The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get

by Amber Lynn

We got to the doorway to the backyard to find a curtain blocking the view. Rick was waiting for us, so he could escort Frannie down the aisle. He looked dapper in a tuxedo with a bow tie that matched the purple of Frannie’s dress and my toes.

  “You look great, baby girl,” he said with a grin. “The poor boy doesn't know what’s in store for him.”

  “I’m pretty sure he’s seen me all dolled up before. Sometime over the thousands of years we’ve been together, I’m sure I dressed up.”

  “It's been a little while, though. He’s in for a nice surprise. You ready, Frannie girl?” he asked, taking her arm.

  “I was born ready,” she answered, and they made their way outside, leaving me and Daddy.

  “You sure you’re ready for this?” my dad asked, taking my arm. “He’s been my son-in-law for eons now. You can take some more time to get used to being his soulmate this time around.”

  “I think it’s time, Daddy. I was committed to the wedding before most of my memories of him returned. I think us having this connection, even if it isn’t our first time around, will be important going into the fight.”

  “I know, sweetie, I’ve just heard human fathers always try to talk their daughters out of walking down the aisle and out of their life. I thought it might be a fun twist. I guess if we don’t start moving, they’re going to think you ran, and we wouldn’t want that.”

  “No, we wouldn’t. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  We walked through the curtains to be greeted by a fairytale. I paused for a second to look around. There were way more guests than I imagined standing by their seats. I was walking down a royal purple runner that spanned probably fifty feet to a stage-like area where Nate, Rick, Frannie, and a minister were waiting.

  It wasn’t at all how I’d envisioned the day, but somehow it was working for me. Purple and yellow flowers were everywhere and petals were lining my path. I glanced around the crowd a little, but the people were making me nervous, so I focused on Nate and we began marching towards him.

  When we made our way to the front, my dad gave me a kiss on the cheek and took a seat next to my mother in the front row. It was obvious she’d already been crying, but she had a bright smile on her face to let me know how happy she was. The music from a live band ended and the crowd took their seats.

  “Thank you all for joining us here on this very special day,” the minister said. I had no idea who he was, but I figured he checked out as far as making things official. “I have to start by asking, who gives this woman to this man?”

  “We do,” I heard voices say from behind me.

  I turned around to see my five children standing in the front row on the opposite side of my parents. One of my girls I still didn’t recognize, but I could see she looked similar to her siblings. I also saw that Sophia had changed her hair back to her normal color and it looked so much better than the blonde. With her being pregnant, I wasn’t sure she’d be there because of the fact I decided to broadcast the ceremony and she didn’t exactly live close by. 

  I smiled and waved at them, trying not to tear up seeing them all together. I was so happy they could all be there that the task was hard.

  “Did you know?” I asked Nate real quick telepathically. He shook his head and grinned.

  The man in charge started going through the usual motions of marrying two people. After a couple minutes he stopped and said, “I understand you two have written your own vows. Nathaniel, why don’t you go ahead and read yours.”

  He was already holding both of my hands, so he gave a little squeeze, and then started.

  “My beautiful, little Yara. We’ve met in this situation many times over the years, but this time I will always remember as my favorite. They say you don’t really know what you have until you lose it, and a few decades ago I learned that was true. When I thought you were never coming back, I became a broken shell of the man who stands before you today.

  “You are my one true love, now and forever. I’m sorry to say you’re stuck with me, but in that same sense, I’m stuck with you. I vow to do everything I can to make our lives something other people can only dream of. I respect you, I cherish you, I worship you and most of all I love you,” he said while staring into my eyes for his whole speech.

  “Thank you, Nathaniel, and now, Avery, if you’d like to start,” the minister said.

  “Mali, let me start by saying, you know how difficult it is for me to be romantic, so don’t be expecting some huge sentiment here. Speaking strictly about my most recent memories of you, you came into my life like a whirlwind, changing just about every aspect of my way of thinking. I spent a lot of time being mad at you for things that just didn’t make sense at the time.

  “I now get where you were coming from. I spent about five seconds with my memories of you and felt lost without our bond.  I don’t know how you did it for as long as you did, but you have my utmost respect for being able to pull it off.

  “You are the other half of my soul and I vow that it will never be separated again. From this day forward, we live and die together, for better or worse death will not even part us,” I said with enough conviction to make the spell work, no blood sacrifice needed since a death was in the spell.

