by Jasmine Walt
The Golden Wave was a small boutique hotel at the edge of the Mages Quarter, right along the beach. I pulled up in front of the sparkling gold and white building and handed the car keys to the valet before going inside.
“Excuse me,” I said to the receptionist sitting behind the glossy white counter. “I’m looking for Mr. and Mrs. ar’Tollis. Could you tell them that Fenris is here to see them? They’ve been expecting me.”
“Of course,” she said smoothly, picking up the phone. My stomach tightened as she dialed, and I moved away a little, intentionally tuning her out so that I wouldn’t have to hear my parents on the line.
“Mr…ah…Fenris?” the receptionist said a moment later, and I turned back. “They’ll be down shortly.”
“Thank you.”
Mina and I sat down at a small group of sofas in the back of the lobby, and I kept my eyes trained on the elevator on the other side of the room. A few minutes later, its door opened, and my breath whooshed out of me at the sight of my parents for the first time in four years. They did not look different since they had been maintaining their looks by magic for some centuries now, but there was a heaviness to their eyes, a look of mingled sadness and hope at seeing us, that gave me a jolt of guilt and regret.
“Fa—grandfather,” I said as I rose from my chair, catching myself just in time.
My father’s eyes narrowed a little as he took me in. “You are Fenris?” he asked.
“Of course he is,” my mother said, gliding over to me without hesitation and taking my face in her pale hands. “Look at how much he resembles our son. He has Polar’s strong chin and the shape of his eyes.” Her own blue eyes were brimming with unshed tears.
I smiled. “I’m glad you think so,” I said, indulging her—I looked nothing like my former self, but if my mother wanted to see similarities, so much the better. “I’ve been told I bear little resemblance to my father, but I do share some of his interests.”
“And who is this pretty young lady with you?” my father asked, looking at Mina. “You don’t look like a shifter,” he said to her, and I detected something like relief in his tone.
“This is Tamina Marton, my fiancée,” I said. “Mina, meet my grandparents, Rotho and Balina ar’Tollis.”
“I’m very happy to finally meet you.” Mina smiled as she extended a hand to my father. “Fenris has been very anxious about this meeting, but I knew that you must be fine people if you are his grandparents.”
“Well that’s very nice of you to say,” my father said, sounding a little flustered. “You are a full-blooded mage, if I am not mistaken?”
“Rotho,” my mother scolded, making a shooing motion with her hands. “Forgive my husband for his impertinence,” she said, taking both of Mina’s hands into her own. “Of course you’re a full blooded mage—I saw it right away. I am overjoyed my grandson has found and won such a fine young lady. You two make a very handsome couple.”
“Thank you,” Mina said, “but I take no offense. I come from an old family of mages in Haralis, though I’m the last of my line,” she told them. “Fenris and I happened to meet up north while we were both traveling, and we hit it off right away. We are getting married here at Solantha Temple, and you are invited to the wedding, of course. We hope to start a family soon.”
“Oh, that sounds lovely!” my mother exclaimed as I hid a wince. I hadn’t been sure about inviting them to the wedding, since I needed to be careful what to divulge to them, but now that Mina had done so, there was no going back.
My father had blinked at the mention of children, no doubt wondering what kind of offspring a half shifter and a mage might produce, but to my relief, he didn’t say anything about it.
The four of us finally sat down, and my mother ordered a tea tray and some cookies to be brought. Over refreshments, Mina and I told them a little bit more about our relationship and our plans for the future.
“I must say I am relieved that you managed to escape that horrible quake,” my father said. “When we heard that you had died…well, despite never having met you, we were quite upset. Why did you take so long to return?”
“I’m not sure if this was ever explained to you,” I said warily, “but the Director of Federal Security, Garrett Toring, thought that I was my father in disguise. Catching Polar had become something of an obsession for him, since it led to a temporary setback in his career. I was worried that he might try to convict me for my father’s crimes, so I decided to disappear for a while. I did not know that Sunaya had convinced him of the truth until after I returned.”
