Keenan’s mouth dropped open. “He’s her anchor?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You never mentioned it,” said Knox, cupping Harper’s hip.
Harper shrugged. “It never came up in conversation.”
Khloë chose that moment to leap out of the bushes, wings extended, and land on the back of the hellhorse with a triumphant roar that had the kids laughing. It was well-known that you didn’t climb onto the back of a hellhorse unless you were crazy … which said everything that needed to be said about Khloë really.
“Why would fate pair her with a demon who’s no more stable than she is?” asked Keenan, baffled.
Harper shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t think she’d have listened to anyone who couldn’t relate to her on her level.”
“You’re here!” Devon dashed over and wrapped her arms around both Harper and Asher. “Oh, my God, how cute does he look with his fake beard?”
“Hey there, kitty cat,” sang Tanner.
Devon scowled at him. “Stop sniffing me!” But he didn’t. So she let out an honest-to-God hellcat hiss, which sounded like a mix of a lion’s roar and a tiger’s guttural hiss. And then she jerked away from Asher, eyes lit with amusement. “Harper, I’ll swear he just cackled like Jolene.”
“He did,” said a voice behind them. “She’s a bad influence on him.”
With a sigh, Harper turned to Lou with a smile. Dressed in his usual scruffy manner, he fit right in. “I should have guessed you’d be here.” Lou didn’t require an invite—he went wherever the hell he liked.
Lou beamed at Asher. “Where’s my favorite guy?”
“What time did you get here?” Knox asked him.
Lou pursed his lips. “I’m too stoned to be entirely sure, if I’m honest. And I’m rarely honest. But then, maybe that’s a lie.”
Knox sighed. “It was a simple question.” But he wasn’t surprised that he didn’t get a straightforward answer. Lou went back to fussing over Asher, which made Knox frown. “You seem almost … nice when you’re with Asher. It’s an odd thing to witness.”
Head jerking back, Lou echoed, “Nice? I am not nice. Goodness and I got married way too young. The divorce was quick and painless.” Glancing around, Lou rolled back his shoulders, seeming edgy. “The atmosphere is so … relaxed. I don’t like it.”
“Everyone’s feeling better now that the Horsemen are out of the picture,” said Harper. Alethea and Jonas were tucked away in Knox’s Chamber, and they had regular visitors. Their lair had already instated another Prime, who seemed much more suited to the position than Jonas had been. And no, Harper wasn’t just saying that because she despised the asshole. “Thanks to us, the mystery has been unraveled.”
Lou snickered. “Oh, please. That could have been done by a sedated amoeba. Come on, it was so obvious—” The cap on his head abruptly disappeared in a spurt of fire and then reappeared in Asher’s hand, who then let out a fake laugh. Lou sighed. “If anyone does somehow manage to take this kid, they’ll bring him back in a hurry. He’s a handful.”
Asher looked at Knox, demon rising to the fore. Knox’s demon also surfaced, and the two entities stared at each other. It wasn’t uncommon.
Harper sighed. “I hate it when they do that. It makes me nervous that Knox’
s demon has an invasive bond with Asher’s demon. Even when Asher was in the womb, they seemed to communicate somehow. Obviously, not with words, but impressions and emotions.”
Lou’s eyes widened in delight. “Ooh, maybe they’re plotting Earth domination.”
Sighing again, Harper shook her head. “You’re completely whacked.”
“Why is he whacked?” asked Knox as his entity retreated. “Not that I disagree.”
“Your son is capable of global domination, Harper.”
She ground her teeth. “Lou—”
The devil slashed his hand through the air. “It is pure truth. There are no variables. If you can’t handle that reality—” A sneer twisted his face. “Oh, not her.”
Noticing that Jolene was slowly making her way toward them, Harper smiled and said quietly, “You know what, Lou? I think, in some weird morbid way, you actually like her.”
His face scrunched up. “Your opinion has absolutely no practical basis.” And that seemed to bother him more than the opinion itself.