We danced, that dance part ballet, part free-falling, and the way he moved was connected to me, the music, the stars and the sound of Missy clapping and laughing for us. We ran along the metal, dancing in and out of each other’s arms, never losing contact until we were in the center of the wheel, dancing in and out of the spokes as we stayed upright.
Gravity shifted until I had to hang on, wrapping my legs on the frame while I stared at the brightly lit world from upside down. When the ride was over and Missy was climbing out of our car, I slid down the frame, burning my hands until I landed lightly on the seat and stepped out, beaming at Pete who landed beside me with a smile.
I grabbed his hand and for a moment swayed towards him. He felt like Drake, like the magic. I blinked and stepped away. I didn’t need to get lost in the magic of another mage. I laughed and ran to catch up to Missy.
It was a beautiful, wonderful party, but not exactly the speed Wit and Viney liked, apparently because they had started fighting.
All of my Chem girls cheered for Viney. It was a real brawl and in a matter of minutes they’d knocked down half the tents. I rolled my eyes and went towards the tent we’d come out of. I didn’t want Missy to get hurt.
We came out in the pool hall, the air too full of sweat and humanity, but when I stood at the railing looking down at the pool tables, I saw Drake, pulling back his cue.
I didn’t particularly think, just climbed over the railing.
“Drake!”
He looked up and then I jumped. He caught me like I was as light as a cloud, spinning me around laughing. His teeth were bright like his eyes, green that I would drown in forever.
“Are you finished with your party already?”
My floating heart sank when I heard Zach’s voice.
Drake put me on my feet and took his cue from Ian. He must have tossed it before he’d caught me. I shouldn’t have jumped like that. I was too big to play those kinds of games. My brain was still in wonderland.
I stared at the floor while I inhaled and exhaled. “I just wanted to say thanks for keeping Pete from stripping. So,” I said glancing up at him. “Thanks.”
He smiled and stepped towards me before he blinked and shook his head. “I was doing Zach a favor. No one wants his wife to be corrupted by someone like Pete before the wedding.”
“Oh. Right.” I took a step away from him and turned to smile at Zach. He grinned at me, but stayed across the table. “Are you guys having fun?”
He wiggled his eyebrows at me. “We’ve only just started. Isn’t Viney going to drive you home?”
“Yeah. Ian, could I talk to you for a second?”
His eyebrows barely flickered and I pointedly ignored Teddy standing next to him. “Of course.”
He followed me and Missy outside.
I didn’t waste any time. I turned and took his hands. “Heal my hands, please. Also, can you deliver a message to the mage I sent you to last time? Missy would like him to be her date for the wedding. Friday, five p.m.”
His eyes widened then narrowed. “Are you going to bind me again?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to keep the message from Drake?”
I glanced at Missy. She was a very steady shadow. “No, you’d better not.”
“Then why don’t you tell him now? Zach would prefer you to spend time with him than with me.”
“I don’t care what Zach thinks. You and I will be allies. He has to deal with that.”
He laughed, softly. “I’m glad to be of assistance. I really appreciate you not binding me. That’s a good trick to have up your sleeve. I won’t mention that to your mage.”
“You can bind a mage? That’s useful,” Missy said. I’d almost forgotten about her quiet presence.
I shrugged. “It’s energy. Ian, do you mind driving us back?”
“I don’t, but we’ll have to take Drake’s car. I’ll go tell him and be right back.”
It only took a minute or so before he came back, swinging Drake’s keys from his golden fingers. He drove us to the hospital, watching Missy disappear into the entrance before he shifted gears and pulled out.
“Have you thought about the contract you want to make with me? I advise you make it before you’re wedding.”
I hated contracts. I got a headache thinking about writing another one. “I’ll have something Friday morning for you and Teddy to sign.”
“You’re going to marry us too?”
I rolled my eyes and poked him in the back of his head. “Right. I always wanted a harem of wolves. I’ll figure out something.”
