Chapter 45
Cosimo spent the next three days in a happy daze.
The house, reacting to his new mated status, had begun to subtly rearrange itself.
With some satisfaction, Cosimo noticed that the bed in Marcella's room had disappeared.
Her rooms had expanded to make a proper space for her.
It didn't surprise him when all her books, clothes, and decor from her apartment in Florence suddenly appeared.
"What am I supposed to use for furniture when I want to visit Firenze!" Marcella had complained.
Cosimo had kissed her until her outrage vanished. "We will just have to go shopping and make it a holiday getaway."
Little did Marcella know that Cosimo had prepared other surprises for her during the past few days. Now, he was about to spring the best one on her.
"Tell me again why I need to be dressed in old clothes?" Marcella asked, tying her hair in a red scarf and making her look like a very sexy '50s housewife. She was dressed in jeans and a black shirt, her scuffed boots on.
"Because we are going to go out in a field to watch dragons shift, right, bro?" Maria asked. She was only partially in on the surprise because Cosimo didn't want her to have a chance to be nervous.
"Absolutely. Dragons are big, and we need space so we don't damage things."
Maria gestured to the trashed yard they were standing in. "Like this poor garden. Seriously, you could have woken me up so I could see you shift."
Cosimo laughed, and Marcella cleared her throat awkwardly. "No. We are all very happy you slept through that."
Maria only rolled her eyes. "You know better than to fuck in public, Cosimo."
"It was worth it," he said unapologetically.
"Are we doing this or not?" Apollo demanded, stepping outside in a pair of old sweats, followed by his brother's and their mates. "I'm getting twitchy."
Cosimo waited until they were all there and gestured to Valentine. "Okay, do it."
Valentine grinned his wild smile, and a portal ripped open. Maria immediately ran over it to poke at his threads of magic.
"I swear I'm going to figure this out," she said.
"Later, Maria. We have things to do," Cosimo called. With a huff, his sister disappeared through the portal, followed by everyone else.
Cosimo kissed Marcella's hand, and they went through last. They were in the middle of an overgrown garden, with untended fields around them, and a villa of ocre, cream, and brown brick.
Marcella let out a small squeal and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Cosimo, what the fuck are we doing at my parents' house?"
Cosimo gently removed her hands from her face. "A mating gift, from me to you, tesoro."
"How? How is this… Renata…" Marcella stammered, looking around her.
"I had my lawyers go over the deeds to the house.
Turns out your ex-husband was as useless at paperwork as he was at everything else.
He never signed the final deed of transferance, and now he no longer has the mental faculty to make decisions or try to fight the ruling.
The house and everything in it are now legally yours once again, Marcella.
" Cosimo wrapped his arm around her. "It might need an extension put on it, especially if we are going to move all of the Sforza lab here from underneath the castle in Milan. "
"Cosimo," Marcella smothered a sob in his chest. "I don't know what to say. I love you. I love you so much."
Cosimo lifted her chin with a finger so he could kiss the tears off her cheeks. "I love you too. I even have a perfect decoration to place wherever you wish."
"Oh? And what's that?" she asked with a sniff.
Cosimo pulled out a box from his pocket and handed it to her. Marcella opened it and burst out laughing. "Amore, you shouldn't have."
She lifted Carlo's finger and wedding ring from the box. Cosimo and Apollo had set it in a clear block of resin.
"It would make a good paperweight if nothing else," Cosimo replied.
Still laughing, Marcella put it back in the box and stared around at the house. It was a run-down mess, but it was still standing. "It's going to take work, but I will get it back to normal again in no time."
"That brings me to my next surprise," Cosimo said and pointed to the field beside them. A large portal of crimson fire opened, and people started walking through.
Marcella's mouth popped open. "What…is happening?"
"The family wanted to come and meet you. I told them to bring help," Cosimo said and waved at Kian and a heavily pregnant Elise. Behind them came Hedera and a small army of brownies.
"I don't want to meet the family dressed like this," Marcella scolded him.
"You look perfect, like always," Cosimo said and kissed her.
Marcella didn't have a chance to express her outrage further because the rest of the family surrounded her.
Bayn, Freya, Killian, Bron, and the Ironwoods came through, followed by Taranis, Quinn, and their knights, except for Avallach, who was still running the kingdom in Taranis's absence.
Maria stared at the dragon knights in wonder.
"Be nice," Cosimo warned her. "They are going to talk you through shifting."
Maria's eyes lit up when she spotted Vidar. "Dibs! I call dibs!" she called and hurried off through the crowd before Cosimo could stop her.
"Dear gods, she's going to flirt him to death," Cosimo complained.
Beside him, Oberon snorted with laughter. "Think it would take more than flirting to take Vidar down. Well done on your mate, little brother. She is delightful."
"Yes, she is." Cosimo grinned as his eyes found Marcella, surrounded by all the women of the family, asking her questions and laughing with her. Elise had already grabbed Marcella's hands and put them on her swollen belly.
"Should she be up and about in that state?" Cosimo asked Kian.
"Try and get her to sit still. Really. I dare you," he said with a touch of irritation.
Bayn rolled his eyes. "Don't mind him, Cosimo. He's just pissy he can't growl at his mate and get her to behave like he wants her to."
Cosimo laughed and accepted the mug of ale that a brownie passed him. It was only a little past midday, but that never seemed to matter with the fae.
A cry went up, and they turned to watch as the dragons began shifting for Maria. She was running about, calling out to them.
"Are you going to get out there? Show us what you got?" Killian teased Cosimo.
"I have nothing to prove. I would rather Maria harass them than me."
