Chapter 47
Cole
Beau Chêne, Mandeville, Louisiana
T he house was quiet when Evie woke him up, her lips wrapped around his dick, sucking him down like she would die if he didn’t come in her mouth. He, of course, couldn’t deny her anything and came so hard he was pretty sure he blacked out. When he was finally able to move again, he glanced down to where she lay with her chin resting on his stomach, a smug smile on her face, and immediately flipped her onto her back, dropping between her thighs, licking and sucking her until her legs shook, and she came all over his tongue and around his fingers.
Reluctantly, he finally looked at his phone. 10:03 am. The message notification caught his attention, and he pulled up the text application as Evie snuggled deeper into him. Charlie had messaged him at 7:56:
Your court will be joining us for breakfast at 10:30 am. Please be down promptly.
Cole snorted. Even just those fifteen little words conveyed his uncle’s absolute discomfort with the radio show they had given everyone last night. Let him stew , he thought uncharitably. They had kept him from his witch.
Evie glanced up at him. “What?”
“Nothing. Just Charlie being Charlie.” He rubbed a hand down her side, loving the feel of her silky skin under his palm, the way her curves seemed perfectly fitted to his body. “But we do have to get up. Everyone’s going to be here in about twenty minutes.”
She bolted up. “All of my clothes are still in your car, though. And I shouldn’t wear what I had on yesterday, right? That’s not mannerly. Right?”
He smothered a laugh, watching as she waved her hands about her in panic. “Angel, don’t worry about a thing. I’ll go get your stuff from the car, you just get ready however you need.” Slipping out of the bed, he slid on his jeans from the day before and pressed a kiss to her hair before grabbing his shirt and throwing it over his head as he strode across the room. Her voice stopped him before he opened the door.
“What if they won’t follow you because of me?” She sounded small and scared, her eyes wide in her pale face. “I’m a witch. What if everything you’ve worked for gets messed up because of me?”
“Well first off, petite sorcière , it’s us they’ll be following, not just me.” He walked back across the room, tilting her head up to his. “Second off, you’re the only thing that matters to me. As long as you’re by my side, I can do anything. And third. I haven’t been working for anything to do with this prophecy.” She made a disbelieving sound, but he shook his head at her. “No, really. Ask Charlie. It has been a constant source of frustration for him that I didn’t give a shit about my role in the prophecy.” Pushing a curl behind her ear, he cupped her cheek. “They’ll follow us because they would be fools not to put their faith in you, Angel. Now go get ready, and I’ll be back with your clothes in a few minutes.”
She nodded, and he left the room, sneaking out of the house, down to the car, and back to their room without anyone catching him. He set the vast collection of shopping bags on the bed then swapped out his shirt for a spare he kept in the glove compartment for emergencies. When Evie finally popped out of the bedroom, she looked calmer, no evidence of her earlier panic on her face.
That was until she got to the bed. Her eyes went wide as she glanced down to the bags then back up to him. “What do I wear to breakfast with a room full of immortals who are theoretically going to serve on our court?”
“Whatever you want so long as you don't go down there naked.” His growled threat—mostly a joke—did the trick. She giggled and rolled her eyes at him before picking through the bags until she found a light dress with lacy overlay that she liked. She dressed quickly, and together, they walked down the stairs into the kitchen with five minutes to spare.
Hayden and Charles sat at the kitchen table, clutching coffee cups with matching traumatized expressions pasted across their faces.
Charles glanced up when they walked in. There was no greeting, just a terse, “All of the furniture in that room, especially the mattress and bedding, is yours now,” tossed at them.
Evie’s cheeks turned bright red, her mouth parting as she sputtered adorably at the comment. Cole only smirked at his stoic, buttoned-down uncle.
He turned his attention to Hayden, sitting just to the right of Charles. “You got something to say too?”
Hayden’s response was simple: “I know we kept you away from her, but the punishment definitely didn’t fit the crime.”
“Oh, I think it did,” Cole corrected, wrapping his arm around Evie’s shoulder. “Not like anything would have changed if y’all let me go upstairs with her when I wanted, but we might have tried to keep it down at least a little bit.’
Charles pulled a face but otherwise didn’t say anything.
“Where are the Moirai?” Cole glanced around for the three sisters, but they weren’t anywhere in the kitchen or family room that he could see.
“They had to head home to take care of something,” Hayden replied. “Said they were already part of your court so they didn’t need to be here.”