“I’m sure you will.”
I curled up on the back seat and closed my eyes, thinking of dancing on the Ferris wheel with a mage that felt like Drake. Had he been wearing a Pete glamour or did every mage feel like Drake? I could pretend that Drake was the one driving me back, humming under his breath. I could pretend for two more days.
Chapter 25
Mage
“You were supposed to come to my party, not hers.” Zach’s voice was low, amused.
I glanced at him then shrugged. “Pete’s liable to take off his clothes at the slightest provocation. I was protecting her from him. That’s my job: protect Penny from dangerous mages.”
He smiled at me slightly sharper before he raised his bottle and drank. “I thought it was just me you were supposed to protect her from.”
I took my own bottle and clinked it against his. “Here’s to a long and prosperous marriage.”
Pete showed up a few minutes later with a ripped shirt and his perennial grin in place. “You stole my gig. Was I awesome?”
“Moderately. What happened to you?”
“Accidentally got in between Viney and Wit.”
Zach laughed. “You’re an idiot.”
Pete scowled at Zach. “Says the only mage I know who doesn’t understand the pleasure in being between two witches as well put together as those two.”
Teddy laughed and put a hand on Pete’s shoulder. “Are you in this party? I can tell you aren’t. Run along before the groom decides he wants to start the pummeling early.”
Pete shrugged off Teddy’s hand, shot me a glance that reminded me of the mouse in my pocket. It was a protected pocket so he wasn’t squished when Penny had jumped into my arms. My shoulders ached from that, but it wouldn’t last long enough.
“Here. Keep him safe,” I said, handing him over and ignoring the looks Teddy and Zach gave me.
“Are you sure she’s marrying the right mage?” That was Lars, his enormous form not quite solid.
Zach glared at him. He hated every mage besides me. Why was I exempt from his particular snarl? There must be something wrong with me.
“I hope I’m not late.” Lester slid into a chair he’d pulled out, obviously not taking part in any pool playing.
“Because how could we survive without you?” Zach asked with a snarl.
He was in a particularly bad mood. I should talk to him, find out what was bothering him. Did he have something against me playing Pete with Penny? She’d turned ordinary magic into something truly mesmerizing. I zoned out, remembering her laugh, the whip of her hair in my eyes, her lithe body moving with mine along the iron strut, trusting me to be her gravity.
Teddy elbowed me.
“Your turn,” he said with a small smile.
I smiled back, took my cue, drained my drink and focused on making up for how dull and dreadful Zach was.
After a few hours we moved into Darkside and after drinking and fighting to our heart’s content, I stepped Throughside, back into my room. I reeled around for a moment before I summoned a drink that would sober me up. I clenched my jaw as the flavor triggered my retch reaction. It won. I threw up in the bidet, just because that’s how much I missed Penny.
Penny. I washed my face and headed to the alley on the Northeast side where I could feel the bond tugging. I stopped in the shadows, thickening them in front of me as I watched her with her Darkside Deliverym
an. I cast the tiniest enhancement spell so I could hear their low voices.
“I know it’s awkward and a little last minute, but I thought you could give me away at the wedding.”
“Give away?”
“Revere can’t make it and I hope my real father doesn’t come. You’re the closest thing I have to a father figure. Is that sick, or what?”
He laughed, a rumbling growl that set my hair on end. Not literally. My hair was perfectly mussed and spelled to stay that way.
“Ah, Cara Mia, I would be honored to play a part in your wedding. Do you require that I wear pink?”
“No. Black suit, please.”
“Do you have a dress?”
She hesitated. “Zach is picking something out for me. It’ll be at the church. Are you sure I have to get married?”
He took her hand, clasping it tightly. “If you aren’t married before you’re eighteen, the curse will rip you apart. You’ll beg for death or your father’s care.”
She nodded and patted his head. “I was just checking.”
“You would rather marry a different mage.”
