Marcello snorted. "She's that bad?" he asked. "And yet you're still trying to convince me to marry into this family?"

"I am trying to convince you to marry me," she said, twining her fingers around his wrist and tugging him nearer. "Everyone else is incidental. Besides, the two family members that really need avoiding are ne'er here, while all the best ones are always close at hand."

"The best ones being you, you, and you?" he teased, sliding his arms back around her waist. "But you just told me I swear loyalty to your clan."

"I am the last of the clan, and e'en I'm not direct," she said. She shrugged. "The idea is that eventually I might produce some others, but until then--" she gestured around them "--I get to sleep in any room I want."

He raised an eyebrow, and looked back at the door. "In that case, has the other me suggested..." he waggled his eyebrows at her.

"I don't know," she replied, "but I'll ask him." She looked back at him, fondly. "Come down with me. You might have to wait in the hall a little, as I was going to see to your sister, but you'll have me after that."

He hesitated a moment, and then offered her his arm. "How can I refuse an offer like that?" he asked.