Belly of the Beast

Chapter 53

Vincent was right. We were given two hours of alone time before our post-coital glow was disrupted to appease our anxious family. Wren had filled everyone in on many of the details, but they all wanted to wish me a swift recovery. I wasn't going to tell them that my recovery would have been swifter if I'd had more than two hours of peace and quiet.

Lucy and Wren took over the kitchen to prepare baked ziti, which nobody in their right mind would refuse, and I found the attention of my doting family to have a calming effect as I sat at the counter with an iced coffee in my hand. The only family member not in attendance was Colin. Not because Vincent told him to stay away. It seemed Colin, Rizzo, and Adam were in the middle of a two-day bender, and nobody wanted to be around them.

"How did you kill the necromancer?" Griffin asked, her large brown eyes looking larger than usual. "Wren said you set him on fire."

"I only used fire after he was dead, just to make sure. Before that, I used my claws. But I really didn't have to do much. When the pyre was destroyed, he went with it."

"Are you sad the marks of Isis are gone? I thought the black streaks looked cool on you."

"Yeah, there were kind of cool, weren't they? I liked how the flames followed the path of the tattoos, too." I opened my palms, letting her see how the marks had faded to a gray smudge. "But I'd rather not keep them. They would just remind me of that lunatic."

"When will you remove the curse?" Amelia asked. She was sitting beside Jonathan, holding his hand. It made me grin every time I looked at them. "Wren said Glade would be making the potion."

"Yeah. Vincent gave her the recipe, but apparently the ingredients aren't things you'd find at the local market, like essence of lotus and seaweed extract. She said it might take a while to find everything on the list."

"So, you had to destroy all of Dmitry's demons, huh?" Charleton said. "I'm sure that was tough." As usual, his expression held equal amounts of sympathy and pride.

"Yes. It was especially hard to say goodbye to Titan's niece, Terra. She was the reason I was able to destroy Dmitry. She wrote a message in her own blood telling me I needed to destroy the labyrinth. He claimed it didn't hurt him, but I definitely think it weakened him."

"I hear Titan received quite a few injuries," Charleton went on. "Was he able to return home with you?"

"No. He decided to stay a while longer. The staff at the estate offered to take care of him while he recovered. It'll give them something to do before they have to leave. Although Vincent told them he would help them find jobs elsewhere."

I glanced at Vincent, who sat beside me nursing a brandy, and when he realized the attention had landed on him, he took advantage of it. "That's actually something I wanted to talk to everyone about. I spoke with the main caretaker of the estate, and it seems the property could be purchased for a reasonable price. I thought it might be a good investment. We could use it as a location for magister meetings and family getaways. It would also be a way for us to keep an eye on things, just in case. That is, if the domus sees it as a worthy venture."

"Really?" Wren wore a childlike smile as she walked around the kitchen counter with potholders covering her hands. "I must admit, I fell in love with the place. Of course, the maze is in ruins, but it wouldn't take long to get things growing again. We could turn it into an English garden." Her smile faltered as her gaze landed on me. "Of course, I would completely understand if returning there would be too painful for you, Reese. I imagine you have more than a few unpleasant memories tied to that place."

She wasn't wrong. If I never returned to Russia I wouldn't complain. But time had a funny way of dulling the pain of traumatic events, and the estate was beautiful. "Well, I'm not ready to host a party there any time soon, but I'd be open to the idea. We could have Glade do an exorcism first. And we would definitely need to hire someone to redecorate."