setting things on fire.” He squeezes my shoulder. “Human children have a fifty-percent lesser chance of burning our cabin down.”

“We can get a screen to keep them in the fireplace,” he protests. “It will be perfectly safe.”

We step out of the hall, and Merri looks up from the kitchen, where the soft clinks of mugs and the scent of hot chocolate fill the air. “What took you so long?”

“Just girding our loins,” Marceau drawls.

Trevor pops up out of nowhere, his gaze inquisitive. “What are loins?”

Star arrives right on his heels. “And what is girding?”

I step to the side and gesture to Marceau, who instigated all of this. “I shall leave you to answer while I attend to Merri in the kitchen.”

“Coward,” he hisses as I make my escape.

When I pass the living room, I peer in to see Aediva curled up under a blanket with Lia on the couch, and Alaska huddled far too close to the fire for comfort. But Lia doesn’t appear alarmed by the way he stares raptly at the flames, so I trust his caregiver and join Merri in the kitchen.

Steaming mugs line the counter in front of her, the rich aroma of cocoa mixing with the scent of burning wood to create a warm cocoon of safety within the cabin.

Merri glances up at me. “I was starting to think you guys planned to leave me here alone.”

“We would never.” I lean in closer and lower my voice. “Marceau had a thought about how these people could have found the new safe house.”

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