Darius checked out the kitchen then disappeared through another door that presumably led to the bathroom. “Rudimentary,” he said.
Penny and Emery poked their heads in. “I guess we’ll be sharing,” Emery said. “There’s just one place with a solo living space, and the older dual-mages have claimed it. There isn’t enough room for everyone to have their own spot.”
“It’s not much smaller than that cottage in Ireland, remember?” I put my hands behind my head.
Penny stood in front of me for a moment and stared.
“What?” I asked.
“You don’t care that they were rude to you?”
“Who was? The welcome chick?” Penny continued to stare. I took that as a yes and shrugged. “A lot of people are rude to me. In fact, most people are rude to me. Have you met Moss? That guy still hasn’t warmed up. I’d be wary if she were too nice.”
“And this…” Penny held out her hands. “This is cool?”
I frowned at her. “What’s with you? You hangry?” I let a smile slowly drift up my cheeks. “Oh, I get it. You’re worried that, with a place this small, you won’t be able to help yourself from barging into my room at suspiciously inopportune moments.”
She rolled her eyes and headed to one of the bedrooms.
“I’m on to you, dirty girl. I’ve got your number,” I called after her.
“These are much nicer than the last…bungalows that were here,” Emery said, taking a chair from the table and placing it by the square window. He settled in and looked out.
“What happened to those?” I asked.
“Charity blew them up. I’d tell you the story of why, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise. We’ll just say the welcome chick was nothing compared to the others around here, and your patience is a lot shallower than the shifters’.”
Fourteen
Charity left her new bedroom the next morning with trepidation swimming in her gut. Given she had an accepted place in the leadership of these people, they’d moved her from a temporary house, which was large, to a house near her father, which was too large. What was she going to do with five bedrooms, two living rooms, and a library? Especially because these people were getting ready to move out of here.
She hoped.
Butterflies filled her belly as she forced herself into the living room, where her father waited. Kairi, Hallen, and Devon stood outside, allowing for a little privacy. Charity and her dad needed to discuss family business.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Romulus asked with a smile, sitting on the flowered couch that wasn’t exactly to her taste. Or maybe she was just used to all of Devon’s leather.
“Yes, thank you.”
“And your new accommodations, they suit you?”
She didn’t voice her complaints. They wouldn’t do any good. Though she did want to mention one thing that she hadn’t gotten a chance to last night.
“Mine were fine, yes, but the guest quarters…”
He held up a hand as she sat. “Yes. I know your displeasure. We will amend that issue. It seems Mother didn’t quite understand your…critique as to the original problem with the accommodations. I assure you, I understand completely, especially after Roger was so hospitable to us. I will speak to her.”
It wouldn’t do any good; Charity knew that in her bones. Her grandmama was kind and pleasant to those she deemed worthy, which was her people. That was about where it stopped. Charity didn’t think the older woman would change her ways, not after all these years.
Which led the conversation to the sticky future.
Romulus bowed his head, as he’d clearly read her thoughts, advertised through the positioning and movements of her body.
“You don’t think she can be brought around,” he said.
She turned up her palms and shrugged, letting down her defenses in his company—she didn’t have to try so hard to fit in to the ways of the people with him. “I don’t know her that well. Or that long, you know? I don’t know what she will or won’t do. But she had an opportunity to change, and she didn’t. Yeah, the…accommodations are a little bigger, and the beds are at least actual beds, but that’s it. She didn’t make an effort. Not a real one. She clearly thought a sort of patch would help. So that makes me wonder how willing she will be to do all that obviously needs to be done in the Realm. Can you talk her around?”
Romulus entwined his fingers. “The honest answer is that I don’t know. She has a good heart. She wants the best for her people. In time, I am sure we could convince her that the best place for us is among the people of the Realm. It is with the shifters, who are our counterparts in every way.”
“In time…”
He tilted his head slightly, approving of her picking up on that little nuance.