“You are such a sweet boy, Rowan. That is so considerate.” My mom cocked her head to the side and graced him with a maternal smile. “Where are we off to?”
Rowan raked his fingers through his hair … and blushed a little.
What the heck parallel universe had I stumbled into?
“It’s a surprise. But a wonderful one, I assure you.”
“As long as it’s out of this Podunk town I’ll be happy,” Kendall muttered and stomped inside.
Grams put her hands onto her hips. The fabric of her coral muumuu drifted a little higher up her thighs. “I’m going to go pack and I’m throwing in a whole box of Midol for her. And what’s with that hair? Looks like she should have seven little men scampering along behind her.”
“I’m hoping it’s a phase and we don’t need an exorcist.” Mom held the door open for Grams then followed her in. I took a moment to silently pray that the joke wasn’t a reality.
More than a little uneasy, I veered around Alaina and Gabe’s mushy-gushy love-fest of being lost in each other’s eyes and stalked across the yard to Rowan. I needed answers and I needed them now.
“This is a pretty big thing you’re doing.” Captain States-the-Obvious, that’s me.
He picked a fuzzy off his black t-shirt and rolled it between his fingers until it fluttered toward the ground. “Not really. I have resources and abilities. Might as well put them to good use on occasion.”
“See, but that’s the thing.” I jabbed my finger at him. “You don’t put them to good use. Ever. So what exactly is your motivation?”
He caught me completely off guard when he looked up at me with raw heat radiating from an intense stare. He moved in—body skimming close—and dipped his head down. Warm breath teased the delicate skin of my neck and earlobe. “Maybe I want you, Poppet. I’m hungry for a taste. And I knew that swooping in and being the knight in shining armor for your family was the only way to make you long for me as I do for you.”
Blazing heat rose to my cheeks. I laid my hands against rock hard pecs (did he really have to be that buff?) and awkwardly pushed him away. “Look … uh … Rowan … I … ”
He laughed as he played along with my shove and backed off about five paces. “Or, Mo Chroi, I knew the bird and kitty’s break up made you sad, and the sooner I can get you back to being a blissfully happy Conduit the sooner I get to stop being your emotional Band-aid.” He pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and slid them on. “Now, I’m gonna go get a good seat on the lead bus and settle in for a nap. You may want to go splash a little water on your face before the trip. You look a bit—bothered.”
I didn’t know if it was possible to kick someone hard enough to knock the cocky out of ‘em, but for Rowan I was willing to try.
CHAPTER Twenty-three
Our chariots for the next twelve hours for all the wedding guests willing to make the impromptu trip consisted of luxury buses with leather reclining seats, individual televisions for each passenger, fully stocked snack and beverage bars, and on board restrooms. We drove through the night, lulled to sleep by the motion of the bus. The next morning the squeal of the bus’s brakes and the hiss of the door as it opened woke me from a less than restful night’s sleep. I craned my stiff neck to the side to stretch it after sleeping with my face mashed against a window for about six hours. After subtly wiping the drool from my chin, I stood and stretched then joined the crowd filing off the bus.
In no way was I prepared for the view that awaited me outside. The sun raised its head to the day in a celebratory explosion of perfect pinks, warm yellows, and streaks of brilliant orange as it burned away the light fog that settled over the sleeping earth. This provided a magical backdrop for the sprawling estate before us. I stared at the modern day castle with a soft grey stone façade, Colonial blue peaked and tiered roof, and acres of perfectly manicured lawn and flawless flowerbeds that surrounded it.
One of Alaina’s hands fluttered to her mouth, the other clutched at Gabe’s arm. “Oh! It’s like the castles back home in Ireland! It’s perfect!”
An elderly gentleman that resembled Rich Uncle Pennybags from the Monopoly game crossed the yard toward us with a warm smile fixed on his face.
“Welcome to the Biltmore Mansion. I hope your trip to our great state of North Carolina was a pleasant one.” He bowed to Alaina and Gabe. “You must be the bride and groom. My name is Fredrick. I will be attending to all your needs while you’re with us. If you would be so kind as to point your bags out to me I will deliver them straight to your suites.”