My father shook his head. “Even after all these years, it still boggles my mind that Polar was involved in such a scandal,” he said. “He was always such a sensible boy—much like you seem to be. Your grandmother and I always believed that if he had not been so wrapped up in dusty old scrolls and books, he might have settled down with a nice mage girl, like you,” he said to Mina. “But clearly he had time enough for women, if he ended up having a shifter child out of wedlock.”
My father’s tone turned bitter, and I had to bite down on my tongue to keep back a sharp retort. It was clear he still looked down on shifters in general. Mina put her hand on mine in silent support.
“Perhaps my father had reasons for not wanting to settle down with a mage woman,” I said instead. “As I hear it, it was one of his own subordinates, a female he was courting, who betrayed him.”
“She was doing her duty—” my father began.
“She was a catty slut,” my mother said firmly, cutting him off. “I never did like Gelisia Dorax, and no matter what anyone believes about your father, he was trying to do the right thing,” she told me. “I only wish that he’d been smarter about it so that he didn’t have to give his life for it.”
My stomach sank into my toes at the sadness and disappointment on my mother’s face. “I don’t know what my father would say to that, if he were here,” I said, and it was true enough. This situation was so strange I had trouble wrapping my head around it. “But I’m sure he did not intentionally mean to cause either of you pain.”
“Yes, well, enough of this sappy talk,” my father said brusquely. “Polar may have made some mistakes, but at least he has given us you, and we are grateful for that much. Now tell us, what are your plans for the wedding?”
We chatted with my parents for a while longer, and to my relief, the tensions between us eased as we turned our attention toward happier topics. I learned that my father had come out of retirement and gone to work as an informal adviser to the current Finance Secretary in Nebara. At one point, over a century ago, he had held that very position himself, but as the father of a disgraced traitor, he probably could not assume any public office again. Gelisia had indeed been committing financial irregularities, they had discovered, but the new Chief Mage was very level-headed and easy to work with, and he had eradicated any lingering trace of corruption.
My mother, in the meantime, had taken up volunteering at the local human orphanage, much to her bridge group’s surprise—she said she had been inspired by Polar’s sacrifice to save a human girl’s life and decided to take an active interest in those less fortunate than herself.
Two hours flew by before we finally took our leave, promising to send them a message when we had a date for the wedding and to come back and visit as soon as we could.
“There,” Mina said in mindspeak as we walked away. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“No,” I told her as we approached the valet. “Once we got over that initial unpleasantness, it was actually quite a nice visit. But it is clear that my parents are still angry with me for lying to them and not entirely comfortable with me as a shifter. Having you around, and knowing that I was settling down with a girl from a respectable mage family, helped more than I would like to admit.”
“It does seem that it might be better to let them think that you are their grandson,” Mina conceded. “I am sorry that things did not go better, but your parents were happy to see
you, at least. I think that in time they will grow used to having a half shifter grandson.”
The valet brought the car around, and I gave him a hefty tip before getting in with Mina. “It’s just…it is difficult to swallow their anger with me,” I said aloud to Mina as we drove away. “I am a little angry at my father, too, and unlike him, I have no way to vent my frustrations to his face. I sought advice from him on what to do about my dilemma before I resorted to illegal means, and he was completely unsympathetic. He couldn’t even understand why I was so conflicted about condemning a child to death and told me that I just needed a vacation.”
Mina pursed her lips. “There is no denying that your father is not a particularly compassionate man,” she said. “But it does seem that he is willing to try, at least for your sake. Isn’t that the best we can ask for?”
“I suppose,” I admitted. I looked sideways at Mina, and the turmoil in my gut eased a little as I noticed the way her golden hair caught the sunlight. She was so beautiful…
Mina cocked her head, noticing the look on my face. “What?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you are wise beyond your years?” I asked, reaching for her hand even as I turned my attention to the road. “I am over five times your age, and yet you are the one who is keeping me grounded.”
