Page 3 of Harbinger
“I think my daughter’s lost her heart to you,” Bostrof grumbled.
“Your kid fell in love with a chocolate pie last week,” Cassius observed wryly. “It was a clown a few days before that. This too shall pass, I’m sure.”
Lilaia brightened. “She could do worse. Cassius is Queen Nephele’s grandson after all.”
Cassius and Bostrof observed the Nymph’s zealous expression with a trace of shared unease. Lilaia’s esteem for Cassius had only grown stronger since she’d discovered his identity as a prince of Rain Vale before he’d inherited the title of Awakener and North Star.
“Phebei’s too young for him,” Bostrof protested with the look of a demon engaging in a battle with a foregone conclusion.
“That hardly matters when it comes to our kind, husband.” Lilaia arched an eyebrow. “Besides, may I remind you of our age gap?”
Bostrof flinched. Lilaia flashed him a saccharine smile and went inside the apartment.
Phebei waved her unicorn forlornly at Cassius over her mother’s shoulder. “Aboo.”
Cassius stared from the departing Nymph to a pink-faced Bostrof. “Wait. She’s younger than you?”
“It’s the other way around, actually,” Bostrof admitted grudgingly. “And it’s only a difference of a few hundred years.”
Cassius masked a smile at the Lucifugous’s defensive tone.
The elevator doors whooshed open to his right. Francis Strickland stepped out. Cassius’s gaze dropped to the Argonaut director’s hands.
The mage was holding a bouquet of flowers and a black bag bearing the gold logo of the most expensive chocolate boutique in San Francisco.
“I didn’t know what to get for a Nymph’s baby shower,” Strickland said awkwardly.
Cassius swallowed a grin.
“Is there any alcohol in there?” Bostrof asked in a hopeful voice as they headed inside the apartment.
He indicated Strickland’s gifts.
“Or course not. It’s a baby shower.” The Argonaut director grimaced at Bostrof’s crestfallen face. “I see the joys of fatherhood are sinking in.” He froze when he entered the living room. “What happened to your ceiling?”
2
Morgan stiffenedwhere he was putting out party food and drinks.
Cassius sighed. “Loki and Morgan had a fight, the imp transformed into his Gargantua form, and, well, you can guess the rest.”
“Want me and Suzie to fix it?” Julia asked drily.
Cassius brightened. “If you wouldn’t mind.”
Loki emerged from the bedroom just as the Terrene angel and the witch finished repairing the damaged plaster. Seeing how attached he was to Lilaia and her baby, the imp couldn’t resist coming out to greet them. Happy purrs rumbled from his chest as he allowed Phebei to pick him up.
“Watch she doesn’t squeeze you too hard,” Bostrof warned the demon cat.
Loki gave the Lucifugous a puzzled look. His eyes bulged when Phebei’s chubby arms suddenly tightened around him.
“Not so strong, sweetie,” Lilaia rebuked.
Phebei pursed her lips and loosened her hold on the wheezing imp. She brightened, grabbed a fish cake from her mother’s plate, and fed it to Loki with a determined “Ba.”
Bostrof observed his daughter with a thoughtful expression. “I wonder if she could lift a ten-pound dumbbell.”
Lilaia accepted a drink from Adrianne and cut her eyes to her husband. “We’re not putting our one-month-old daughter in your gym to test out that idiotic theory.”
