We play a few more rounds of poker that I am heartbroken about losing, because we’re betting m&m’s. I yawn deeply. It’s warm down here and I’m surrounded by my boys. It’s the safest I’ve felt in a while.

“You gonna stay the night?” Jules asks hopefully.

“If that’s okay? It’s probably cold outside,” I mumble from where I’m slumped against Brody’s shoulder. “I can go back in the morning. I don’t think Mama will mind.”

“It’s fine if you want to stay,” Dev says gruffly.

“I can just sleep here.” I yawn again.

“This is my bed, mistress. But I’m willing to share.” Brody is all bravado outwardly, but underneath I can sense hope. He’s got that tinge of neediness again and the nurturer inside me needs to soothe it.

I know the offer was said half-jokingly but I nod anyway. “Sure. But I get to be little spoon.”

All three of them look a little shocked. But I figure that Brody is my guardian just as much as Jules is. It wasn’t fair that Jules and I had that extra contact. Brody deserves it too. Dev does as well, in the future. Though that may just be wishful thinking on my part. I’m not sure he’d ever break his self control enough to ask.

Brody blinks nervously at me. “I won’t try anything, I promise.”

“I trust you,” I murmur sleepily.

Dev and Jules both stand and stare at one another awkwardly before simultaneously looking down at me and Brody. It’s strange to see them act so related.

“So I guess, uh, bed then. Do you need anything, Em?” Jules asks.

“Water, maybe.” I unlace my boots.

“I’ve got it,” Dev says. His voice is deep tonight. Maybe it just gets that way when he’s tired.

“So how do you get away with being stoners and doing football? Don’t they drug test you?” I ask Brody as he settles down onto the couch.

I lay down in front of him and he drapes a muscular arm over me. This is even nicer than I expected. He smells enticing, like spicy citrus. I fit perfectly with my back to his chest. My hair is up in a high messy bun and he somehow works his way under it so his face is flush with the back of my neck.

Brody snorts. “Like Crescent Creek has that sort of budget.”

“It tickles when you talk,” I tell him, and he laughs.

He’s like a furnace behind me, but it feels amazing to my tired body. Sore from cleaning Moonhollow all day.

Devereaux returns and sets a glass of water down on the coffee table. “You two can, uh, take my bed if you’d like.”

Brody chuckles. “Ever the gentleman. Emmy?”

“I’m fine here if you are,” I murmur, already half asleep.

Jules leans down and kisses my cheek. “Night Em.”

“Night Jules. Love you.”

“Love you too.”

I hear him start up the stairs and look up at Dev, who is staring at us with a blank face. I’m almost too tired to try and sense his emotions but the jealousy he’s giving off is almost palpable.

I blink a few times and start to sit up, to reach out to him, but Brody’s exhausted arm over me is heavy.

“No,” Dev tells me, sensing my intentions. “This is good. It’s good. He needs this.”

Brody is already breathing deeply against the back of my neck where his face is buried.

“But you -”

“Don’t worry about me.” He leans down and lays a kiss on my forehead. “I’ll be fine.” He says it against my skin and my whole body shivers.

I follow him with my mind as he goes up the stairs and to his room, feeling the pull in my heart as he gets further away. Then I focus on Brody’s warm, rhythmic breathing and it doesn’t take long to calm me.

“Brody?” I ask into the darkness.

“Mm?”

“Why do you stay here every night?” The question has been plaguing me for years.

“Let’s just say next time I go home, I’ve got a beating waiting.” He chuckles dryly.

My heart rate picks up. “Are you kidding me? They beat you?!”

He rubs his hand up and down my arm. “Relax. I’m eighteen. I’m still debating if I even want to go home ever again.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better, Brody.” I manage to roll over so that we’re face to face, my nose against his.

He sighs. “I appreciate your concern for me, Mistress, but just drop it, okay? I shouldn’t have said anything. That part of my life is over.”

I deflate a little and kiss his cheek. “It’s weird.”

“What is?”

“That I used to have to worry only about myself, and occasionally Jules. Now I have to worry about all three of you.”

“Mm. I can relate to that. I’ve never worried about anybody, not even myself. Well, I guess except Devereaux,” he says.

A spark of something lights within him at the mention of Dev and I examine it closely, intrigued. “...You love him.”

“He’s my best friend,” he says, somewhat defensively.

“But you -”

“Drop it, Emmy.” His tone is stern now, his muscles tense.

My eyes are wide as I stare at his silhouette in the small sliver of moonlight that seeps in through the high basement window. Is he in love with Devereaux? Is that why he practically lives here and has never had a real girlfriend?

“Stop starin’ at me. I can almost hear the wheels turning inside that pretty head.”

“But Brody -“

“Go to sleep.”

I sigh and give up, nuzzling my face into his neck. I suppose he’ll tell me when he’s ready. If that day ever comes.

It’s surprising how quickly I’m at sleep’s edge, considering that I’m snuggling on a couch with Brody freaking James. Dozens of girls at school would likely run me over with their car to be able to take my place. His deep and even breathing makes it easy to drift off.

I wake the next morning on Brody’s chest. The sun is barely peeking in through the tiny window. I watch as a moth lazily drifts down from the windowsill. Then another, and another. Then about fifty more. They swarm quietly, filling the path set by the beam of sunshine. Then, as quickly as they appeared, they’re gone.