Magda bustled past Cole and Evie, a bright smile on her round face. “Good morning, lovebirds,” she greeted them. “I heard the two of you had quite a night!” She gave a cheerful laugh, patting Evie’s cheek delicately. “Don’t you worry about a thing , cherie , if I had a handsome man like Cole around, I wouldn’t be shy about it either.”
Evie’s mouth pursed. “Thank you?” It sounded more like a question than an answer. “I didn’t expect to be discussing our sex life this much.”
“Well, when you scream as hard as you—” Hayden shut his mouth around the end of the sentence at Cole’s blistering look.
“I dare you to finish that thought, Hayden,” he said lightly. “See how it goes if you do.”
“I’m good, man.” Leaning back in his chair, Hayden held his hands up in a gesture of truce. “Nothing to say here.”
“That’s what I thought.” Cole glared at his best friend.
“Charles,” Magda interrupted, lightly brushing her hand across Charles’ shoulder. “Your guests are here. I’ve shown them to the dining room where breakfast is set up.”
Charles imperceptibly leaned into his cook’s touch but, when he noticed Cole’s eyes on him, straightened his back so thoroughly it looked painful. “Thank you, Magda.” His tone was clipped, but Magda’s warm look, still trained on his uncle’s silhouette, never faltered. “Shall we go introduce Evie to your court?” he asked, standing quickly, coffee cup in hand. "Properly, this time."
Cole looked down at Evie, who nodded slightly, her face gone pale with the enormity of what lay ahead of them. “We’ll follow everyone in.”
The motley crew in the kitchen filtered out to the dining room. Once they were gone, he turned to Evie, taking her in his arms. “You ready, Angel?”
“Yeah.” She dropped her head to his chest before raising it again. When she did, her voice was steadier than it had been. “Yes. Let’s do this.”
With her assurance, he took her hand and led them into the dining room where almost everyone who had been at the house to greet them yesterday sat. Only Cate was missing. Nine pairs of eyes shifted to them as they entered; only Hayden ignored them in favor of wolfing down the simple but delicious omelette and sweet rolls that Magda had made. The expressions on the immortals sitting at the table ranged from wariness to outright distrust to excitement.
“Good morning, all,” Cole greeted them, using the voice he reserved for small children, insufferable clients, and idiot judges. It commanded attention and established who was in charge out the gate while still being civil enough that the person on the other side of the discussion felt like they had a say in the conversation. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Evie’s slight grin at the authoritative tone; he shot her a conspiratorial smirk in response before pulling out a chair for her on Charles' other side.
She sat gracefully, and he took a seat to her right, resting his hand gently on her knee.
“As you all discovered yesterday, this is my beloved queen, Evie. She is the reincarnate of Persephone and also a witch, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise to any of you since Kore herself was a powerful witch.” He leveled a stern glare at the gods surrounding them. Many of them dropped their eyes. “You have all served my family loyally for generations with the expectation that you will join the Underworld’s court once the reincarnates took their place as its rulers. I know many of you have questions about Evie and what will happen next. That’s understandable. We will answer your questions to the best of our ability, recognizing that we have about the same amount of information as you do. What I will not tolerate is any sort of disrespect to my queen.” His magic rumbled through him, blue tendrils of power rolling across the table. “Have I made myself clear?”
Indistinct murmurs rolled across the table to him. His irritation ratcheted upwards, and he repeated himself, the words clipped and demanding. “Have. I. Made. Myself. Clear?” This time, their answers were clear and distinct yeses.
Evie nudged his knee with hers, and he glanced down, nodding at her when she opened her mouth to speak. “Yesterday, it came as a surprise to all of you—well, almost all of you,” she corrected with a conciliatory glance at Hayden and Charles. “That I’m a witch. I assume that most of your questions have to do with whether I plan to ally with the witches on their prophecy or follow the Moirai’s.” Her back straightened under their collective gazes. “I have left my coven for reasons that are my own and Cole’s. While I still adore my sisters, there is no love lost between myself and the Witches Council. I will not be assisting them in fulfilling their apocalyptic prophecy if they choose to pursue it. I will be taking my seat in the Underworld besides Cole to do what needs to be done.” Her voice tapered off. “Um, thank you, I guess?”
Cole squeezed her leg, heart overfilling with pride. She was incredible, more so than even he had dreamed and imagined. He leaned into her, pressing a chaste kiss to her cheek and whispering, “I love you so much, Angel,” into her ear. She murmured it back to him, ducking her head into his neck.