Alaina raised her shoulders and beamed in glee. Gabe chuckled at his giddy bride then ushered Fredrick to the undercarriage of the bus that held their belongings.
Grams and Mom strolled by completely caught up in the history lesson Dr. Allyn, Gram’s boyfriend, was providing about the mansion. Gabe’s football players rough housed in the grass and playfully argued over who would have an NFL contract someday and own a house like this.
Kendall stepped off the bus behind me. She popped one earbud out of her ear, muttered, “It doesn’t suck,” then retreated back into her own little emo world.
Let them all marvel at it. I, however, felt the onset of a full force freak out. My gaze zeroed in on Rowan and I bee lined it straight to him. I interrupted his conversation with a bellboy by grabbing the sleeve of his shirt and yanking him around the side of the bus.
“Apologies, sir,” Rowan nodded to the bellboy. “What she lacks in size and stature she makes up for with immeasurable rudeness and a complete lack of couth.”
I ignored the jab and kept walking. As soon as we stepped out of view I spun on him. “This place is huge and has to be unbelievably expensive. You brainwashed them into renting it to you free of charge, didn’t you?”
He interlocked his fingers behind his head and stretched up onto his toes. “Of course I didn’t,” he yawned.
“Good.”
“I convinced them to sell it to me for a dollar.” One side of his mouth pulled back in a lazy grin.
“Rowan!” I had never actually been stomping mad—until that very moment. “That is not okay! It’s stealing and … ”
He dropped his arms and let his shoulders sag under the weight of my nagging. “Oh, please stop before you bore me to death with your incessant yammering. I’ll give it back after the wedding. But in the meantime,” he hooked his arm around my neck and steered me around the side of the bus, his spicy sweet scent enveloped me as he whispered in my ear, “look at them.”
Gabe and Alaina attempted a waltz in the mansion’s flower garden. Alaina tried to lead my rhythmically challenged brother through dance steps he clearly wasn’t getting. He accidentally stomped on her foot causing them both to erupt in giggles.
“Do you really want to deny them this after everything they’ve been through? All of you fight, making sacrifices on a daily basis for the greater good.” Desire darkened his turquoise eyes as he peered down at me. “But don’t you deserve the taste of something … sweet … every now and then?”
My mouth suddenly felt dry and I licked my parched lips. Heat crept over my body like wandering fingers. I couldn’t tell if Rowan was using his ability or if my hormones were betraying me. Either way, I suddenly felt a little too comfortable with our proximity. I ducked out from under his arm and put some distance between us.
“I don’t need to taste anything,” I mumbled, my cheeks burning bright. “What I need to do is to go get the super freaks off the last bus and help them get settled into their rooms. Oh, and FYI, if they weird out the common-folk be prepared to mind scrub the entire reception.”
I scurried away without waiting for his answer. Lost in my own disturbing thoughts, and not watching where I was going, I slammed into Gabe halfway down the row of buses. “Whoa, sorry. Hey, where’d your lovely bride run off to?”
He fell in step beside me without even questioning our destination—a credit to his sentry calling I’m sure. “She was whisked off to an appointme
nt with a dress designer. I was adamantly told I couldn’t come. You, however, have to make an appearance at some point. Not to change the subject, but why are you all sweaty?”
“I’m not! Shut up!” I snapped then tried to reel in the crazy. “Just trying to make sure everything goes smoothly for your magical day. Did your friend Fredrick happen to mention where the guest rooms are? We need to get the guests lacking in mortality out of sight as quickly as possible. The less time they have to mingle, the better.”
“Left wing, past the library and formal dining hall.”
I paused, both eyebrows raised.
“I know, right? Keni isn’t the only thing around here with wings.”
We arrived at the third bus and I rapped my knuckles against the door. It hissed open and Sophia stepped out, followed by a tall, supple redhead I’d never seen before.
“Would you look at this!” Sophia gushed and flipped her hair to get it out from under the strap of her bag. “If I was ever to curse myself to a lifetime of endless monogamy I would want the party celebrating the end of my single life to take place somewhere like this.”
