Page 27

She shook it after only a second of hesitation. “Liliana. You don’t have an official leader?”

“We don’t. We don’t consider ourselves a clan but a family. Until recently, it was only me and five other mages, along with humans who also live here.”

Liliana’s eyes widened slightly. “Humans?”

Thorne wasn’t sure he liked her tone. He would give her the benefit of the doubt because he didn’t know her, but she seemed somewhere between surprised and slightly disgusted at the thought of humans living there.

Apparently, Jarvis had sensed the same because his jaw set. “Yes. Mostly, they’re staff members, but they’ve been with us for so long that we consider them family. This is their home as much as it is mine.”

He didn’t add, and you better behave, but Thorne was pretty sure that Liliana heard it anyway. There was a reason that everyone looked up to Jarvis, even though he disliked being clan leader. He had a natural authority, and he was smart enough to see through Liliana already.

She inclined her head. “Of course. We’re here to see my son.”

“You’re welcome to stay a few days.” Jarvis looked around. “We have space for everyone, luckily, although I would appreciate it if you could call ahead in the future.”

“We will. We just missed Samuel.”

“Understandable. He’s a very admirable person.”

Samuel blinked as if he hadn’t expected Jarvis to say that, but Thorne agreed. Samuel could easily light up a room. He was someone people felt drawn to, including Thorne, which Thorne could admit now was one of the reasons he’d been so hard on him. He hadn’t wanted to be drawn to Samuel.

It was too late for that.

He couldn’t help but notice the way Samuel had relaxed after Jarvis’s words. He turned away from his mother, focusing on the other people who’d come to visit him. From what Thorne understood, they were his siblings and his siblings’ partners, along with their children. All in all, it was a raucous bunch, and the castle would be very lively over the next few days. It wasn’t something most of them were used to, but it might not be a bad thing, either. If anything, it would do Jason good to have children his age around, even if only for a little while. Thorne knew that his father worried about that.

Since Thorne’s job was to keep everything in the castle under control, it was also his job to find rooms for everyone. He also had to talk to Jillian so she would know to cook for a small army instead of just the people who usually lived at the castle.

Luckily, Jillian didn’t seem to have a problem with that. As soon as Thorne explained what was going on, she pushed him out of her kitchen and went to work. That left Thorne talking to the cleaning crew and the other staff members. He didn’t really care about Samuel’s mother, but for some reason, he still wanted her to have a good impression of the castle and the people who lived and worked there.

Samuel belonged here at the castle. Thorne knew that, and he was sure that by the end of their visit, Samuel’s family would be able to see it, too. Furthermore, he didn’t think that Samuel actually cared what his family thought. He would stay because he wanted to. He wouldn’t allow them to push him around and convince him to move back. That was a good thing. Still, Samuel would want to maintain a relationship with his family, which meant they would come back. Thorne wasn’t sure he would look forward to that, but he had a job to do, and he was damn good at it.

* * * *

LIKE MOST OF THE MAGES and dragons, Matthias was drawn to the level of noise in the courtyard. He had no idea what to expect, although he initially thought that maybe they were under attack again. He wasn’t sure what he would do if that was the case, and he was relieved when he realized it wasn’t.

Although it might as well have been. A bunch of people he didn’t know had invaded the courtyard. They all gravitated around Samuel, who was animatedly talking to three of them, gesturing with his hands and pointing at things.

Since Matthias didn’t know what was going on, he shuffled closer to Penley, who looked so excited he might burst. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Penley beamed at him. “This is Samuel’s family. That’s his mother,” Penley said, tilting his chin toward a woman.

She wasn’t tall, but she didn’t need to be. She was imposing anyway, and Matthias was glad he didn’t have to go up there and talk to her.

Except that maybe one day, he would have to. He wasn’t going to think about that right now, or anytime soon. He still didn’t know what Thorne and Samuel might think if he ever told them how he felt. Hell, they might not want anything to do with the idea of the three of them being together.

That fear was one of the reasons he hadn’t said anything yet. He wasn’t ready for a rejection. He knew that wouldn’t stop him forever, and he was fine with that. For now, he would continue as things were. He liked getting to know the two men and watching them get to know each other.

Today had turned from normal and pretty boring to exciting. Matthias stayed as far away as he could from Samuel’s mother, but he took great pleasure in meeting the rest of Samuel’s family. Everyone seemed eager to get to know him, even though they didn’t know that he was important to Samuel. Maybe it was in the way Samuel introduced him, but Matthias couldn’t remember ever being hugged so many times as he had since he’d met Samuel’s family.

They somehow ended up in the living room. Food started circling around, no doubt thanks to Jillian, but Matthias couldn’t look away from Samuel and his family. Every single one of them was loud and brash. They were unapologetic about it, and Matthias better understood now why Samuel was the way he was. Of course he hadn’t cared about leaving his stuff around. Matthias highly doubted that anyone in his family did. They were all over each other, not caring about personal space, although thankfully, they didn’t do the same to Matthias and the other castle inhabitants. Matthias made sure to keep some distance between himself and some of Samuel’s clan, especially after Winter, who looked more excited than Samuel about their presence there.

“They’re something, aren’t they?” Thorne asked Matthias.

Matthias hadn’t heard him come closer, but he was glad that Thorne was there. “How long are they staying?”

“Just a few days. Jarvis was clear about that. I think that Samuel’s mother is here to try and convince him to find a mage, but from what I saw, he seems reluctant.”

Matthias blinked. He hadn’t thought about whether or not Samuel might want a mage. He was a dragon shifter, and every other dragon shifter in the castle had one. Matthias had been watching them all because how could he not? And part of him wanted that kind of relationship.