I liked the mansion best when it was full of voices. For the past few days, Zephyr's relatives had made themselves at home, and oddly, I hadn't minded.
There was something comforting about how loud and blunt they were. Unapologetically themselves. It made me feel less like a guest—the way I had during my ceremony, and more like I truly belonged.
Zeb and Trina had been the first to arrive at the mansion. They didn't bring their children, all grown now and off living their own lives, but Trina more than made up for the absence with her loud laugh and habit of mothering everyone in sight.
Zephyr had told me Zeb was the second oldest of his uncles, standing at a hundred and fifty years, with his wife standing at a hundred and forty-five. They didn't look their age one bit.
Stefan and Susa
