The Armourer looked at me coldly. "You know very well we don’t have dungeons anymore, Eddie. They were converted into billiards rooms long ago.”

“You have billiards here?” said Molly, brightening up.

“Oh, yes,” I said. “They’re very popular. In fact, you have to queue to get in.”

“One more joke like that, and I’ll rack your balls,” said Molly.

“What’s wrong with putting me in my father’s old room?” said Harry. “The Matriarch hasn’t got around to reassigning it yet, has she? Thought not. Dear Grandmother always was very sentimental . . . where her son was concerned. And who has a better right to the Gray Fox’s room, than his only legitimate son?”

“Well, yes . . . I suppose so,” said the Armourer. “Yes, James would approve. Come along with me, Harry, and . . . Roger, and I’ll get you settled in.”

“See you later, Cousin Eddie,” said Harry.

“Yes,” I said. “You will.”

The Armourer led the two of them away across the lawns and towards the Hall. Molly and I watched them go, while the gryphons wandered back to crouch beside us, snorting and growling unhappily. I patted a few heads and tugged a few ears, and they wandered off again, happily enough. It bothered me that they hadn’t been able to predict Harry and Roger’s arrival in advance. Made me wonder what else the hellspawn might be able to hide from us.

“And this was starting out to be such a good day,” I said finally. “Now Harry’s back, just itching for a chance to stick a knife in my back, and if that weren’t enough he’s brought a half-breed demon with him. I mean, I’m not prejudiced, but . . . dammit, he’s a thing from Hell!” I looked at Molly. “Did you really go out with him?”

“Not one more word out of you, Eddie,” she said coldly. “Or you will never see me naked again.”

We went back to my room in the Hall. I felt an urgent need for a little down time. When I decided I was going to have to move back into the Hall, so I could keep a proper eye on things, I had to decide where I was going to stay. My old room was long gone, given over to someone else in the family when I left to be a field agent. (Crying Free! Free at last! all the way.) And it wasn’t like I had any fond measures of the pokey little garret room. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter, and every time the wind blew in the night, I had to get out of bed and jam a handkerchief into the gap between the window and the frame to stop it from rattling. (The family has never believed in central heating; makes you soft.)