Diamond Fire (Hidden Legacy, #3.5)(5)

“I want to have his children. I will love them whether they have magic or not.”

Arrosa’s eyes narrowed again. “Connor, you, and your children will be in danger much more frequently than most people. You are Primes. We live by different rules and my son has made powerful enemies. Some women would take an easier path.”

Okay, I didn’t like what she was implying. I raised my head. “I may not be a telekinetic, but I promise you, anybody who thinks they can harm Connor or our children will have to go through me and they will change their mind fast. If they have a mind left by the time I’m done.”

She scrutinized my face. “What if I decide that I don’t like this marriage?”

My heart made a flip in my chest. I was afraid of that. “Then I’m very sorry. I have the deepest respect for you and I will still strive to be the best daughter-in-law I can be. But I love him, and I will marry him.”

Connor chose that moment to walk out on the balcony, carrying a platter with three steaming coffee mugs filled with tea. “Are you done torturing Nevada?”

“I like her,” Arrosa said.

What?

“How in the world did you manage to get her?”

“He kidnapped me and chained me to the floor in his basement.”

“What?!”

“It was a misunderstanding,” Rogan said and shot me a look. Yeah, payback is a bitch. Deal with it.

“I am going to need the whole story,” Arrosa said.

“Does this mean you will attend the wedding?” he asked.

“What kind of a question is that?”

And my future husband just successfully derailed his mother’s train of thought and sent her into a new direction. Nice.

Arrosa floated her cup to her and sipped. “Have you set a date?”

“In a couple of weeks,” Connor said.

“Out of the question. It will take that long just to inform all of the family.”

Family? What family? I glanced at Connor. “I thought you didn’t have any family?”

“Oh, he does. He has a grandfather, four uncles, two aunts, fourteen cousins, some of them with their own children, and that’s not counting the extended family. Most of them are from my side and they live in Spain. He just doesn’t like some of them very much.”

I pivoted to Connor.

“Some of them are vultures,” he said and drank his tea. “I want a simple wedding, Mother.”

“Connor Anders Rogan.”

Oh-oh. Middle name. Never a good sign.

“I was planning to invite Uncle Inigo,” he said. “And Uncle Mattin. What if we only invite the ones I like? If we’re inviting everyone, perhaps we should invite Kelly.”

Oh, that was a low blow. Kelly Waller was Connor’s cousin and she and her son were the only surviving blood relatives from his father’s side. In a family of magic users, she was born with a weak talent, while Connor’s power was off the charts. She’d married for love instead of genetics, and her parents cut her off. From her point of view, she had lost everything. She and her husband struggled, and she had expected Connor, her baby cousin, to set things right when he became an adult. Instead Connor enlisted in the Army and went to fight his own war. She felt twice betrayed.

By the time he came back and tried to reach out, her jealousy and resentment had gone toxic. She hated him and the family so much she’d tried to kill Connor on multiple occasions. For this purpose, she gave her only son, Gavin, to a psychopathic Prime, who used him to murder an off-duty cop. Now Gavin sat in prison, and only Connor’s influence and a great deal of investigative work on my end had kept him from being shot on sight.

We would probably invite Gavin and his father. I was reasonably sure that the Rogan family name would buy Gavin a day pass. Kelly was a fugitive, from both the law and the House Assembly. If I saw Kelly, I would put a bullet between her eyes without hesitation. I wouldn’t try to apprehend her or talk to her. I would shoot her until I ran out of bullets.

Arrosa looked at him. “Is this a practice marriage for you? Are you planning on divorcing Nevada and doing this again?”

Rogan’s face took on that look of intense concentration that usually meant he expected someone to shoot at us. “No.”

Magic snapped out of my mother-in-law and I nearly fell out of my chair.

“You are my only son,” Arrosa Rogan declared.

The loving mother had vanished. Her expression hardened, her eyes narrowed, and the tone of command in her voice made me want to snap to obey. She would give Grandma Victoria a run for her money.

“If fortune smiles on us, this will be your only wedding. This will be a formal affair. Your bride will be wearing a breathtaking gown, you will be wearing a tuxedo, and I will watch you two exchange vows and kiss in front of our entire family and all of our friends, and I will glow with pride at this moment. You will not rob me of that joy. Later I will talk to your father about it and tell him how beautiful it was. Am I making myself clear?”

The Scourge of Mexico and the most terrifying Prime in Houston unhinged his manly jaws and said the only thing he could, “Yes, Mother.”

“Wonderful. We will set the date three months from now. That will give everyone time to rearrange their schedules.” Arrosa turned back to me and smiled, all warmth and sunshine again. “I’m so excited! My dear, the dress, the hair, the flowers. You have so many wonderful decisions to make.”