I had my family, I had Killian, I had the Drakes, and I even had my House. I was unimaginably happy.

The next day I threw my gym bag in the trunk of the black SUV. It was late afternoon and the sky was painted brilliant hues of gold, baby blue, and pink.

“Are you ready?” Killian asked, crowding me from behind.

I pressed my lips together as I mentally reviewed everything I’d packed—today was our scheduled day for Killian and me to make the switch from House Medeis to Drake Hall. (We usually shifted back and forth between the two buildings every two weeks or so.)

I snapped my fingers. “Nope,” I said. “I forgot my gym shoes.”

Killian made a noise in the back of his throat. “I don’t know why you won’t let me purchase a full wardrobe to leave at your room in Drake Hall.”

I walked backwards, away from the car. “Because that’s not practical, and nobody needs that many clothes.”

“Whatever, peasant,” Killian said. “Don’t take too long.”

“I just have to run and grab them from my bedroom. I won’t be long.” I waved to the five-car motorcade that was waiting to escort Killian and me as I jogged back to House Medeis.

Rupert was driving the car Killian and I would ride in. When he saw me he stuck his hands on his hips. I gave him an obnoxious wink, and he dove behind the car.

“Brat!” he called after me.

I cackled as I jumped a bed of budding tulips.

Spring had arrived. A few more weeks, and we’d be at the anniversary of when I officially entered servitude to the Drake Family—not that it had lasted long.

I jumped up the porch stairs and affectionately patted the doorframe as I slipped through the front door.

I almost slammed into Great Aunt Marraine, who was making a beeline for the outdoors. “Oh, my! Did you forget something, Adept?” She wobbled a bit when I darted around her.

“Yeah, my shoes.” I pounded up the stairs, waving when I passed a clutch of vampires meandering down the hall.

Shortly after Killian and I decided to go official, it became pretty obvious why the House had added an extra wing on when I Ascended.

It wasn’t because it expected a huge uptick in wizards applying to join—though we had gained about a dozen new members since then.

No, the extra wing and all the bedrooms and sitting rooms with no windows weren’t for us wizards…they were for the Drakes.

About twenty-five Drake vampires had moved in, making House Medeis their residence. Some of them rotated back to Drake Hall with Killian and me, or on a monthly basis for training and to receive their assignments. Others—specifically Killian’s minions who worked at the Curia Cloisters—made House Medeis their permanent home.

The reverse had happened, too.

Roughly eight House Medeis wizards flip-flopped back and forth between Drake Hall and House Medeis. Again, some of them rotated with Killian and me, but sometimes they did whatever they wanted, like Momoko and Felix.

When I popped out of the stairs and zipped down the hallway, making a break for my room, I almost collided with the two of them as they sprinted for the stairs.

Seriously, why was everyone in such a hurry?

“Woah, hey.” I paused long enough to smile at my childhood friends. “I thought you two weren’t coming with us today.”

“We’re not,” Felix said. “We just wanted to say goodbye.”

I tilted my head and frowned. “You said goodbye when I came up here to grab my gym bag.”

“He meant we wanted to say goodbye to Rupert.” Momoko smirked.

Rupert was one of the vampires who had surprisingly requested a room in House Medeis and ferried back and forth with Killian and me.

I was honestly shocked, particularly because it had become something of a wizard hobby to pick on him by constantly trying to hug him—something he wasn’t fond of.

I laughed as I took another step toward my room. “Can’t let him escape unscathed, huh?”

“Nope!” Momoko said with pure satisfaction.

“Oh, we did want to tell you, though, we’re thinking about offering to be blood donors,” Felix said.

I paused midstep. “Say what?”

“Yeah, I think I trust Celestina plenty for my blood to taste fine, possibly Josh, too.” Momoko scratched her side as she thought.

“I haven’t picked a candidate yet,” Felix informed me. “But I know I want someone who is the vampire version of a gym rat. If I feed them I bet I could bargain for some extra weightlifting lessons.”

“Why do you guys want to be blood donors?” I asked.

Momoko pressed her lips together. “Because, frankly, it’s not fair how much better of a team you and the Eminence are since he’s immune to your magic. I figure if a couple of us wizards donate blood, we’ll get elite vampire buddies to fight and train with too.”

