He met me on my side and took my hand, walking me toward the entrance.
“I used to think this house was massive,” he said, his walk slow. “It’s six bedrooms, over seven thousand square feet.”
“That’s a lot to heat. What changed?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Ivy House.”
“Well…yeah, but Ivy House comes with dolls and now gnomes, so…”
His hand stalled in reaching for the door handle. Instead, he slowly swung it to the side and pushed the doorbell instead.
“Things will start feeling normal again,” I said softly, wrapping an arm around his. “You’ll see.”
“We should’ve brought a cooler and some clam dip.”
My bark of laughter was entirely unintentional and very ill-timed, because Kingsley opened the door to a face full of my spit.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” I reached forward to do damage control, immediately tugged back by Austin. “Right, no touching. But seriously, I’m so sorry. He made a joke, and I didn’t expect it, and…”
Kingsley stared at me as he wiped his hand across his cheek. “Yes, I can see how a joke of his might catch you by surprise.”
“Sorry.” I curled my lips under in an effort to rein myself in, but his reaction was just so comical
—and it felt so good to laugh after all the tension Austin and I had both been feeling—that I devolved into a fit of giggles. “Sorry!” Now I laughed harder because I couldn’t stop, holding my stomach and bending over. “Oh my God, what a freaking life we’ve landed in, huh?” I let a few more chuckles pop out. “Phew.” I wiped under my eye to dislodge a tear of glee. “So, anyway, what’s for dinner?”
“Hopefully whatever drugs you took.” Kingsley stepped back from the door. “Welcome. I think.”
“Nice car, jackass.” Austin lightly punched Kingsley as we passed him, entering the house. “I can’t believe you didn’t find one with an eight-track.”
“Like that? I figured as your mate keeps you flush with the sports cars, I would get you a Common Dick vehicle. The cassette deck was an added bonus.”
Austin curled his arm around me, bracing it on my hip and pulling me in close. Kingsley looked between the two of us for a moment, and I worried he’d mention what had happened earlier.
“Do you need a tour, or can we just skip to the food?” he asked, his face still deadpan and his tone droll, as though having dinner parties was like pulling teeth.
This time I tried to get a hand up to stop the spit flying at him, the laughter taking over again.
“Maybe…I should…step…outside,” I said through giggles, wiping the other eye now.
“Jesus.” Kingsley shook his head and walked into the house.
My laughter turned to wheezing as I tried to keep it in. Austin just waited patiently, a crooked smile on his face.
“Sorry,” I whispered, really trying to get myself under control. “Sorry.” I straightened up and cleared my throat. “Okay, I think I have it all out now. Hopefully they are in the other part of the house and couldn’t hear me.”
Of course, I wasn’t that lucky—we’d just walked into a cavernous area that held a family room, an open kitchen, and a glass dining table across from huge picture windows. The floors were all
beautifully polished wood, with echoing rooms and an abundance of open space, nothing to really catch sound.
“Oh no,” I whispered as Austin walked us toward the kitchen, crowded with people looking our way. I cleared my throat again, the fit of humor now a distant memory.
“Hello!” A woman about my height walked forward without a smile. She had deeply bronzed skin with high, rounded cheekbones and lush red lips. Straight black hair fell to her lower back, and a sleek red dress was cinched around her waist. Her deep brown eyes held a hint of wariness, and her posture tensed up a bit when she zeroed in on Austin, but she was no less stunning because of it.
“Welcome! It’s been so long.”
She stopped about three feet away, usually the distance a person would put out their arms for a hug.
“Earnessa, hello. Thank you for having us,” Austin said formally.
Neither of them moved toward each other, and I remembered Kingsley asking Austin’s permission to hug me once.
“Oh.” I pointed my finger between them. “You guys can hug if you want. Or high-five, or whatever you want to do. I don’t mind.” They didn’t move any closer. “Or just stare awkwardly, I don’t know.
Whatever you think is best.”
All movement stopped. Eyes came my way, and the silence rang in my ears.
My mouth fell open at what I’d just nervously babbled. I didn’t know how to backtrack, though.
This time I didn’t have Mr. Tom’s weirdness, or Niamh’s crass outbursts, or Edgar’s creepiness to break my fall. I was the odd one out in this room.
“Never mind,” I mumbled. Earnessa now studied me quietly.
“Earnessa, everyone,” Austin said, “may I introduce my mate, Jessie Ironheart, co-creator and co-leader of the Dusky Ridge Convocation, mistress of Ivy House, and the only female gargoyle in existence. Jess, meet Earnessa, mate of the Gossamer Falls pack alpha of the Barazza line.”
“Hello,” I said warmly despite the cool way she continued to study me. I gingerly lifted my hand, seeing if she’d go for the handshake.
“Jessie, welcome.” She didn’t reach forward, so I dropped my hand immediately. “It’s good to have you. Please, let me introduce you around.”
She gestured. I expected Austin to release me so that I could walk wherever she wanted to stick me. Instead, he stepped forward with me, his hold around me tight, keeping me firmly pressed to his side.
We stopped in front of an older woman who had Kingsley’s look about her, with a square face and somewhat rounded nose. What once might’ve been sandy-blonde hair was now light gray, cut just below her chin. Her bearing was regal and her style of dress was similar to Mimi, elegant with flowing silks in pastels.
“Please meet Denise, the former alpha of the Gossamer Falls pack and mother to the current alpha.”
I smiled even though no one else in this house did. It was supposed to be allowed among family.
“It’s really great to meet you,” I said, bowing stupidly without meaning to. I clasped my hands tightly in front of me to prevent myself from forcing a hug or trying to initiate that high five I’d mentioned earlier.
“Hello, Jessie,” Denise said, her voice warm even though it didn’t reach her eyes. “You were a past Jane, is that correct?”
Austin just barely tensed.
“Yes,” I said without reservation. It wasn’t something I considered embarrassing, even if her intention had been to shame me. It was who I was. “A magical house chose me to be its heir, a mage manipulated me into taking the house’s magic, and I learned to fly by being tossed off cliffs. It’s been a really wild year. I’ve forgotten what normal looks like, hence…you know.” I gestured at myself.
“The way I began this dinner party.”