“Wow, this smells good, Elvi,” she murmured as she fixed her coffee.

“I thought so too,” she admitted on a laugh as she headed back around the kitchen counter. “So I ended up making a big bowl of it so everyone can have some.”

“And I made loads of toast,” Mabel announced, approaching now with a stack of plates topped with silverware. “Who wants a plate?”

Allie wasn’t surprised when everyone decided they were hungry. The smell coming from her plate was mouthwatering and she couldn’t wait to dig in. But good manners made her wait politely until everyone had plates and silverware, and the food was on the table. However, the moment the last person was seated and the food was being passed around, Allie dug in.

It was as good as it smelled and she was starved, so it was several moments before more questions began to filter into her mind. Allie was halfway through her meal before she asked, “So Stella was somehow given these nanos?”

There was a moment of silence as everyone glanced up from their plates, and then Magnus swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded. “Yes. Abaddon would have given both her and her husband some of his blood to transfer the nanos.”

“And Liam got them from Stella while in the womb?” she queried.

“Yes,” he said solemnly.

Allie nodded and took another bite of food, but her mind was churning things over, and after swallowing, she asked, “So he’ll never look older than twenty-five or so once he grows up?”

“No. Physically, his aging will stop at around that age,” Elvi said this time. “As will Sunny, Gracie, and Teddy.”

Allie nodded, but asked, “But you all weren’t born immortals?” When the others stared at her blankly, she explained, “I mean, Leonora said she was eighty-four when she was turned. So she wasn’t born immortal. Were the rest of you turned too, or . . . ?”

“Mabel, Leonora, and I were all mortal by birth and turned some years ago,” Elvi said, spooning some sugar into her coffee and stirring it briefly. Setting down the spoon, she added, “But Victor and DJ as well as Leonora’s husband, Alessandro, were born immortals.”

Allie accepted that and then turned to Magnus with curiosity.

Before she could ask, he said, “I was born mortal.”

Her eyes widened slightly at this news. For some reason she would have guessed that he was born immortal like the other men. Allie wasn’t sure why.

“Oh, Madre de Dio, something smells so delicious.”

Everyone at the table turned to peer at the man who had entered the house. Dark haired like Leonora, the man quickly shed his coat and boots and moved to join them, heading straight for Leonora.

“Ah, Gioia, it must be you that smells so good, sì?” he murmured, bending to kiss her.