Mated in the Stars (Starscale Mates #6)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Elio

After we ate, I took the kids and left Fred and Nelum to do what they needed to. They both needed closure on Lotus’s life, and I figured that was best done in private. Besides, I wanted to check on Sequin. Daliah was locked in her bedroom with Rosemary, but Sequin was dismantling the new living room décor when I arrived. To his credit, he wasn’t tossing everything into boxes like a brute. He took his time wrapping up each piece and carefully packing it away for his sister and her mate.

“Come to tell me I’m an ass too?” he asked over his shoulder.

“No,” I shook my head, sitting down on the sofa. Minter was almost asleep, and Amaranth was already passed out. “Came to check on you.”

“Dad thinks I should let her stay.”

“I don’t think he thinks that. I think he wishes you two could get along and do whatever needs to be done peacefully.”

“That ship sailed when she kept taking up for Rosemary over me. That pink woman acts nice but she’s not. If she was, she wouldn’t attack the house when she knows I don’t like it.”

“That’s fair,” I nodded.

“She’s lucky I don’t burn the damn house down. I’d rather see it burnt to cinders than for them to take over it.”

I opened my mouth to say he didn’t mean that but then again, he was Fred’s kid. He might actually burn the house down if that’s what it took to make his point.

“What do you all do about territory disputes over there?” Sequin asked.

“Sort of like this. Marsin is my brother. We didn’t fight over the house, but I moved out once your dad was around to prevent fights.”

“She says it’s because Rosemary is a woman. Which is fucking ridiculous. I think Daliah thought I’d just give her what she wanted because she’s an alpha. Well, fuck her and her---” he stopped himself and a ring of fire drifted out of his nose. “This family fell apart when she died. We all pulled together for a while. We still go see Duke a lot. Hell, recently, I’ve seen more of him than I’ve seen of Dal. Then Dad woke up and he and Teddy went to space. Duke got busy. We all got busy running things and helping out but this is crazy. If this was the other way around she’d toss me out on my ass so quick we’d all have whiplash.”

“Knock knock!” Someone said from the other side of the front door. “It’s me! I brought more boxes. Though, I don’t see why you guys can’t unpack them over there and reuse the same ones.”

“That’s Teal. He’s our cousin. He’s Sunny’s nephew too.”

“I know Teal. “Well, I know of his seed bombing anyway,” I grinned as Sequin let him into the house.

“And the answer is because they’re locked away in Dal’s bedroom and refuse to participate in the packing like they can do a sit in on my house,” Sequin sighed. “Thanks for bringing the boxes.”

“This isn’t going to make her cut my funding, is it?” Teal laughed.

“No. We’d all have to vote and even with Teddy conked out, Duke wouldn’t vote to do that over this bs,” Sequin shook his head.

“Good to know.”

Teal’s hair was a bright pink color. I’d seen plenty of photographs of him and the other two triplet brothers. They always dyed their hair and kept it the same color. Teal always stood out as the happier brother of the three. The other two looked like a cross between playboys and the sort who brooded over philosophical questions long since solved.

“How do you put up with Cobalt and Indigo?”

“I don’t all the time,” Teal shook his head. “Remember, I’m still staying at Moonscale Manor. They’re back in Heartville. I’ll probably visit Starscale 1 to meet Laken in person and talk about what the next step for a free fed London might be.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just talk to your grandparents rather than run around like you’re committing crimes?” I asked Teal.

“Where’s the fun in that? Besides, someone needs to keep my grandsire out of trouble. If he’s too busy chasing me and my guys down, trying to figure out who we are, he can’t start a war anywhere, can he?”

“You are devilish!” Sequin laughed and resumed packing up his sister’s stuff.

I dozed on the sofa with the little kids, wishing I had more insight to give them.

“Yeah, she has a silver scale too,” Sequin said to Teal as I drifted in and out. “Happened when Dad came over here. I guess that means we’re Starscales. Surprised your grandparents didn’t get them from Sunny.”

“Maybe it only goes down,” Teal said.

“That’s what he said.”

They both cracked up. Even half asleep, it was sort of funny.