Jon swept the row of boxes off the shelves, ignoring them as they crashed against his legs. “I hadn’t decided yet. I’m aiming for something closer to a public relations disaster than a panic-and-run disaster, but I haven’t had a lot of luck with things going like I expected them these last few days.” He winced as his brain reviewed the past eighteen hours. “You should probably have the guards ready.”
The king nodded. “Of course.” He was quiet as Jon started opening the next row of boxes, but now the worry was evident in his eyes. “You haven’t mentioned Kate.”
Jon stopped, staring at the shelves even though his eyes refused to focus on anything. The love potion, not quite sure what do to with the rush of emotion crashing against it from the opposite direction, tried a desperate grab for guilt before it threw its metaphorical hands in the air. “She’s trying to take care of things on her end,” he said finally, voice a little rough. “She’ll get here when she can.”
The expression on the king’s face made it clear he didn’t find the answer sufficiently comforting, but he knew there was nothing he could say that would improve the situation. It was almost a relief when the door opened again, breaking the silence.
“I presume I’m not interrupting anything?” Lawton asked dryly. When Jon started to say something, Lawton pointed at him. “Before you ask, I have yet to collect the crowd of women I promised you. I was distracted by an unexpected guest.” He tilted his head toward the hallway. “He’d like an audience, if you have a few moments.”
Jon studied Lawton’s pleasantly bland expression for some sign of what he wasn’t saying. The man had a sense of humor that left most people feeling like they’d brought a pen to a sword fight, but he could be almost ruthlessly protective when he had to be. If the “unexpected guest” was trouble, Lawton would have kept him far enough away they could get a plan of attack ready. As for someone good . . . the fact that he hadn’t said “she” essentially eliminated that possibility.
The only option left, unfortunately, was more complication.
“Fine. He gets sixty seconds.” Jon went to the door, the king following behind at a more leisurely pace. When Lawton stepped aside to let them pass, Jon glared at him. “If this ‘guest’ annoys me,” he muttered, “you’re the one responsible for his death.”
Lawton nodded. “Naturally, though you may want to consult with your father before doing anything rash.” He pushed the door open wide enough to show who was standing behind it.
Jon’s eyes widened for a moment, then closed. He knew he should be yelling at his brother, but he didn’t even have the energy to be angry anymore. “Hello, Rupert,” he said. “Want your crown back?”
“Of course, not. Why do people keep asking me that?”
Jon saw his brother peering worriedly at him. “But I heard you were under an evil spell, and that I was going to maybe get married at one point but now I’m not,” Rupert added. “So, the question I was going to ask you can probably wait a little while.”
The love potion sent out an almost painfully strong burst of jealousy at the thought of Rupert marrying Rellie, undoubtedly in revenge for that earlier reminder of Kate. Jon no longer had the energy to fight it, or even care. The fine edge of exhaustion-fueled energy that had kept him going this long had disappeared, and all he wanted to do was go back into the closet and keep looking for the stupid shoes until he fell asleep standing up. “Right now, I couldn’t care less what your question is,” he said flatly. “And you are definitely not getting married, but what you are doing is staying right here where I can have guards on you at all times. If you even think about wandering off again and leaving me here in the middle of a ball, which you know how much I hate—”
He felt cool, slender fingers brush against the side of his neck. Then they disappeared, and he could see a faint pink mist out of the corner of his eye as some kind of stiff fabric slapped against that same patch of skin. As soon as it made contact, a sensation like icy cold water rushed through his brain.
When it was done, he felt clean. Jon tested it by picturing the curves of Rellie’s face, concentrating on the sound of her name, and all that followed was the vague affection he imagined he’d feel for a little sister if he ever had one. The relief of it was so profound it nearly staggered him, and he felt those same slender fingers touch his shoulder as if intending to steady him. An instant later, they disappeared again.
So he turned around, grabbed the mysterious hand, and dragged its owner into his arms.
Kate made a small sound of surprise as he pulled her against him, but Jon just wrapped his arms around her and held on as tightly as he could. A second later he heard the sound of a wand dropping to the floor and felt her arms slide around his back. Her fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt as she held on to him just as hard.
He pressed his face against the softness of her hair, finally feeling like he could breathe again. “You’ll tell me if I start cutting off your air supply, right?”
She huffed out a laugh that ended on a slightly damp note. “Not if it means you’d let go of me.”
He grinned, tempted to pick her up and start spinning around like some sort of love-struck idiot. As that would mean he’d have to give her a little breathing room, he settled instead for squeezing her tighter. “That’s not something you’re going to need to worry about.”
Beside them, he heard Lawton’s chuckle. “I told you he’d be happy to see you, Katharine. One of these days you’ll learn not to doubt me.”
That was enough to make Jon pull back to look at her. “You thought I wouldn’t want to see you?” he asked. When he saw the telltale spark of guilt in Kate’s eyes, he took her face in his hands. “Kate, I begged you not to leave after that whole mess at the ball. I made you promise me you’d come back, and somewhere in the middle of all that I’m sure I proposed to you at least twice. Were you not paying attention to anything I said?”
