If Lorcan had been able to hear Lucia's thoughts, he would have wondered what was cynical about not expecting a house to have certain emotions. But since he couldn't -- "Apology accepted," he said seriously, and added, to tease Lucia out of her apparent self-reproach, "And you're right that Min sometimes surprises me. But I certainly hope she never surprises me by taking a dislike to my friends for silly reasons."
He patted her knee, then tilted his head to the side. "I do have coffee, but it's not something I'd trust to Min." Food preparation in general, he preferred to handle himself, though Min could handle timing the oven and things like that.
He hopped up again. "I'm doing experiments with magical insects," he explained as he led the way to the kitchen. "And I thought that maybe being on an island surrounded by salt water would protect them from the magic effect, so I put them on islands about the same distance from London as some of my other experiments."
Reaching the kitchen, he got out the coffee and started making it. "But there didn't seem to be any difference. Except on one island, there didn't seem to be anything special about it, the insects stayed much more healthy."
He shrugged. "I brought the insects back to check them out at work."