“I’m not actually counting too much on this wedding happening. Zach will probably get to the altar and then realize that he’d rather marry his ion rod instead of me.”
He laughed and ruffled her hair with his enormous hand. He touched her too much. He wrapped his arms around her like he’d heard my thoughts and was rubbing in the fact that she could embrace a monster like him.
She didn’t stay in his arms long. She slipped out of his grip and smiled at him before putting her hands on his face, smoothing over the deformed features until she slumped down and he caught her, his hands large enough to encompass her waist. He made her look very small, very delicate and vulnerable. I clenched and unclenched my fists.
Darkness ruffled around Signore and then pulsed through Penny until she stood on her own. She offered him a small smile and turned, walking past me without seeing me. I watched her going instead of paying attention to Signore.
His voice was right beside my ear. “Spying on me or Penny?”
I stepped away from him and turned with a frown. “Do you have the wards prepared for the church’s perimeter?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“You sound like the groom. Don’t tell me that you wish you were taking her instead of giving her away.”
“All right, I won’t.” He smiled at me, teeth sharp, gleaming.
I swallowed. He could take her away if he wanted to. Why didn’t he? I still didn’t understand. She was worth worlds. The things a Darksider could do with her were limitless. “If you want to continue your relationship with her, you should write it out in a contract.”
He shrugged enormous, knobby shoulders. “She requested that I write a contract for the gold and death mages, but not me. We have too many unwritten words between us. Our contract, if written, would be too ugly.”
“Would it? What would it say?”
“Nothing you could understand. Is there anything else you want, green mage?”
“The treaty will be ready soon. Will you sign it Friday morning?”
He nodded soberly. “I will.”
“Why?”
He smiled at me. “It suits me. You should expect a battle that afternoon. Will he wait until after the wedding?”
I shrugged and my skin itched. “He’s waited this long.”
He studied me for a long time. “So have I.”
“What do you have against Sooth? Anything personal?”
“Not personal. Sooth’s and my family have a long history of hatred.”
“What about Penny? Do you hate her as well?”
He smiled sharply. “I’ll let you think as you like.”
“I honestly don’t know. If you liked her, wouldn’t you take her away? If you didn’t like her, wouldn’t you kill her? If you saw the value of her, you would at least make use of her.”
“You think that I haven’t made use of her? I have far too much for my conscience.”
I laughed and grinned at him. “Conscience? Did you actually use that word in earnest? Remarkable.”
He shrugged his enormous shoulders. “Yes. One consequence of partaking of her sanity is sharing her empathy, her morality, her conscience. It puts me in a very peculiar situation. The world I rule isn’t known for virtue.”
“Will they eat you alive?”
He grinned at me, fangs descending. “I have confidence in my self-defense. You should visit sometime.”
“Darkness? Tempting.” No, it really wasn’t. That was the land the sun never touched in Darkside’s orbit. Maybe once every hundred years.
He laughed and shook his head. “It isn’t all bloodbaths and cannibalism.”
“You have culture? Music? Art? Dance?”
“Of course.” He sounded amused.
“Why are you so opposed to Sooth?”
“The myth is that the original deception sorcerer tricked my ancestor into trading his beautiful, heavenly valley for the Darkness. Our people had to adapt, become creatures of blood and stone.”
“That does sound irritating. Couldn’t you reclaim your birthright or whatever?”
“It was centuries ago. Millennia. If it happened. My domain has expanded far past the original darkness. I find it quite convenient to build a kingdom on trade and business rather than raw brutality. It’s less expensive and easier to maintain.”
“I always thought so. Do you think I should let her marry him?”
He hesitated before he shook his shaggy mane. “He’s a Daysider. What difference does it make?”
“I still don’t understand how you can let her marry another mage without some kind of contract to retain your relationship.”
“I don’t need a paper contract.”
“Why not?”
He smiled terrifyingly. “We share a blood contract. Enjoy your morning, mage.”
