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that.”
    “Hey there,” says Maxon. With a puff of smoke, he dematerializes from his spot by the fireplace, only to re-poof himself right between me and Mister Mystery. Suddenly, I feel hyper-aware of all the eyes staring at me. Awkwardness presses all around my body, like physical weights against my skin.
    While Maxon blocks me from my guy, the rest of my family glares at Mister Mystery like he just mauled me on the carpet.
    “T, this is my sister Portia.” Maxon shoots me a meaningful look. “You know him?”
    It’s hard to speak when you’re suddenly too amped up to breathe. “Kind of.”
    “We’ve never been formally introduced,” says my guy.
    “Oh.” Maxon exhales with relief. “That explains a lot.”
    Here it comes.
    “You don’t know who he is, Portia?” asks Gram from across the room.
    “It’s me, guys,” I say, and my voice is a little short. “Being Marked for the Void takes up a lot of my time.”
    Yow. Did that come out of my mouth? Why yes, yes it did. I scan the room. Everyone stares at me like I just sprouted an extra head. It’s not a bad kind of feeling, actually.
    “Oh,” says Grandma Cam. She presses her lips together firmly. I’m about to give myself some mental high fives for having shut up anyone in my family ever when Maxon gently touches my shoulder.
    “Portia,” he says. “This is Emperor Tempest.”
    My mouth falls open. Again. I say nothing. Again.
    The words echo through my mind in odd ways. Emperor Tempest? As in, the ruler of all Furor? This guy is the greater demon of lust and wrath. No one beats him in battle, and he’s notorious for taking new lovers like clockwork. No wonder I felt such an overwhelming attraction to him after only one glance. Causing obsessive behavior is his job.
    Wow, I’m totally out of my league here.
    Maxon fairly drags Tempest back to the rest of my family. “You came here to talk about the sinkholes, yeah?”
    Anger heats my blood. I don’t need Maxon protecting me like some child. My family either, for that matter. When I speak, my voice has a sharp edge to it. “Maxon, I thought you had to go home to Lianna.”
    “Nah, I’m good.” Maxon doesn’t look at me when he replies. That only happens when he’s really irritated about something. My jaw clenches with frustration.
    “It’s like this,” says Maxon to Tempest. “The Firmament is in bad shape. The first thing we have to do is stop the Void.”
    “Not the first thing,” I say. No one looks at me.
    Except Tempest.
    “You’re our foremost expert on the Void,” says Tempest. “Why don’t you come closer? Maybe everyone will hear you better if you stand by the table.”
    “She’s fine where she is,” says Maxon quickly.
    I grit my teeth so hard, I’m surprised I don’t chip a molar. Did I just get dismissed again?
    “What’s important is this,” says Maxon. “We know how to find the Void now. We can take them down.”
    “Let me guess,” says Tempest. “You want to raise an army.”
    I roll my eyes. Here it comes. My family is very pro-military. They’ve all spent years raising warriors for battle. Too bad that tactic won’t work here. “Guys, you have to listen.”
    Maxon looks between Tempest and me. “Portia, I get that you want attention now.”
    I inhale a shocked breath. Did my brother really say that to me? “No, Maxon. This isn’t about me. It’s about the information you need to make a good decision. Destroying the Void will work over the long haul, but we don’t have time to focus on that now.” I’d say that it feels wrong to kill them, but I know that’d go over like a lead balloon. “First things first. We must rejuvenate the Firmament. Get more power in there.”
    “And how do we do that?” asks Tempest.
    It takes me a few seconds to process that I actually got a follow-up question.
    How do we do that?
    A pleasant shiver runs down my spine. This guy is the Emperor of the Furor and he’s looking at me like my opinion counts. No,