She turned to Lathyr, stunned. “You didn’t use magic, did you?”
He kissed her hand. “No.”
“I didn’t use magic?”
“No. But you are royal. You carry that in you. People will want to please you.”
“Huh. That was just weird.” She leaned into him. “I want to call Shannon and Averill.”
“Of course.” Once again Shannon and Averill answered quickly. Kiri’s friend laughed when she saw them. “You two look cozy.”
“We’re getting married! The invitations will be going out in a couple of weeks for a ceremony in Mystic Circle.”
Averill toyed with Shannon’s fingers. “In the park?”
“I’d have liked that, but it isn’t big enough for all the people who are coming. The ceremony will take place on the Castle grounds. Dad will be giving me away and he and my stepmom and my half brothers will be there. So will Mom and my stepdad and my half sister.”
Shannon’s brows went up in nearly comical surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them all together.”
“I don’t think they ever have been,” Kiri said. She glanced at her love. “Lathyr insists.”
“They should act like civilized people,” Shannon said.
Averill laughed, then winked at Kiri. “I always thought I’d give you away.”
“We’d talked about it,” Kiri agreed. “Shannon, you have to be matron of honor.”
“Oh, yeah!” Shannon jumped up and Kiri only saw her swaying torso for a bit.
“On other news, we’re going to stay in Puerto Rico.” Kiri was still too new a merfem to live in the middle of a continent, even if she and Lathyr didn’t have duties. They’d stay in the oceanic trench, but that wasn’t something Kiri could tell her friends. “Enough about us. We can catch up later. Do you have any news?”
Shannon nodded. “We’ve decided on a water birth.”
Kiri’s eyes gleamed. “I bet I can help with that.”
Averill gusted out a breath. “Good. We were always a little wary of asking you to be with us in the birthing room. Didn’t know if you really wanted to help.”
Kiri nodded. “I can do this.” She squeezed Lathyr’s fingers. He hadn’t so much as twitched.
“I’ve been at several births,” he murmured. “You can do this.”
“I know,” Kiri said. “I can’t wait to see you and tell you everything.” She would, someday. She might even talk about everything—after all, what else were friends for?
Subjects like the fact that change was scary, but she’d wanted to be more.
And she was. More than human.
More than one, part of a couple.
She’d learned so much, all the way to her cells. Change was scary and inevitable and could be embraced. Respect of others was important but confidence in yourself even more. Life without loving friends was not worth living.
Becoming magical didn’t mean she was allowed to leave her human faults and fears behind, it meant dealing with them.
But she had love now to help her with that, and with becoming magical for the rest of her life.
* * * * *
Acknowledgments
For helping me on a daily basis: the global Word Warriors, a chatroom established by C.E. Murphy.
For research: Leonard Leonard & Associates for Denver Architectural Styles, www.leonardleonard.com/neighborhoods/styles.shtml; Denver, The City Beautiful by Thomas J. Noel and Barbara S. Norgren, published by Historic Denver, Inc., Denver, Colorado, 1987; Denver Public Library;
WWF—Lower Mississippi River
wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/ecoregions/lower_mississippi_river.cfm
Experience Mississippi River
www.experiencemississippiriver.com/
America’s Wetland Resources
www.americaswetlandresources.com/background_facts/detailedstory/MississippiRiverAnatomy.html
Google Maps for the Mississippi River Delta, offshore Louisiana, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean particularly;
My Beta readers, whom I haven’t received permission to name, THANK YOU SO MUCH;
and Final Eyes copyediting service, i.e. Rose Beetem.
We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!
Subscribe to our newsletter: Harlequin.com/newsletters
Visit Harlequin.com
We like you—why not like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks
Follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks
Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books: HarlequinBlog.com
ISBN: 9781460300411
Copyright © 2013 by Robin D. Owens
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.
www.Harlequin.com
Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) Page 33