Taranis walked over to join them by the fence. "I'm starting to think it might be good if Maria doesn't shift just yet. I thought you Greatdrakes were bad enough, but she's on a whole different level of chaos."
"She sure is. I missed her so much," Cosimo admitted, watching his sister heckling Vidar.
He was black and gray in his dragon form. Maria had her hands on her hips, shouting something at him. The big dragon huffed in irritation before picking her up in his claws and lifting her toward his mouth.
"Don't you dare eat her!" Cosimo shouted.
Maria only cackled wildly and kicked him in the lip. With an annoyed snort, Vidar bypassed his mouth and put her on his back instead.
"Good luck getting her off there now," Cosimo sighed, but the males around him only laughed louder.
The sun was setting as brownies flitted about, setting up long trestle tables and stringing glittering magical lights in the trees and along the house.
Oberon and Chrissy had busied themselves with magic, tidying the grounds and coaxing the gardens into bloom.
The rest of them had caught up on their adventures with the streghe, finding Maria, and discovering the Sforza grimoires.
Cosimo hadn't gone inside the villa yet, but he knew how quickly the brownies would transform the place.
They would remove any lingering reminders of Carlo's and Renata's presence.
Marcella had disappeared through the back of the house with Bas and Hedera, and soon delicious scents started drifting from the open windows.
Cosimo helped set the tables with flatware and candles, and the brownies came out of the house with platters of food, more wine, and bread.
Arms came around his waist, and he turned to find Marcella smiling up at him.
"Hello. I was wondering where you had gone," he said, pulling her close.
"I had to make sure that my kitchen wasn't a total disaster," Marcella replied and gestured at the tables, the people laughing, the dragons still fooling about in the fields. "Ten of Cups."
"What?" Cosimo asked.
"When I pulled tarot cards the day we met, I got the Magician, the High Priestess, the Devil, the Lovers, and the Ten of Cups.
I got everything that the spread told me," Marcella replied, her eyes softening as she looked about her.
"I never thought I would have a family again. Thank you for giving me this."
Cosimo kissed her temple and pulled her to his side. "Don't thank me yet. Plenty of the family haven't arrived yet. Imogen and Arawan are away in Faerie, dealing with something, but there should be a few more from Norway any minute now."
With a big smile, Cosimo pointed to a silvery gray portal that was opening, and Tor, Ciara, Arne, and Layla came through, still holding a glowing, enchanted crystal. Cosimo lifted a hand to wave at them, but Layla's terrified face stopped him.
"What's happened?" Lachlan demanded, getting to his sister and cousin first. "You okay, Ciara? Layla?"
"We are fine, but Linnea isn't," Ciara replied.
As one, the whole family went dead silent.
"What are you talking about? I spoke with Linna today, and she said she was coming," Freya said.
Layla waved a piece of paper. "She's gone! No one saw her leave Ulfheim. She just disappeared, and all she left was this."
Cosimo caught the piece of paper and read aloud, "I have gone to hunt the wolf. It has started."
"Fuck," Bayn growled and looked at Tor. "You don't think she would go back to that place, do you?"
"She would. She's been singing to the creature at night," Tor replied, his voice all snarl. "She's gone to find him, which means he could already be loose."
"Dark gods, just what we need," Killian said.
"What's wrong? What's happening?" Marcella asked Cosimo.
"Fenris has finally awoken, which means Ragnarok is about to begin," Taranis answered for him. Taranis turned to look at Vidar, who was standing beside Maria. "No more hiding. It's time to go home to your father."
"The fuck does that mean?" Apollo demanded, staring at the knight.
Vidar's face went through a range of emotions before it went blank. "Don't ask this of me, my king."
"You had a deal with him for your centuries of freedom. He needs you now, and I release you from my service," Taranis said and moved to hug Vidar. "I'm sorry, old friend."
"Don't be. Havi is a dick at the best of times, and we will need you as an ally," Vidar replied. Cosimo and the others stared in wonder as Vidar's sharply pointed fae ears rounded, and he grew another half a foot. He spared a glance in Maria's direction. "Keep that one out of trouble."
With a punch of powerful magic, Vidar shifted into a gigantic raven. He cawed loudly before disappearing in a cloud of feathers.
"What the fuck just happened?" Maria demanded. "Who the fuck is he?"
Taranis looked like he had his arm torn off. "Vidar, the Silent God, son of Odin and Avenger of the Gods."
"I thought he looked like you," Layla said, turning on Arne. "Did you know about this?"
"No, I… We need to find Linnea," he replied and turned to Tor. "You can track her?"
"Depends on how much magic she used," he replied.
Cosimo pulled Marcella out of the arguing fae, elves, dragons, shifters, and magicians.
"I know you said you wanted a family, but an apocalypse is a hell of a way to break you in," he said, cupping her face in her hands. He was suddenly so frightened of losing her when he had only just gotten her.
"Cosimo, breathe," Marcella commanded, and he took in a shaky breath. Her magic shivered around her, more potent than before, because of the land she was standing on. She kissed him hard and deeply. "There's nowhere I would rather be at the end of the world than by your side."
"I will protect you until there's not a breath left in my body," he swore.
"I know, amore. Let's hope it doesn't come to that," Marcella replied and kissed him again.
"I hate to interrupt all the excitement of the impending death of the world!" Elise shouted over the racket. They all turned to where she had stood up at the end of the trestle table, her face white.
"What is it, my love?" Kian asked, hurrying across the yard toward her.
Elise stared down at the soaked skirts of her dress. "I t-think my water just broke."
Cosimo let out a startled laugh and turned to Marcella. "Welcome to the family."