Mina laughed. “I recall that our situations were quite reversed when it was my family we were dealing with,” she said, pressing a kiss against my knuckles. “It is hard to separate logic and emotion when it comes to your relatives. That is why we have each other—to shore up our weaknesses. As a unit, we are unbreakable.”
“Unbreakable,” I murmured, smiling. “I like that quite a lot.”
“Me too,” Mina said. “Now let’s turn our combined energy toward our wedding and the future we’ll build together.”
26
Mina
After our visit with Mr. and Mrs. ar’Tollis, Fenris and I returned to Solantha Palace with the intention of offering Iannis and Sunaya our help with the myriad event preparations that still needed to be done. I knew Sunaya had to be running behind with everything since she’d been gone for so long. Although Fenris wasn’t especially thrilled by the notion, I was looking forward to helping her pull the wedding of the century together.
We walked into the Mages Guild lobby, hoping Sunaya might be down here in her office. Sure enough, she was standing at the reception desk talking to Dira, Iannis’s secretary. Another young woman dressed in business casual attire was standing by her side—a human, I gathered with a little surprise.
“Sunaya,” Fenris began, and she spun around so fast that I jumped a little.
“There you guys are!” she exclaimed. “We’ve been waiting forever for you two to come back. There’s so much to be done!”
“Er, so you know that we’ve come to help with your wedding, then?” Fenris asked as Sunaya and her companion began herding us back down the hall.
“Oh, don’t worry about my wedding,” Sunaya said with a wave of her hand. “My assistant here, Nelia, has everything right on schedule. We’re going to focus on your wedding now.”
“My wedding?” I squeaked as we were ushered upstairs, toward the west wing. “I thought you were just handling the reception?” Fenris and I had plans to go to the temple and arrange a wedding date with the priest, but that wasn’t until later this week.
“Don’t worry, ma’am,” Nelia said, smiling shyly. “I’m very used to planning events. Everything will be perfect. I’ve already booked the temple for the day after tomorrow, an hour before sunset. Just let me know who you want to attend, and I’ll get invitations sent out to them by special messenger.”
Fenris tried to protest, but Sunaya wouldn’t hear it, and I had to hide a grin at her no-nonsense approach. She had Nelia drag him off to our suite, where the Chief Mage’s personal tailor was waiting to fit him, while she brought me into her sitting room.
“Good afternoon,” a plump woman in a deep purple dress said cheerfully, rising from the couch. An array of measuring tapes, bobby pins, and other sewing-type implements were spread out atop the coffee table, along with a huge stack of fashion plates. “My name is Gardina Lawry. Are you the blushing bride-to-be?”
“I guess I am,” I said, a grin overtaking my face now that some of the shock was wearing off. “Are you here to fit me for a wedding dress?”
“I am.” She gestured to the stack of magazines on the table. “Why don’t you flip through these and see if there’s something you like?”
“I took forever picking out a dress,” Sunaya said as we sat down to peruse the magazines. “My sense of style isn’t exactly traditional, so I ended up cobbling together a couple different styles. I know you don’t want a big wedding, but there’s no reason at all why you shouldn’t have the perfect dress, so I told Mrs. Lawry to bring a variety of fashion plates for you to check out.”
“I appreciate that very much,” I said, opening the first magazine. A dazzling array of dresses in all sorts of colors and fabrics awaited me between the pages, and I quickly found myself entranced.
I spent the next hour paging through the fashion plates and discussing different options with Sunaya and Mrs. Lawry. At some point, Nelia came back in, and I imagined that Fenris was probably already finished with his fitting and had sought refuge in the library.
Finally, I settled on an ivory gown with off-the-shoulder sleeves and lace appliques covering the bodice and skirt. Nelia suggested white silk flowers for my hair, which I approved.