“Uh … thanks?” Gabe responded and dug her other three bags out from under the bus.
“If you want to head to the left wing we’ll be there shortly to help you find your rooms.” I flicked my hand in the direction of the house, but was suddenly distracted by the death stare the redhead shot me.
“No worries.” Sophia shrugged, seemingly oblivious to the unpleasantness of her travel companion. “We’ll happily get lost exploring this place.”
Sophia linked arms with the angry ginger and led her toward the estate. The girl kept her hateful gaze locked on me as Sophia pulled her away. Out of spite, I refused to break the stare until she did. A split second before she finally looked away a reddish-orange light filled her eyes.
Before I could formulate any guesses on what kind of supernatural being the cranky redhead might be, the Grand Councilwoman descended the bus stairs. A magical illusion of some sort turned her normal feathered dress to polyester and gave her actual hair pulled back in a severe bun. I bit back a chuckle at the greenish hue that darkened her normally pale complexion.
She pointed at the driver in accusation. “That is a traumatizing form of travel! All those starts and stops! It’s like daring your passengers not to become ill on the spot! I much prefer flying.” Smoothing down the creases of her dress, she tried to regain a bit of her composure.
I gave her my best toothy grin. “So glad you could make it, Grand Councilwoman. The wedding just wouldn’t have been the same without you.”
“Well, obviously,” she scoffed. Sarcasm zoomed right past her pinched face and over her head. She turned to Gabe with a bird-like twitch. “The Council is deeply sorry for the events that led to the relocation of your wedding. As our gift to you we will cloak the event and make it impossible for any demons to pass. We will make an exception for our host, Rowan, but are not pleased to do so. You are welcome.”
Gabe held up his hands, palms out. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! First, you strip Alaina of her powers just for being with me, now you come here to make sure our wedding doesn’t have demonic crashers?”
The Grand Councilwoman stifled a dry heave behind her fist and took a few deep breaths before she replied, “It seems certain members of the Council have deemed your impending nuptials as beneficial to our cause. As a traditionalist, I am not one of them.”
“Sorry we didn’t get your vote. I’m sure to lose sleep over that.” Gabe’s jaw tensed with aggravation. “So does this mean you’re going to offer Alaina her job back?”
The Councilwoman straightened her spine to allow herself a better angle to peer down her nose at him. “She was sentenced to a punishment that is to be carried out in its entirety. Council rulings are only overturned under dire circumstances, which these are not. Plus, you have a superb guide in Bernard. Now, where is the bathroom? I need to vomit.”
While Gabe muttered obscenities under his breath I took it upon myself to help her out to the best of my ability. I jabbed a thumb at the sprawling mansion. “It’s somewhere in there. Good luck on your quest.”
She pressed her lips together and strode in the direction of the entrance with determined strides. Figuring Gabe was sore after that little confrontation, I jerked my chin in his general direction. He gave a quick nod in response. In Gabe terms this was the equivalent of a heart-to-heart.
A cane thumped against the bus stairs behind me. I turned and offered my hand to the small, elderly man shuffling his way down the steep stairs.
“I don’t need that, you nit!” He grumbled in a voice I knew all too well and swatted my hand away.
“Bernard?”
“Well, don’t sound so surprised. I have magical powers, of course I could conjure myself up a more normal appearance.” His hand dug into his pocket to scoop out some of his treasured berries and pop them in his mouth. I tried not to take it personally that he might have needed those just to talk to me.
Bernard’s stature had grown to that of a typical little person. He wore a brown tweed suit instead of his usual bright garden gnome attire. His cane sunk in the lush grass, he followed it down and whistled through his teeth. “Would you look at this? Quite the elaborate place. Right considerate of Rowan, wasn’t it?”
My internal monologue seeped out before I could stop it, “Sure, considerate. Unless there’s something in it for him.”
Two white eyebrows drew in and became one. “What would possibly be in it for him?”
“Come on, it’s Rowan,” I scoffed. “There’s always an angle with him. Why is everyone so willing to overlook that and trust him all of a sudden?”