“I also got you doused with True Love, because I didn’t think about how paranoid Bubbles would be after Thea’s accident.” Kate pressed her lips together for a moment, but it wasn’t enough to keep her voice from breaking. “I left you, and you got hurt while I wasn’t there. You had every right to be mad at me.”
The words were a gift Jon hadn’t known he needed, and he felt his throat tighten as he wrapped her back in his arms. “But you also came back,” he murmured. “Just like you promised you would.”
She buried her face in his neck. “I’d love to promise you I won’t leave again, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be dragged away by law enforcement at some point.”
He almost laughed. Not that someone trying to arrest Kate wasn’t a possibility—now that he knew there was a cure, he had no trouble believing Fairy Godmothers, Inc. hadn’t wanted to let it go. But they’d have to get through him first, and that wasn’t about to happen. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. Law enforcement doesn’t stand a chance against me.”
She laughed a little, tightening her arms around him. “You know, we really have to talk about this whole ‘controlling the universe’ thing.”
“Believe me, he and I have had that particular discussion on more than one occasion,” Lawton said.
Beside him, Jon’s father spoke for the first time. “I have to ask—law enforcement?”
“Oh, they’re not so bad,” Rupert chimed in, completing the helpful commentary. “Not that I do that sort of thing anymore, but they were always really good about getting me home when I woke up and didn’t know where I was. And when that ogre started chasing me with a club after I accidentally thought he was a girl, they were nice enough to keep him from beating me up.”
“I don’t think that’s what Kate’s worried about,” the king said gently.
Kate lifted her head to look at the king. “My boss dosed Jon and Rellie with a love potion as part of a contract agreement. Ned and I had to steal the antidote.” She gave everyone a brief explanation of what had happened, starting at her discovery of her boss’s definition o
f an insurance policy and ending with Rupert bringing her and Ned to Lawton.
“And when this Bubbles of yours finds out the patches are missing, you expect her to unleash the fury of whatever retribution she has at her disposal?” Lawton asked. When Kate nodded, his brow lowered in thought. “So, we should have at least until morning before there’s a chance of her discovering the absence. Depending how often she opens that particular drawer and whether or not you thought to leave the empty box in the drawer as camouflage, it could be as long as a week or more.”
Kate winced. “The next time I find myself doing a little breaking and entering, remind me to bring you along.”
Lawton’s smile held only the faintest trace of his usual smirk. “I look forward to it.”
Jon gave the corridor a quick scan. “Should I be worried that Ned isn’t here?”
“I haven’t met a Ned yet.” The king held up a hand. “How does he fit into all this?”
“He fell in love with the girl I was going to marry for a little while,” Rupert said. “Which means it’s probably good I was off trying to find out how to get inner peace when she came by. That would have been awkward,”
Kate shot Rupert an odd look, then shook her head and turned back to Jon. “Lawton told him where to find Rellie. He wanted to be the one to give her the antidote himself.” She grinned. “Which makes sense, given the perks that come afterward.”
Jon leaned forward for a kiss, his heart racing fast enough he probably couldn’t fall asleep now even if someone enchanted him. At some point he was probably going to end up collapsing whether he wanted to or not, but with Kate here, he doubted it would be anytime soon.
They broke apart to a light smattering of applause, and Jon grimaced. “You know,” he murmured, “I actually forgot about them for a second.”
Kate smiled softly and pressed a quick kiss against his cheek. “I consider it a compliment.”
Threading his fingers through Kate’s, Jon faced the rest of the group. “I know the three of you have already technically met, but now that we’re finally all in the same place again, it’s time to be a little more formal about this. Father, Rupert, this is Kate Harris—Fairy Godmother extraordinaire, and your future daughter- and sister-in-law. Be nice, and try not to frighten her any more than she already has been until I get her to the altar.”
Embarrassment lit Kate’s eyes. “Jon . . .”
“You promised you wouldn’t leave me again,” he reminded her, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. “That certainly sounds like you said yes to me.”
“Normally, we’re not quite this overwhelming.” The king gave Kate a small, kind smile. “Not that you haven’t done wonderfully.”
“Besides, you saved Jon,” Rupert added confidently. “Unless he wants to get himself into trouble again, which would be really hard because he doesn’t usually do this sort of thing at all, you’ve pretty much got to marry him.”
Jon smiled. “My brother’s right, you know.” He brushed an errant lock of hair away from her forehead. “You’re the only one I’d trust to save me again.”
Kate stared at him for a heartbeat, then leaned forward to give him a quick, fierce kiss. When they broke apart, she narrowed her eyes. “Stop being adorable for five minutes so we can talk about this seriously.” Her expression softened as she lifted her hands to cradle the sides of his face. “I’m crazy about you, and right now I’m pretty sure I’d follow you anywhere you wanted me to, but we need to take a little time and see if we’ll end up killing each other without a crisis to distract us.”
Jon raised an eyebrow. “Which we can do just as easily engaged, particularly if I promise to hold off the wedding for a year.”
Beside them, Lawton sighed and shook his head. “Clearly, Katharine, the two of you are meant to be together. I’ve never met another woman who, upon being given heartfelt, yet appropriately poetic declarations of a man’s affection, urges him to ‘stop being so adorable’ and begins the emotional version of trade negotiations.”
