“I already have a plate of meat fixed up for you,” she told Jake in a cooing voice as he excitedly licked her face. “Can he have gravy?”

“Probably not.” Greid shifted the bags. “Too salty.”

“My gravy is not ‘too salty’, Greid.” Una stood up and ushered Jake into the house. He trotted inside after I unclipped his leash, tail wagging as he immediately started sniffing everything. “Ooh, is that a cake?”

“Oh. Yeah.” I held it out to her. “It’s, um… Greid said your favourite is chocolate beetroot, so…”

“Oh, Beryl, you are such a sweetheart. Isn’t she such a sweetheart, Greid?”

“She’s alright.” He grinned at me behind his mother’s back as she turned to call out.

“Nuni! Come and help your brother with the gift bags.”

“Oh shit, Grode’s here?” I heard from somewhere deeper in the house.

Grode?

A few seconds later, a tall demiurgus sauntered into the hallway with a big shit-eating grin already on his face. He had long, artfully windswept hair tinted with blue, and was wearing an expensive-looking cashmere sweater with tailored slacks. A chunky diamond gleamed in his earlobe, and there was an equally thick signet ring on his little finger.

Yep, this was Nuni.

“Grode, bro, what the fuck are you wearing?” He snickered as he approached, yellow eyes alighting on me and gleaming with interest.

Greid huffed. “It’s the Christmas sweater Aunt Indi made me last year. Why aren’t you wearing yours?”

Nuni came to a stop in front of us and shrugged. “I look better in this.”

Una tutted, making her way toward the door he’d just appeared from. “You really should be wearing yours, Nuni. All the others are. She spent a long time making them for you all.”

“Sorry, Ma,” he said absently, grinning again and back to staring at me. “So this is Beryl. Nice to finally meet you.”

I fixed a polite smile on my face and shook his huge hand when he held it out. “Nice to meet you too.”

“You’ve been together a while now, huh?” He looked between Greid and me. “How’d you even meet? It’s not like Grode ever leaves his house.”

“Why are you calling him Grode?” I asked, maybe a little too defensively seeing as we’d just met, but I’d heard all about Nuni.

He was apparently oblivious to the hard edge in my voice, because he grinned.

“Oh, just a nickname I came up with when we were kids. Mix of Greid, grody and chode. I’m just”—he shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels with a faux-humble shrug, his grin turning sheepish—“a creative guy like that, I guess.”

I gave him my best unimpressed look. “Real creative. But hey, maybe I can come up with a nickname for you.”

That wiped the grin off his face, gaze turning wary as he eyed me. “Like what?”

“I’ll think of something.” I gave him a sweet smile. “Your mom told you to help Greid with the bags.”

His ears fluttered, and after a few seconds he slipped his hands out of his pockets to take three of the bags from Greid, who was watching our exchange in silence.

After Nuni had slunk off without another word, Greid leaned down and whispered, “That was hot.”

Chuckling, I took one of the bags from him now that my hands were free. “Now I have to come up with a stupid nickname for him. One that he’ll hate.”

“Pooni.”

I burst out laughing as we shrugged off our coats and hung them with all the others. “Fittingly juvenile. I like it.”

“Whose dog is this?” a voice called, before a demiurgus lady in a fluffy red sweater appeared in the hallway. She looked almost identical to Una, so I was guessing this was Greid’s Aunt Indi. “Oh, Greid, my angel! You’re here! Why are you just standing in the hall?”

She rushed forward and grabbed Greid’s face, pressing a big kiss to his cheek, then turned to do the same to me. “You must be Beryl. Merry Christmas! Aren’t you precious? So tiny. Look at that hair. You’re beautiful. Come on, come in. Do you want a drink? Greid, what does Beryl drink?”

I glanced back at Greid with wide eyes as Indi swept me along, out of the hallway and into a living room. There was a big Christmas tree in the corner decorated with green and gold and red, and—I tried to quickly count—more than a dozen stockings crammed together on the fireplace mantle.

“Everyone, Beryl and Greid are here!” Indi announced. “Bax, get Beryl a drink. Nuni, help your brother with the bags.”

“I already helped him with the fucking bags,” Nuni grumbled. “He can carry two bags, Auntie.”

“Help your brother with the bags.” She tapped him on the back of the head as she passed him, which made him frantically reach up to check his hair. “Now, who haven’t you met yet, Beryl? Daga and Tuvin are helping their mother in the kitchen, and I think Laki and Suni are on the back porch smoking…”

“They are?” Greid asked eagerly, but took my hand with a sheepish expression when I shot him a warning look. He could not just slink off to get high with his siblings while I endured this.

“Honey, maybe Beryl doesn’t want to be paraded around.” A bald demiurgus with a cheerful smile appeared, handing me a flute of champagne. “I’m Bax, Indi’s lifemate and this lot’s uncle. Lovely to meet you.”

“And you.” I took a sip of champagne to calm my nerves and smiled in relief when I saw Kiti ambling over with a grin. “Hi, Kiti.”

“Hi, babe.” She kissed my cheek. “Just let Aunt Indi do her thing then come sit with me and Sorin. Hi, dork.”

“Hi, buttface.” Greid gave her shoulder a weak shove as I peered behind her to wave at Sorin, who was sitting on the couch with a baby in his arms. He wiggled his fingers back, his thumb being held in a death grip.

“That’s one of Daga and Elern’s rugrats.” Kiti leaned in closer and muttered, “They’re too young for me to tell them apart.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Kiti,” Indi scolded. “There were eight of you and we could tell you apart from the moment you were born. Especially our little kushka.”

She pinched Greid’s cheek, making him squirm and mumble, “C’mon, Auntie.”

“Oh! And this is Daga’s lifemate Elern, with…” Indi peered closer at the baby in the demiurgus guy’s arms as he wandered into the room. “Well, anyway. Elern, this is Beryl.”

“Hey.” He looked a little frazzled as he bounced the baby. “Nice to meet you. Hey, Greid.”

“Hey.” Greid had barely got the word out before Indi was ushering us along, through a wide archway and into a steamy kitchen.

I was introduced to Greid’s sister Daga, who had a baby on each hip, and his brother Tuvin, who was stirring something on the stove while Una barked orders at him as she fed Jake chunks of beef. Then I was swept through a side door and outside to the back porch, where Laki and another of Greid’s sisters, Suni, were lounging on the ice-crusted garden furniture and sharing a joint.

“I’ve already met Beryl, Auntie,” Laki said when Indi tried to introduce me, lifting a hand in salute with the joint clasped between their fingers. “How’s it going? ’Sup, Greid. Want a toke?”

“Hell yes.” Greid tugged me forward. “We’ll be back inside in a minute, Auntie.”

Indi tutted. “Fine. I have to go and help your mother anyway. Do you need a top-up, Beryl?”

I’d barely taken a sip. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“Just help yourself when you do.” She squeezed my arm before vanishing back inside, and I took a calming breath.

“Aunt Indi’s even worse than Mom.” Greid’s sister, Suni, sat up straight and extended a hand with a wry smile on her face. “I’m Suni. Nice to meet you.”

“Lovely to meet you.” I shook her hand before Greid pulled me onto his lap in one of the free seats. He wrapped an arm around me tight to keep me warm as he took the joint from Laki.

Taking a small sip of champagne, I looked out at the garden. It was just as jungle-like as Greid’s but looked more purposefully designed, with little walkways meandering between the trees and bushes, most of which were bare. I bet it looked gorgeous in the spring.