“It’s not all of a sudden, Cee.” Gabe stuffed his hands in the pockets of his khaki shorts and shrugged. “We learned to trust him—not like him, but trust him—because of how much time you’ve been spending with him. We just followed your lead on this one.”
“I don’t trust him! I was … ” Using him. Guilt caught the words in my throat and made them burn like acidic bile. I was truly an awful person for how I’d been taking advantage of his gift.
“Whatever you feel about him, you’ve gotta admit this is a huge gesture.” A look of resigned acceptance replaced Gabe’s normal frown at the very mention of Rowan’s name. “People don’t do things like this for another person unless they really care about them. Plus, even if I think he’s a tool, he made my girl all kinds of happy with this place. I guess that makes him kinda okay in my book.”
Bernard folded his hands on top of his cane and leaned against it. “Maybe it’s you that needs to be more open-minded about him, my dear.”
I wanted to scowl and declare I had no intention of drinking the Rowan Kool-aid any time soon. But before the words found their way to my lips my gaze somehow found its way to the tall, tanned pirate who now stood by the entrance of the gorgeous Biltmore. He peered back with a stare so intense it made me wonder if he used his demonic hearing to eavesdrop on the entire conversation. Quickly, I averted my gaze.
I was thankful for the subject change Bernard provided when he drew the satchel that was flung over his shoulder forward and pulled a rectangular package out of it. “This is for you, Guardian. For the wedding.”
Gabe accepted the gift and tore open its plain brown paper. Inside was a framed photo of our dad looking as handsome as ever in his EMT uniform. The warm and friendly nature of his smile made the gold flecks in his brown eyes sparkle. My brother just stared, and clutched the frame like a long lost treasure.
“I thought you could put it on the altar,” Bernard kept his voice soft, a couple of octaves above a whisper. “So he can be here in some capacity.”
My eyes misted over with tears as Gabe murmured a gruff, “Thank you.”
Bernard nodded, clapped a hand on my brother’s arm, and then hobbled off toward the front door.
“What do ya know,” I mused. “Weddings soften even the most surly of gnomes.”
&nb
sp; “Even better than the berries.” Gabe laughed, his gaze not budging from the picture.
The bus shifted as Big Mike maneuvered his enormous frame down the narrow stairs. He gave a cursory nod with his teeth locked around that ever-present cigar. If he was impressed, it didn’t show. This dude was too cool to emote.
As he flung his tattered duffel bag over his shoulder he gave the framed picture a double take. “Huh. That must’ve been before he got his scar.”
He strode across the yard with no further explanation.
“Wait … what?” Gabe and I both called after him.
CHAPTER Twenty-four
The tour of the Biltmore taught me two things. 1) Every room was more posh and extravagant than the last. 2) It would be very easy to get lost in this sprawling estate. Someone could venture off in search of a bathroom and never come back. The buddy system was going to have to be in full effect.
Fredrick paused just long enough for me to admire the dining room with a sweeping glance. Wood beamed ceilings soared overhead. The hardwood floors were polished to a flawless gleam. A stone fireplace took up one entire wall with intricate pictures carved into its rock face. Two gigantic chandeliers hung over the beautifully ornate table that was large enough to seat two dozen people easily. Antique tapestries weaved in deep reds, golds, browns, and blues, hung from the walls to add warmth to the room.
From there we hustled through the library. Every wall—including those on the balcony—had built in bookshelves jam packed with various classics. The railings, crown molding, and fireplace mantel rose up to meet the ceiling with the most intricately carved woodwork I had ever seen. Plush ruby-colored chairs and couches were positioned around the room for guests’ reading and relaxing comfort. Not that we took even a second to relax and enjoy it as Fredrick ushered me along at the speed of light.
My abbreviated tour ended abruptly when Fredrick deposited me at the door of Alaina’s bridal suite. To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure what happened after that. The door flew open, someone muttered, “About darn time!” and yanked me into the room. Bony hands shoved me up onto a tiny footstool and I got barked at to stay. Mostly out of confusion, I complied.
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