“Even though we haven’t had to fight since the Night Court surrendered?” I asked.

“Hey.” Felix jabbed a finger in my direction. “You told us that we trained to be prepared!”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, bewildered.

Momoko grinned. “It’s not as big a deal as you think, Hazel,” she said.

“And we’re not the only ones thinking about it,” Felix added.

“Okay.” I nodded. “If you guys are really serious about it, let me know.”

“Right-o!”

“Now if you’ll excuse us, we have a red-haired vampire to embarrass.” Momoko’s grin turned positively wicked. “Oh, Rupert, our darling!” she sang at the top of her lungs as she and Felix scrambled down the stairs.

I couldn’t help but shake my head as I zipped into my room and fished my gym shoes out of my closet.

Being with Killian had a lot of ripple effects I hadn’t anticipated—vampires were living with us, other supernaturals were very eager to support us…and it seemed like my own family was going to fundamentally change as a result.

But, really, all of it was positive change.

And even though Killian and I were breaking something of a soft taboo…I couldn’t help but feel like magic itself approved.

These last few weeks, I could have sworn I’d gained an extra flourish and a new loop on my wizard mark that hadn’t been there before. But maybe that was just wishful thinking.

I ran back down through the House and burst onto the front porch, a little surprised when I realized about half of the House—wizard and vampire alike—was standing on the front lawn.

I paused on the sidewalk, my shoes dangling from my fingers. “Is everything okay?” I cautiously asked.

Josh and Celestina were closest to me.

“Of course,” Josh said. “It’s just—”

Celestina slapped a hand over his mouth, her expression tight. “The House swallowed the Eminence again.” She pointed to a mound of bushes, brush, and budding leaves that was about the size of two cars, and woven so thick I couldn’t even see Killian.

“Dang it, what did he do?” I dropped my shoes and ran for the bush-ball, but no one answered me, even when I got close enough to touch the greenery. “I’m sorry,” I said to the House. “Whatever he said he didn’t mean it. Could you let him go?”

I didn’t feel any anger from the House. It didn’t even sulk. Instead, I felt…excitement?

It opened up a hole in the bush wall, one small enough that even I had to crouch down and shuffle a little to get in.

“Killian?” I called. “Are you okay? And what did you do?” My last word came out as more of a snarl, but any follow up lectures dropped from my mind when I finally made it in.

Instead of being filled with prickers, poison ivy, and other landscaping torture devices, as I had expected, the gigantic sphere was blanketed with wall to wall flowers.

Directly behind Killian was a lilac bush that was blooming unseasonably early—same with the pink and red roses that carpeted the floor. White and yellow lilies dripped from the ceiling, and blue hyacinths ringed the walls.

I blinked, my brain processing too slowly to comprehend what I was seeing. “What’s going on?”

“You’re my One,” Killian said bluntly. “You’re my sun when I shouldn’t be allowed any. I will never love another like I love you, and I’ll never trust another the way I trust you.” Killian held out a tiny black jewelry box. “So I thought we should make things permanent.”

As I stared open mouthed, he added, “I considered asking you at Drake Hall, but I was pretty sure your pain-in-the-ass House would never forgive me.”

I didn’t need to hear any more.

I released a choked laugh and flung myself at Killian.

We kissed, and surprisingly it was Killian who pulled back first. “May I interpret that as a yes?”

“Of course!” I laughed.

“You haven’t even looked at the ring—which I spent a long time picking out,” Killian said. He flicked the box open, revealing an unusual engagement ring.

Instead of the traditional diamond, Killian had picked out two colored gems arranged to almost resemble a flower. One stone was a deep, blood red color, the other was the distinct shade of Medeis blue.

“It’s your House blue, and red for me, the vampire,” he told me as I smiled at it through wet eyes.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

He threaded his arms around me. “Of course. It’s you and me, forever.” He kissed me with enough passion to actually make my knees weak and my heart thump.

“I love you Killian Drake,” I said when we parted.

“I love you Hazel Medeis,” he said.

Faintly, through the protective shell of greenery the House had made, I heard Great Aunt Marraine. “What’d she say?”

Killian sighed. “I might have also asked you here because your family is worse than termites,” he added.

I laughed. “We should tell them.”

Killian kissed my temple. “She said yes,” he called out in a raised voice.