“She’s doing fine,” Jon snapped, shooting his friend a quelling glare. He turned to Kate, gesturing with his head back toward the closet door. “I know I should have suggested this a while ago, but how about we retire to some place a little more private?”
They ducked into the closet, and Jon shut the door behind them and leaned against it. Kate, the corners of her mouth tugging into a smile, tapped her finger against the wood. “You know, they can still hear us if they try hard enough.”
“Maybe, but it’ll be harder for them to contribute.” He traced his fingers along the edge of her jaw, expression solemn. “Take a chance, Kate. We’re good for each other.”
“Are you sure you’ve been paying attention at any point during the last twenty-four hours?”
“Which proves my point. I would have had a much better day if you’d been here instead of Rellie.”
Before she could respond, someone knocked on the door behind him. Jon squeezed his eyes shut, tempted to ignore it, but there was still too much potential for trouble. “Tell me we can just let Lawton take care of it.”
Kate sighed and kissed his cheek. “If we could, he wouldn’t have let whoever it was knock in the first place.”
When they opened the door, the king was standing in the corridor alone. “Lawton thought you should both know Rellie isn’t where he left her.” He pointed down the hallway. “Apparently the young man with the wings is already looking for her, and Lawton and Rupert followed to help him search.”
Kate and Jon looked at each other, then hurried out of the room after them.
TWENTY-FOUR
All the Little Things
Kate couldn’t stop herself from imagining worst-case scenarios as they went to find Rellie. The miracles of the last hour had undoubtedly used up every shred of good fortune she was ever going to have—and probably a few other people’s allotments, to be honest—which meant it was about time for something else terrible to happen.
“Another left turn, down one more corridor and we’ll be there,” said Jon, pointing to the corner ahead of them. They had decided to start at the room where they knew Rellie had last been to give themselves a starting point for the search. “Of course, with our less-than-stellar luck, they decided to start looking on the other side of the palace and we’ll still have no idea where to find them.”
When he caught sight of her face, he stopped in his tracks and focused on her. “You know she’s fine, right?” he said, assurance in every word. “After everything else we’ve had to deal with, this is nothing more than an overly complicated game of hide and seek.”
She took a deep breath, trying to believe him. She hadn’t had enough practice yet to be any good at it, and as wonderful as it was it didn’t provide nearly as steady a ground as planning for the worst. “I’m never going to be very good at hoping for the best,” she warned softly, meeting his eyes in a silent plea for understanding. “If this has any chance of working, you’re going to have to be okay with that.”
He watched her for a long, careful moment, then flashed a grin that was almost enough to make her fall in love with him all over again right there. “I’ve always thought I could use a little more hard-headed realism in my life.”
She was stunned to find a laugh bubbling up. “No, you didn’t.”
He was unrepentant as they started moving again. “True, but only because I didn’t know you would be the one providing the realism.”
Luckily, they didn’t have much further to go; Ned was at the far end of the corridor, quietly checking each room and clearly trying very hard not to panic. Concerned, Kate let go of Jon’s hand to hurry over to him. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Ned closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against the door he’d been about to open. “I don’t know where Rellie is, I can’t go very far to look for her because it’d be too easy for me to get lost and be completely useless, and I can’t even make any noise trying to find her because the queen and Rellie’s entire ste
pfamily are all in the same room at the other end of the hall.”
At a loss, Kate decided to at least try and get at little more information. “Why is Rellie’s stepfamily still here?” she asked Jon.
Jon shrugged. “I’m not sure yet if I’ll need them for the plan I’m pulling together. I was trying to keep them contained until I’d made a decision, and then you distracted me.” His gaze shifted to Ned as he caught a change in the younger man’s expression. “You’ve thought of something.”
Kate turned back to see Ned’s eyes unfocused, staring at whatever idea was unfolding in his mind. After a second, he blinked and shook his head. “Never mind. It’s probably stupid.”
Kate prodded him in the shoulder. “Tell us.”
“It’s just . . . if there was a chance Rellie heard her stepfamily coming, she’s not exactly the kind of person who would try to run away.”
Understanding hit Kate and Jon at almost the same time. They turned to look at each other, then Jon gave her a rueful smile. “Sadly, I believe my greatest contribution to the proceedings from this point would be to stay safely out of the way and let you handle this.”
Sympathetic, Kate gently patted his shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll get to save the day again before the night’s out.” She turned to Ned. “Right now, however, it’s your turn.”
The two hurried down the corridor, slowing as they got closer to their target. Ned had already gotten out one of the patches and was attaching it to his wand as Kate eyed the doors to the rooms on each side of the room with the queen and Rellie’s stepfamily. “Rellie would have been coming from the same direction we did, so this one would have been the closest.” She reached for the doorknob, then stopped. Really, this was Ned’s moment. “Do you want to go first?”
Ned hesitated, no doubt wrestling with the potential risks and advantages. One of the things they’d always had in common was the tendency to overthink things. “I’ll be right behind you,” he said, finally.
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