On Evie's other side, Charles cleared his throat, but the soft look of happiness he gave them both was distinctly at odds with the grumpy sound.
“Right.” Cole straightened, remembering where they were, although he didn’t release his hold on Evie’s leg. “Are there any questions?”
As it turned out, there were so many questions. The next two hours were dedicated to answering every single one of them, ranging from an insulting invasion of their privacy with “Will the two of you have children?” to the more relevant “Do the two of you have a plan on how to retrieve the missing shades?”
By the end of the now-turned brunch—since it was nearing mid-afternoon—Evie’s voice was all but gone. Cole himself was ready to throw her over his shoulder and sprint out of his childhood home.
“Is that everything?” he finally asked tiredly, ignoring Charles’ stern look at his rudeness. He honestly didn’t care. He was exhausted. Evie was simultaneously drained and overwhelmed, after having fielded most of the questions since almost all of them were about her.
“One last thing,” Hayden piped up after having been quiet for most of the meal.
Cole shot a questioning glance at the other man.
Hayden stood, walked around the table, and bowed deeply to Cole and Evie. “I will be proud to serve under your leadership, my king and queen.”
Besides him, Evie’s mouth dropped open in shock, so Cole was left to respond. “We thank you for your fealty, god of sleep.” Thank fuck for George R.R. Martin’s books, or I would have no idea how to accept a pledge of loyalty .
“I’ll see you fuckers later then.” With a grin, a punch to Cole’s shoulders, an abortive hug-turned-nod at Evie after Cole snarled when Hayden tried to hug her, the god sauntered from the dining room and out through the front door.
Almost as if Hayden was the breaking point, each of the immortals at the table stood and approached them, pledging their loyalty in turn and departing until only Cole, Evie, Charles, and Magda were left
“I think that went well,” Charles commented, taking a sip of his now-cold coffee.
“I do too,” Cole responded. “And it’s great and everything, but we’re leaving. Right fucking now.” He seized Evie’s hand, drawing her to her feet with him as he stood.
Before they could go, Magda approached them, a bag of food clutched in her hands. “You did so well, my darlings.” She passed the leftovers to them before giving Evie then Cole warm hugs. When Cole went towards the stairs to retrieve their things, she stopped him with a firm hand on his arm. “I’ve already packed your car with everything that was in your room. You need to go home before your uncle comes up with something else for you to do.”
Cole snorted out a laugh and hugged Magda again. “Thanks, Mags.”
“Get out of here, you charmer,” the older woman laughed before embracing Evie once more and vanishing back into the kitchen.
Charles followed them out of the house, giving Cole a sanctimonious look after Evie dropped into the car. “When do you want the bedroom furniture dropped off?”
“Wait, you were serious about that?”
“Oh very much so,” Charlie replied dryly. “I heard the two of you last night. There’s no amount of cleaning that can put that room to rights.”
“I honestly don’t care. Hell, just work with the nonprofit to get it dropped off at the Tremé houses for one of the families. They need the furniture more than I do.”
Charles smiled. “You’re a good man, Cole,” he said casually, leaving Cole to stare at his uncle and wonder about body snatchers as Charles walked around the car to the passenger side. “Good bye, Evie. You’re a wonderful addition to our family, and I’m so glad that you and Cole found each other.”
Evie let out a sniff before leaping out of the car and hugging Charles hard. Before she let him go, she whispered something in his ear that made him laugh.
“You’re a sweet girl, Evie.” Charles patted her on the shoulder before she released him, his eyes suspiciously glassy as he closed the car door once she was in the seat. He nodded at Cole over the top of the car. “Make sure you do this right, Cole. You love that girl, and she loves you. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Helluva support system, that, Charlie.” Although he appreciated how much support Evie was getting from his family. It hadn’t been easy for her growing up in that coven, and he wanted her to be surrounded by people who would love and protect her. Starting with him. He would give his witch every ounce of love he had for her and protect her until he had no breath left in his body.
"Oh." Charles tapped on the hood of the car. "And I believe Magda has taken care of that minty problem of yours. Maybe we'll start an herb garden." He bent down by Evie's window. "Evie, next time perhaps some oregano?"
Evie giggled, shrugging. "Perhaps," she drawled back in a fair mimicry of Charles' voice.
Cole smiled. "I'll call you later, Charlie." With his mother’s ring in his pocket and their Underworld court lined up, he slid into the driver’s seat and drove them home.