by Sarina Dorie
“Okay, but you need to make it quick.” I opened the door wider and flashed an apologetic smile at Thatch. I didn’t mind talking to Elric, but I didn’t like being told what I had to do either.
The moment the door was closed, Elric clucked his tongue. “It’s been a difficult day with those two in charge, hasn’t it? I can feel the stress radiating from your aura. You need a hug, don’t you?”
Before I could answer, he pulled me into a quick, fierce hug.
“Watch the dress. I don’t want you wrinkling it,” Mom said.
Lucifer had placed himself between her and Elric, his back arched. He looked like he was ready to pounce.
“Of course. The dress.” Elric released me.
There was no denying he did make me feel better. Though the feelings he stirred in me were closer to a muse than anything else. I fought an urge to capture the moment with watercolors. That itch didn’t leave my skin as he stood at my side.
He followed me into the cottage. My mom watched him warily. Lucifer hissed.
“Good day to you, Mrs. Lawrence. I trust you’re in good health.” Elric inclined his head. “I beg you will forgive this intrusion, but there are some traditions I cannot ignore, and giving a blessing to one of my subjects is one of them.”
A strained smile stretched across her face. “I’m just going to sit in the corner and chaperone my daughter as you talk.” She emphasized the word as though he might try to do more in her presence.
Elric strolled over to a table in the corner waiting for me to join him and seat myself before he seated himself. Lucifer stalked back and forth, as if he might launch himself at Elric’s face at any moment.
He lifted his chin, looking ever the regal prince. “There are some indiscretions I can overlook. For example, Felix Thatch was supposed to ask my permission for your hand in marriage, but since I was present at the time, and I did think it an adequate solution to your problems, I made no objection. That, and your happiness and health mean the world to me, so I can forgive him for this.”
He would go on forever in this way if I let him. I cut to the point. “I’m sorry Felix didn’t want you to be here. I imagine that must have insulted your traditions and hurt your feelings. You are welcome to stay for the wedding, but it would be best if you refrained from giving us any gifts. Felix specifically stipulated no one was allowed to give us any presents.”
He took my hand in his. “It’s my duty as your sovereign to bless this wedding. I cannot forfeit my obligations.”
“I really appreciate it, but—”
He touched a finger to my lips. “Don’t thank me, love.”
Great. Now I owed him a favor. He knew it too, from the way his eyes twinkled with mischief. “Allow me to give you this small token of goodwill on your wedding day.” He sandwiched my hand between his. “Let this day be the first of many happy days to come with the love of your life.”
“Okay, great. That was nice.” I hoped he would stop there.
He kept going. “May you experience unparalleled pleasure in the bridal chamber tonight and be blessed with joy and prosperity with your soul mate.”
I glanced at Mom, embarrassed she had to listen to this. She sat in the corner, pretending to read a book. Her spine was stiff and straight. I had no doubt she was listening carefully.
“Uh-huh,” I said, fighting the urge to thank him. “That was lovely.” I stood.
Elric rose as well, but he held on to my hand. “I’m not done yet. I wish you to know that I will continue to be your friend and ally. I will protect you from the Raven Court on this day, and those henceforth, to ensure they never disrupt your happiness.”
I waited for more. He hadn’t tried to slip anything in that sounded like a mixed blessing. I smiled uncertainly.
He leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No.”
Lucifer launched forward and swiped at Elric’s leg. If his claws made contact, Elric didn’t show it. He pointed to the cat, and Lucifer turned around and sauntered back to my fairy godmother.
Elric turned back to me. “Will you still permit me to sit in the audience and make sure nothing goes wrong?” His eyes shifted from yellow to gray. “Vega told me about your fears of interference from the Raven Court.”
“You’d do that? You’d make sure they don’t come and curse me?”
“Of course. I couldn’t stand it if they did something to you. And I’m not just saying that because of our alliance.” His eyes were sad as he said it. “And if it makes you happy to marry Felix Thatch, I won’t interfere in the least.”
