"I am... No'One," came the reply. "I am No'One--"
A shrill whistle whipped everybody's heads around to the door. John was standing just inside the room, his sister the queen by his side, a small red bag with MARCUS REINHARDT JEWELERS, EST. 1893 written on it in his hand.
John clearly hadn't gone for a workout. He'd gone with Beth into the human world... to pick out a mating ring.
Xhex looked around at the assembled and saw the tableau they all made: Tohrment by the LV trunk, John and Beth in the doorway, No'One by the bed.
She would remember this moment all the days of her life. And though there were more questions in her mind than answers, she found the strength in her own soul to voice a reply to John's mute question about who her mystery guest was.
And actually, it was because of him she was able to answer at all: Always look forward. There was much in the past that was best left in the annals of history. Here in this room, with these people, she needed to look forward.
Clearing her throat, she said loudly and clearly, "John... this is my mother. And she shall stand for me at our mating."
John seemed utterly nonplussed--but he got over it quickly. Like a perfect gentlemale, he approached No'One and bowed at the waist. After he signed, Xhex translated hoarsely.
"He said he is grateful for your presence on this night and that you are e'er welcome within our home."
No'One put her hands over her face, clearly overcome with emotion. "Thank... you. Thank you."
Xhex wasn't a hugger, but she was damned good at holding people up, and she clasped her mother's terribly thin arm so the poor thing didn't go down onto the carpet.
"It's okay," she told John, who was obviously freaking about having upset the female. "Wait--don't look over there, you can't see my gown."
John froze with his eyes halfway across the room. Gown, he mouthed.
Yeah, hard to know what the biggest shocker was: her mother showing up for the first time in three hundred years. Or the fact that, yes, it appeared she was jacking her ass into a mating gown.
You never knew where life was going to take you, did you.
And sometimes, the surprises were not bad, not bad at all.
One... John.
Two... a gown.
Three... her mother.
Tonight was a good night, a very good night, indeed.
"Here, we'll go down the hall," she said, heading over and shutting the dress in. "I've got to get dressed... don't want to be late for my very own mating."
As she hustled the wardrobe out of the room, turning down help from the males, she asked No'One and Beth to come with her. After all, when it came to her mother and John's sister, they all needed to start getting acquainted... and what better way than to get her well and properly dressed for her future hellren.
For her male of worth.
For the love of her life.
Tonight was actually the very best thing that had ever happened to her.
Chapter Seventy-four
John Matthew was forced to stand aside and watch his shellan heft a trunk the size of a Chevy off down the hall with his sister... and her mother?
He was thrilled about the latter two females; not so much about the former deadweight. But he knew better than to play he-man with the muscles. If Xhex needed his help, she'd ask for it.
And what do you know, she was strong enough to do it all by herself.
Right, for reals... that was hot--he wasn't going to lie.
"Have you got your duds?" Tohrment asked gruffly.
As John glanced over at the guy, it was clear the Brother had just been rocked to his core. He was absolutely reeling in his shitkickers. Except, given the hard line of his brow and his jaw, he was not going to go into it.
Ah... I don't know what I'm wearing, John signed. A tuxedo?
"No, I'll go get you what you need. Hold on."
Bam--the door was shut.
John looked around his room, and when he saw the closet, that clown smile he seemed to wear all the time came back. Walking over, he put the little red bag he'd gotten at the jewelers on the bureau and paused to admire the display of their coupledom.
Oh, man... she'd moved in. She'd really moved in. Her clothes and his were hanging together.
Reaching out, he touched her leathers and her muscle shirts and her holsters... and felt his flush of pride and happiness dim a little. She was going to fight in the war. Side by side with him and the Brothers. The Old Laws might have expressly forbidden it, but the Blind King had already proven he wasn't a slave to the ancient ways--and Xhex had already proven she could more than handle herself in the field.
John headed for the bed and sat down. He wasn't sure how he felt about her out in the night with the slayers.
Okay. Fuck that. He knew exactly how he felt about it.
Wasn't going to tell her not to go out there, though. She was who she was and he was mating with a fighter.
Just as she was.
His eyes shifted to the bedside table. Leaning over, he popped open the top drawer and took out his father's diary. Smoothing his hand down the supple leather, he felt history slide out of the intellectual and into the actual. Long, long ago another's hands had held this book and written on its pages... and then through a series of accidents and luck the journal had come down through the nights and days to John.
For some reason, on this evening, his tie to his father Darius seemed strong enough to best the foggy ether of time and pull the two of them together, uniting them until... God, it seemed as if they were almost one person.
Because he knew his father would have been thrilled with this. Knew surely as if the guy were seated next to him on this bed.
Darius would have wanted him and Xhex to end up together. Why? Who knew... but that was a truth as real as the vows he would soon be taking.
John reached forward for the drawer again, and this time, he took out the small old box. Lifting the lid, he stared down at the heavy gold signet ring. The damn thing was huge and sized to fit a warrior's hand, its surface glowing through the fine network of scratches that covered the crest and the sides.
It fit the forefinger on his right hand perfectly.
And he abruptly decided he wasn't taking it off again even when fighting.
"He would have so approved of this."
John's eyes flashed up. Tohr had come back and brought a bunch of black silk with him--as well as Lassiter. Standing behind the guy, the fallen angel's light spilled in all directions, as if a sunrise had happened out in the hall.
You know, for some reason I think you're right, John signed.
"I know I'm right." The Brother came forward and sat down on the bed. "He knew her."
Who?
"He knew Xhex. He was there when she was born, when her mother..." There was a long pause, as if Tohr had had his brain scrambled and the sloshing hadn't quite quieted down yet. "When her mother died, he took Xhex to a family who could care for her. He loved that young--and so did I. That was why he called her Xhexania. He watched her from afar--"
The epileptic attack came on so suddenly, John didn't have time to try to fight the seizure--one moment he was sitting upright listening to Tohr; the next he was down on the floor doing the not-this-again jitterbug.
When his synapses finally stopped snap-crackle-popping, and his flopping limbs fell still, his breath heaved in and out of his mouth. To his relief, Tohr was right over him, crouching down.
"How you doing?" the guy asked tightly.
John shoved against the floor and sat upright. Rubbing his face, he was glad to find his eyesight still worked. Never thought he'd be glad to get a clear picture of Lassiter's mug.
Struggling for control of his hands, he managed to sign, Feel like I've been in a blender.
The fallen angel nodded gravely. "And you look it, too."
Tohr shot the guy a glare, then refocused on John. "Don't mind him, he's blind."
"No, I'm not."
"In another minute and a half, you're going to be." Tohr hitched a hold on John's biceps and dragged him back onto the bed. "You want a drink?"
"Or maybe a new brain?" Lassiter offered.
Tohr leaned in. "As a public service, I'll make him mute, too, 'kay?"
You are such a giver.
There was a long pause and then John signed, My father knew her?
"Yes."
You did, too, didn't you.
"Yes."
In the silence that followed, John decided that some things were best just left at their definition. And this was one of them, given the Brother's tight expression.
"I'm glad you're wearing his ring," Tohr said abruptly as he got to his feet. "Especially on a night like tonight."