Page 68 of Bedeviled

I think I might vomit. The ring on my finger is feeling so very conspicuous.

“Olivia and Benjamin Bowers,” Memnon says to himself, trying to commit their names to memory. I hear a hint of his accent then, and it does strange things to me.

In all my lives, I’ve never been in this position—showing off my soul mate to my parents, hoping they’ll accept him. I’m not sure Liv and Benny boy will be nearly as accepting of Memnon as his mother and sister were of me.

“What do your parents know about me?” Memnon asks as I fish my keys out of my purse—a purse that had been in my wrecked car. It, along with the rest of the items in the car were lined up in Memnon’s entryway this morning.

He’d been back to the scene of the crash since we left it.

“Absolutely nothing,” I say as I slide my old house key into the lock.

He stares at me for a moment longer as I turn the knob and swing the door open. Inside I can hear some soft jazz, and already I can smell my father’s yeasty beer bread.

“Mom! Dad!” I call, gripping Memnon’s hand far too tightly.

He must sense my terror because he reels me in and presses a kiss to my forehead as my mother squeals from the kitchen.

“Hey Booger!” my dad calls out. “You’re here already? That was fast!”

Don’t throw up, don’t throw up, don’t throw up.

“We took a ley line,” I say.

This will all be okay, Memnon reassures me.

“You took a—” My mom’s voice cuts off as she steps out of the kitchen and into my line of vision. She physically starts at the sight of Memnon, her eyes rising up the staggering height of him. “Oh, my—hi there, you must be Selene’s…friend?” she asks as her eyes take in our closeness and the way my hand is still locked in his.

She strides forward, opening her arms.

Please ease my parents into this, Memnon.

Of course, Empress.

The sorcerer pulls away from me. “I’m Memnon,” he says enfolding my mother in his arms. It’s a really good hug, the kind that actually mean something. “Your daughter’s husband.”

Maiden.

Mother.

And cursed fucking Crone.

That was as far from easing my parents into this as one can get.

I see my mom stiffen in his arms even as Memnon finishes, “It is my truest honor to finally meet you.”

“What?” my mother says, stepping out of the hug. She looks at him, confused, then at me.

“What did you say?” She returns her attention to Memnon.

I swallow, my heart beating fast.

“It is my truest honor to meet you.”

“No, not that part.”

Memnon’s eyes are twinkling, and there’s a smile tugging at the corner of his lips like Mama Bowers is adorable and not a terrifying hellcat. “I am Selene’s husband. She is my wife.”

My mom’s eyes dart to me. “No, you did not,” she says.