I nodded.
He leaned in closer. “He does make you happy, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And you don’t feel pressured by him to be married? He hasn’t rushed you into this most sudden marriage or forced you to do anything you aren’t ready for?”
“Why do people keep asking me that?”
“Because we care about you and want to make sure no one has taken advantage of you.” He lowered his voice. “I heard about Vega and how she tried to guilt you into making her your maid of honor.” He winked and then drew away. “As long as you are certain you’ve made the correct decision in the man you wish to marry, then I will fully support you on this.”
Ah, so here was his catch.
I crossed my arms. “But you’re convinced the correct person would be you.” Even though he was engaged to the mother of his unborn child.
“Did I say that? I didn’t say that.” He placed a hand on his heart, affecting perfect innocence. “You’ve told me that isn’t happening. I have respected that. I was just trying to make sure there wasn’t anyone else.”
“Who else would there be?” I asked.
He lifted an eyebrow, looking as imperious as Thatch. “Derrick.”
“No,” I said sharply.
Lucifer yowled loudly.
My mom vacated her seat at the table. She placed her hand on Elric’s arm. “Okay. I think you’ve visited long enough. Clarissa needs to keep getting ready, or else we’re going to be late.”
“Why would you suggest that? I’m over Derrick.” My voice rose. “He’s gone. He’s been cursed by the Raven Queen.”
Elric ignored my fairy godmother. He spoke quickly. “I know about the cranes. Vega told me. I spoke with Mr. Khaba about it. I investigated the matter on your behalf.”
Mom shoved him toward the door. “Prince Elric, that’s quite enough. You’re upsetting Clarissa on her special day.”
Elric stumbled a step closer to the exit, momentarily caught off balance. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Lawrence. It wasn’t my intention to upset anyone. But Clarissa needs to know the truth.”
“The truth about what?” Panic flooded through me. I felt hot and sweaty. The layers of the wedding dress stuck to my skin.
“Stop right there,” Mom said.
I had a feeling she knew something I didn’t, something she didn’t want to tell me.
Elric sighed and looked at her. “I hate to do this to you, but I think it would be best for you to go outside.” He gestured toward the door.
Mom’s green eyes went cloudy, and the vehemence in her expression shifted to calm. She turned and headed toward the door. Lucifer darted to her and then back to me as if unable to decide who needed to be protected more.
I smacked Elric in the shoulder. “Did you just enchant my mom? That isn’t very nice. Undo that this instant.”
“I am sorry about that.” He watched her go. “I will undo it in just a moment. There won’t be any lasting side effects. I promise.”
My fairy godmother opened the door and left. Lucifer dashed out with her, whether of his own volition or Elric’s doing.
We were alone.
Elric took my hands in his again. “Thatch hasn’t been honest with you about the cranes. I can’t imagine how he convinced Mr. Khaba, but he’s in on it as well.”
A
s was my mom I suspected. “In on what?”
His eyes shifted color, the same green as Julian Thistledown’s, leaving my belly feeling unsettled. “You’ve been worrying Derrick has broken through the school wards or the Raven Queen is trying to scare you, but that isn’t it at all. You don’t have to worry about her trying to attack. At least, not any more than usual.”
A crane dropped from the ceiling, sky blue like Derrick’s hair. I jumped back.
Elric caught it in his palm. “You needn’t be afraid.” He held out the origami bird. “This isn’t Derrick. It’s from you. Your magic is doing this.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Unfinished Business
“What?” I asked. “I’m not making those paper cranes fall. Derrick is.”
Only in the dream, he said he hadn’t been making them. Someone had been sending them to him too.
A knock came at the door. We ignored it.
Elric’s eyes looked sad. “No, Clarissa. Nothing has penetrated the school wards. At first Khaba was afraid someone inside the school might be doing it, that Derrick might have broken in and be hiding, or he might have coerced someone else into dropping them, but none of those scenarios are the case. I assisted him in checking. The source of the magic is coming from you.”