He nodded at me and headed back towards his truck.
A blood contract? I gritted my teeth and wanted to rip him apart, but he was helping with the entire ridiculous wedding. Zach was taking meticulous care of every detail. It would be a boring, traditional wedding, as Penny claimed she wanted. She would hate it. Was that her point? At least I’d saved her from a traditional bachelorette party.
Zach was at the church, snarling at absolutely everyone, but the spellwork was going well. I wandered around, fixing a few spell points idly, writing down some notation for a song that would truly capture the essence of the Ferris wheel while I watched the process. I could use that music in the tourney Saturday night.
I shook my head and the thoughts of Penny Lane’s honeymoon out of it, focusing on the spellwork. It would be a double church. The real church would be there, in Fairfield and the inside that Penny would be married in would be on Stoneburrow land, shielded and protected so profoundly that absolutely nothing could get through unless it was invited. At least that was the plan.
Zach stormed around ordering his spell mages like he knew what he was doing. He kind of seemed to be on top of it. Had he studied it out or just retained more than me? That’s right, he was a genius mage or something. I kind of missed him sulking and being suicidal all the time. He wasn’t quite so irritating.
“Drake, hold the line,” he said, forcing me to walk all the way to the corner where the spellwork was seeping into the earth. The earth didn’t want spellwork. Naturally, because it was a church. Human faith made spellwork slippery.
I knelt down and prayed, four lines of humility and submission, and the spells took, snapping into place. I brushed off my knees as I stood, ignoring the looks of the spell mages around me. It was like they’d never been inside a church before.
Zach’s look when he glanced at me was contemptuous. I sighed. How was he supposed to marry Penny if he couldn’t suspend his disbelief on a regular basis?
I stood there with the spellwork filling the air until my nostrils burned. Zach was going all out on this. At least he too
k protecting her seriously. He was going to marry her, protect her, but would he love her?
He strode up and down, yanking on this mage, correcting that one, reminding me of senior Stoneburrow. Where was Zach supposed to find affection? He loved Pitch, but you couldn’t really love something like that, all violence and strength without a shred of vulnerability. Could Zach possibly appreciate a witch that needed so much care and affection when he craved a witch no one could touch?
I stepped Throughside and came out in the hall outside Lilac Stories. I pressed my hand on the door and held myself very still until I wrenched the door open and walked in.
Viney was playing a video game with Penny on the hideous couch. I walked over and flung myself down on top of both of them. I stared up at Penny, my head on her lap.
Her lips were parted as she stared at me, frozen, heart pounding so I could hear it.
“What’s your problem, Drake!” Viney said, shoving my legs off her. I landed on the floor but my head was still in Penny’s lap.
She licked her lips. “What are you doing?”
“Watching a horror movie. Viney’s going to make the popcorn, or she’s going to go somewhere else.”
“Can’t you tell we’re already busy?” Viney said, hitting me with a pillow.
I ignored her as I stared up at my witch. “I need you to protect me from the scary monsters.”
She carefully traced my nose. “Drake, be careful or I’m going to break your nose.”
“It was made to be broken.”
Her lips twitched and her fingers trailed down to my mouth. “I think…” Her eyes went unfocused and her breath caught as she stared at my lips. She blinked and sat up straight. “Viney, horror movie. I need monsters.”
Viney grumbled but went to work setting up things while I stayed on Penny’s lap, not moving, just soaking her in.
“I’m not sure this is okay,” she said quietly.
“I don’t care.”
She frowned at me, fiercely. “You broke my heart.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
A smile flickered over her soft mouth. Zach would be kissing her tomorrow. I sat up and caught her lips, only for a moment, before she had the chance to respond, either to kiss me back or to repel me. I rolled off her and stumbled Throughside, coming out in the Barren Wastes like the searing sands would clear my thoughts.
Deadly Morsel: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 5) Page 23