“You are going to look lovely,” the seamstress gushed as she took my measurements. “I already have a dress almost exactly like the one you want in my shop—a few alterations and it’ll be ready for your special day.”
The seamstress finished up, and as she took her leave, Nelia pulled out her notepad. “Let’s get a list of who you want to invite while you’re still here,” she said. “I’ll have the invitations rushed out so they all arrive by tomorrow.”
“Fenris’s, ah, grandparents should definitely come,” I said, changing “parents” to “grandparents” at the last moment. This was tricky. Only a few hours ago, I’d told them that we would let them know as soon as we had a wedding date. I guessed it was going to be sooner than any of us thought! “I’d love it if Elania and Comenius could attend, even though they’re not strictly mages. And if he has time, Mr. Ragga, from the gulaya shop.”
Sunaya smiled. “I’m glad you hit it off with them so well,” she said. “Comenius and I are old friends.”
“Are you?” I hadn’t realized—Fenris hadn’t said much about their friendship.
“Yeah, that’s how Fenris knows him in the first place,” she said. “Comenius was one of my first magic user friends, and he’s been here with me through all the ups and downs, long before I learned to use my own magic.” She smiled fondly, and I wondered how close they had actually been. “I’m glad that he and Elania finally tied the knot, despite some speedbumps on the way. Having to take in Rusalia out of the blue was not easy for either of them.”
“I can imagine.” I opened my mouth to mention Elania’s pregnancy, then closed it. It wasn’t my place to share that kind of news. Changing the subject, I asked, “What about Barrla and Marris? I know they’re human, but Barrla is my best friend. I can’t imagine getting married without her by my side.”
Nelia bit her lip, but Sunaya gave me an understanding smile. “Iannis and I can get them in,” she promised. “The First Mage is not going to mind if a few non-mages attend. I wish I could have my best friend at my side for my wedding day,” she added with a sigh.
“Do you mean Annia?” Fenris had told me about her, and the trip he, Annia, and Sunaya had undertaken to recover Iannis after his crash. She sounded like an interesting woman. “I gather she is still off looking for her sister Noria?”
Sunaya nodded. “Annia was supposed to come back for the wedding, but something came up.” Her expression clouded over briefly, but then she seemed to shake it off. “No worries
, though—I know she’s with me in spirit, and she’ll be back when she can. As for your wedding, I’ll definitely make sure Barrla and Marris get in. It’s been a little while since I had the chance to break some rules,” she added with a wink.
After I finished talking over some of the wedding details with Sunaya and Nelia, I sought out Barrla and Marris in their room in the east wing. A quick knock on the door confirmed that they weren’t there, but when I wandered a little farther down the hall I found them in one of the parlor rooms eating scones while Barrla was deep in her current novel and Marris leafed through some men’s magazine.
“Mina!” Marris exclaimed, noticing me first. He put the magazine down and straightened in his chair. “We came looking for you earlier but you were gone.”
“Sorry about that,” I said, taking a seat next to Barrla. “Fenris and I went to visit his grandparents, and then Sunaya corralled me to do some wedding preparations. The time must have slipped away.”
“It would have been nice if you’d told me you were leaving,” Barrla said, pinching my arm lightly. “But never mind that. How did the visit with Fenris’s grandparents go? Are his parents still alive, too?”
“No parents, but the grandparents were overjoyed to see him, even if they are mages,” I lied, not wanting to get too much into the details as Barrla and Marris didn’t know the full truth behind Fenris’s heritage. “They had been told he died in the quake, but his grandmother refused to believe he was dead since a body was never recovered. They are originally from Nebara, and I’m glad that they stayed, or Fenris would have never known to look for them.”
“I’m sure they’re going to be thrilled when they find out you two are getting married,” Barrla said. “Are you sending the invitations out today?”
I blinked. “How do you know about that?”
Barrla grinned. “Sunaya told me all about it when she came around looking for you this morning. You did tell her that you were smuggling me into the wedding, right?”