“No, it isn’t. I haven’t used magic.”
He squeezed my hands. “Not intentionally, but your subconscious has. You have magic stored up in you, waiting to burst free—and it does so—just not always when you expect. You’re nervous about the wedding and under stress. You have wild magic inside you, untamed and out of control, given fuel by your recent activities with Thatch, but triggered by the pressure to be married so soon. This is your subconscious’s way of trying to talk to you.”
I started to hyperventilate. This wasn’t me. It couldn’t be. I wanted to marry Thatch. I had loved him for years. What could my mind possibly be trying to tell me? That part of me still loved Derrick? That I still had unfinished business with him?
So what? I already knew that. It wasn’t going to stop me from getting married and being with someone not evil who was in love with me. I could be happy without Derrick. I had to be happy without him. My touch would trigger his curse. He’d told me that. That’s why he had stayed away from me.
All these thoughts tumbled around in my head. Out of that chaos of emotion and failure of rationalization, one thought surfaced to the top.
“Why did Derrick think I was marrying you?” I asked.
“The last I spoke with him, I might have said I would be engaged soon. I didn’t mean to imply to you.” He sighed, looking utterly lost. “I visit him and check up on him every once in a while. I have to ensure his curse remains inert so he can lead a normal life.”
So that he didn’t come after me.
“How can he live at all without a heart? How can he live a normal life?” I asked. He would be evil like Odette.
“I can’t remove his curse, but I’ve replaced the Raven Queen’s spell that acts as a heart with a clockwork mechanism designed by the dwarf guild. It’s not so different from Principal Dean’s apparatus, though smaller and less intrusive.”
Another knock came, this one more insistent. “Clarissa?” Thatch asked.
Elric raised his hand. The knocking stopped.
“It isn’t that you imprisoned him to keep him away from me?” I asked. “He said he works for you.” I thought that was what he said, but it was difficult to remember my dream.
“Indeed. I sent him away so the Raven Queen wouldn’t get her talons on him, and I provided him with employment. He’s in a safe place, surrounded by good people.” He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t trying to keep any of this a secret. I just didn’t want you to feel beholden to me for doing this to you. If I didn’t tell you, the debt would be his to repay, not yours. So long as he stayed away from you, he would be safe, and so would you.”
“So you kept his whereabouts secret?”
“I planned on telling you after . . . we married. I thought it would make you happy then, knowing he had another life. I even thought he might recover enough someday that I could chaperone you together and you could speak with each other again. Even if you couldn’t touch, I thought it might bring you happiness to see him.”
“No, it wouldn’t make me happy. It would be torment.” It was torment hearing about him now. I had been trying to reach out to him—and to myself—with magic.
The door burst open, the wood cracking against the wall on the other side. Vega stood in the doorway. She pointed to her fiancé. “Out.”
His shoulders hunched over, guiltily, as though he’d been caught with his hand in a cookie jar. “Are you vexed with me, Clarissa? For telling you? Are you going to make me leave the wedding?”
As if I could command a Fae prince.
My blood was boiling in my veins. “No. I’m not mad.” I was furious. At myself.
He smiled hopefully. “See, Clarissa isn’t angry.”
“Not another word out of you!” Vega took him by the arm. “You’re already in trouble. Now I’m really going to wring your neck.”
I was ready to wring his neck for letting this bomb drop today. Half an hour before my wedding.
And yet . . . I appreciated him telling me. I respected Elric that he was willing to tell me the truth about the cranes, even if Thatch and Khaba hadn’t. Had he tried to use Derrick’s freedom as a way to make me love him or marry him, I would have loathed him. Even mentioning it, I would have felt indebted to him. I sympathized with his reasoning for not telling me about that detail.