I keep forgetting to ask Mama about what moths mean. They don’t seem as dangerous as snakes, but I still feel a sense of foreboding after every appearance.

I push up on my elbow and switch my attention to Brody. He truly is gorgeous. His chin length dirty blonde hair is pushed back from his face and my eyes catch on the masculine curve of his jaw. I recall our conversation last night before we passed out and wonder once again whether or not he’s in love with Dev. I can’t really blame him if he is. I’ve been in love with Dev since I figured out what boys were for.

I have a leg swung over one of his so I remove it and sit up, dreading the moment when I stop touching him. It always feels like I’m breaking off a limb when Jules and I part ways in the morning.

“Just going to sneak off, huh?” Brody’s rumbly morning voice asks from behind me.

I smile. “Just trying to save you from my morning breath.”

“You’re a funny mistress.” He chuckles and sits up, swinging his legs over beside me and pulling the pillow he was using into his lap, hugging it as he yawns. I lean on his shoulder a little.

“Are the LaTours up yet?” he asks.

“How would I - oh, right.”

He chuckles as I close my eyes and focus first on Jules and then on Dev.

“No, both of them are still out. I have to go. Mama and her men are going to want to head to Moonhollow pretty quick. Half the witches in the South will be coming to the wake tonight to pay their respects to the great Bia Adelfi.”

I pull my boots from under the coffee table and shove my feet in, lacing them up.

“Thanks,” Brody says, running fingers through his hair. “For sleeping with me.”

“It’s the least I can do. I dragged you into this mess.”

I stand, severing our contact, and bite back a gasp.

Brody curses and grabs for my hand, tugging me down onto the pillow in his lap.

“I forgot to warn you,” I murmur, laying my head against his shoulder. “It’s always like that after we’ve been touching for a while. At least between Jules and I.”

“Well that sucks. I’ll let you go in a moment,” he says, arms squeezing me around my middle.

We take a minute of silence to just soak each other in. It’s peaceful. No sound but our even breaths and synced up heartbeats. Finally his hold on me releases and I tip to the floor, biting my lip to stifle a groan as I pull away.

He hugs the pillow tighter in my absence.

“Have a good game today,” I say as I head for the stairs.

“See you tonight,” he responds.

I shoot Jules a wake-up text as I walk home. I’m surprised to find Mama, Maddox and Mr. Monroe are already up and sipping coffee in the kitchen. Mama’s eyes when she spies me in the doorway are curious.

“What am I going to do with you, Artemis Adelfi? Sneaking out to see boys in the middle of the night.” She tsks.

I blush, unable to come up with an apt response. Everything she said is true.

Maddox hands me a cup of coffee and I lean against the door frame.

“I guess I’ll have to hunt up that birth control spell sooner rather than later,” Mama says.

I blush harder. My face and chest must both be crimson now. “Mama. It isn’t like that.”

“Not for you it aint, sweetheart,” Andre says with a chuckle from where he sits at the kitchen table. “But for teenage boys? Much less teenage boys who suddenly have you as their whole world? It is.”

“They’ve made a pact. A no-sex-with-Emmy pact,” I inform them.

Mama raises an eyebrow. “Whose idea was that? Yours?”

I swallow. “Dev.”

“Ah, Devereaux.” Mama shares a look with Maddox and then Andre, and I can’t quite figure out what she’s conveying to them. She looks… knowing, with a side of mischievous. I don’t know what it means.

“What about Devereaux?” Jules asks, making me jump as he steps up beside me and brushes his arm against mine. I didn’t hear him come in. He looks like he just rolled out of bed. His curls are extra chaotic and when he sees me blink at them he pats them down and gives me a sheepish smile.

“I was just explaining why I don’t need a birth control spell,” I pass him my coffee.

He takes a big drink and then passes it back. “Might be a good idea. Y’know. Just in case.”

“Julius LaTour!” I smack his shoulder.

Mr. Monroe cackles.

“I’ll get the ingredients together tomorrow,” Mama says with a sympathetic smile. “Better safe than sorry, baby. I know how it is with guardians. The pull is … strong.”

I close my eyes, embarrassment still coursing through me. “What do moths mean?” I blurt out, trying desperately to change the subject.

“Moths?” Mama asks, thrown by the non sequitur.

“I’ve been seeing moths. Everywhere. Like before, with the snakes.”

“Hmmm.” Mama sets down her coffee and purses her lips, tapping her finger against them in thought. “Moths tend to mean new adversaries.”

“New? Like, newer than the djinn currently gunning for me?” I frown.

“Well when did they start?” she asks. “Before or after you faced the djinn?”

I think back. “...after, I guess. The day after. I was sleep deprived and hyped up on bond-sensations, but there were definitely moths where there shouldn’t have been.”

“So yes, a new adversary. Keep your eyes peeled for new rivals.” She puts her cup in the sink. “Now go get dressed to spend the day preparing, and don’t forget to bring your dress for tonight. The new one I bought you.”

I nod, handing the last of my coffee back to Jules. “Did you bring your suit?” I ask him, noting he’s wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt.

He nods. “No worries, Em. No need to control freak me.”

I grumble and head to my room.