I could understand his concern about the cranes and why he thought I still might have unresolved business with Derrick. Those cranes had been my doing, the catalyst that had caused me to reach out to Derrick in my dreams. I had told Derrick the news that I was getting married, and I had unwittingly provoked him into wanting to stop the wedding.
How could I despise Elric for being the only person willing to give me the truth that everything was my fault?
Tears filled my eyes. What had I done?
Elric allowed Vega to lead him out of the room. He glanced over his shoulder at me one last time before a smile stretched over his lips. He patted her hand. “Sorry about that, love. You know what unscrupulous tricksters us Fae can be.”
“Pu-lease!” she snorted. “Don’t try to act cute with me. It isn’t going to work.”
“True, but I know what will.” He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear.
She giggled. Probably he was offering her immaculate orgasms again.
She shoved him out the door, spanking his tushy as he exited. “Behave, or I’ll kick you out.”
She closed the door behind him. She whirled on me. “You are not allowed to cry. Do you hear me? It will smear your makeup, and you’ll look like a raccoon. Although that would usually amuse me, not today. I’ve worked too hard for this.”
Vega snapping at me was the final straw. I burst into tears.
“Oh fuck. I’m not any good at nice,” Vega said. “We’d better get your mommy.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
One Ring to Rule Them All
The wedding started late on account of the waterworks ruining my makeup. When I finally exited the cottage, I was calm and collected—at least outwardly. My mom hesitated, leaving me with Bart the Unicorn as my chaperone and guide to the wedding. I wondered how many apples Gertrude Periwinkle had promised him to convince him to fulfill my childhood fantasy of riding a unicorn to my wedding. He used his magic to glamour himself like he once had, changing his gray fur to black and his silver mane and tail to a glittery rainbow.
Considering how much he hated Thatch, I was surprised he was willing to make an appearance at all.
“You look pretty in that white dress,” Bart said. “Like a virgin.”
“That’s . . . nice of you to say,” I said, knowing that was as close as I would get to a compliment from him these days.
Immediately he started humming Madonna.
“No,” I said firmly. “That is not the song I want to ride a rainbow unicorn down the aisle to.”
Bart changed his tune to “I Want to Know What Love Is” by Foreigner, which was the requested song. It was fortunate Bart had an arsenal of eighties songs under his belt.
The garden path was lavish with archways of flowers, a tunnel hiding me from the view of students who might happen to be walking on school grounds—or any other prying eyes—as I approached the ceremony. A dozen other stallions sang acapella without lyrics behind the place where Khaba and Thatch stood. My future husband took me around the waist and eased me off Bart’s back and onto my feet. Felix Thatch gazed at me, reassurance in his smile.
For once, his suit wasn’t tweed. It was navy blue with a high-collared shirt and a cravat that made him look like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice with long locks of midnight hair.
He leaned closer to me. “You look lovely.” The admiration in his eyes lessened some of the worry in my heart.
Thatch walked me in front of the officiant of the ceremony, an old man with an eyepatch, peg leg, and an eighteenth-century navy coat that had seen better days. A battered tricorn hat too large for him sheltered most of his face from view. Mom, Vega, Josie, and Gertrude stood flanked to one side of me. None of them wore fluffy dresses with puff sleeves, but they did all wear some version of the color pink, even Vega with a sequined dress.
Khaba, Pro Ro, and Pinky stood on the other side of Thatch, which I found curious since Thatch was such a loner. I didn’t think he liked them or they liked him much. The guests seated on the benches numbered fewer than the wedding party, consisting of Elric, Mrs. Keahi, Grandmother Bluehorse, Coach Kutchi, Jackie Frost, Genevieve, and Satyr Sam. The Lupis, Ludomil Sokolov, our custodian, and Jasper Jang were vigilantly on guard, watching the school.
I didn’t ask about the principal. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Vega had purposefully excluded him so that he wouldn’t know about the wedding on school grounds, as he might veto the plan. Khaba had said I had his permission, but he was the dean, not the principal.