  We weren’t exchanging rings, as I already had the one I’d be wearing back on my finger and he had my name tattooed all over his body. It was already apparent we were spoken for. The minister finished up the ceremony and announced that Nate was free to kiss me. Boy did he ever. It was totally one of those lift up one of your legs moments. Too bad I was stuck in my wedding dress, so it was a little bit difficult to try.

  When he finally decided my tonsils were good in their present location, he released me and we turned towards the crowd. Everyone stood and cheered for us. My kids were smiling like idiots and my mother was crying like a, well, like an idiot.

  We started walking down the aisle and once we got to about the halfway point, I noticed a black mist develop at the curtained entryway in front of us. Not knowing for sure what it was, I reached into the custom pocket I’d had sewn into my wedding dress months ago and grabbed out the demon-killing knife.

  “Now, Avery, that won’t be necessary. I’m only here to congratulate you on your nuptials,” a sinister looking man said as he formed out of the mist. I recognized him immediately from a couple of the visions I’d had.

  “Malphas,” I hissed. Even though it was supposed to be my special day, just because of the wedding, defeating Malphas would make it super special.

  “Oh good, you do know me. I was hoping to not have to do a big introduction. After all, I don’t want to keep you too long from your guests,” he said with an evil grin.

  “I’ve heard rumors that you may be attacking today. Where’s your army hiding?” I asked. My personal guard had all taken position around me, with Rick in front of me. I didn’t like the idea very much, so I nudged him out of the way a little.

  “No need for the minions today, it’s your wedding. I just wanted to come and give you a gift,” he replied.

  I still had the knife out and ready. I was pretty sure it was a known fact everywhere that things called demons tended to lie, and I didn’t trust the guy one bit.

  “I think we have enough chafing dishes, so why don’t you just give yours to charity,” I said.

  He started chuckling. “I’ve heard of your great wit and am really sad that we’re on opposite sides of this battle. We could have been best of friends.”

  “Sorry, but I try not to be friends with soul-stealing psychopaths. I think my neighbor two doors down is into that kind of thing, so why don’t you go check there.” Two doors down would have him falling off a cliff, so it sounded good to me.

  “Nevertheless, here we are. I know it’s cliché, but we aren’t that different. We just have different leadership styles. I doubt you’ll find one of my followers able to say anything against me, just as I’m sure yours adore you. For now, we’ll just agree to disagree. Let me give you your gift,”
he said, waving his hand in the air.

  A gust of something knocked me back a little, but I had plenty of people to catch me. Things went a little hazy, just before scenes started flashing before my mind in rapid fire, quicker than any of the other times I’d remembered my past. When they were all done, I opened my eyes and saw a group of soldiers had surrounded Malphas.

  “See, I told you she’d be fine,” he said, trying to ignore the guns, knives and other weapons pointed at him.

  “He’s right,” I said. “For some odd reason he just gave me all of my memories.”

  “I already mentioned I wasn’t all bad. I decided since my forces weren’t doing very well bringing you to me, we might as well meet on an even playing field when the time comes. If we don’t, I’d never know which of us is the superior warrior,” he said.

  “I guess I should thank you for that,” I said, happy for the memories, but feeling a little odd that it was him who gave them back to me.

  “One thing before I go. I’d be willing to stop all of this, if you’d give me your next born child,” he said.

  He knew of the prophecy about me having an oracle. He had to have thought it’d be the very next baby that I conceived. I doubted he knew it would actually be triplets.

  “Are you sure you didn’t escape from the mental institution? There’s no planet in the universe where that would be a possibility. I plan to protect all of my children, present and future, from the likes of you,” I said, sneering at him.

  “I thought that’s what you’d say. Too bad,” he said, shrugging. “I believe you know the general direction where my troops are meeting up for this battle. Why don’t you figure out the exact location, and then meet me there in a month. That should give you plenty of time to put the bun in the oven, so I can remove the egg and keep the child for my own.”

  “Over my dead body will you ever get my child,” I told him, raising the demon knife and throwing it into the circle he was standing in.

  He dissipated before the knife reached him. As the black mist left the area, I heard on the wind, “That is my hope, my dear. See you soon.”

  Well, wasn't that peachy. At least I had all my memories back. I just had to decide what to do about Nate's promised wedding night. Did I go ahead and get pregnant, confident that I’d be victorious, or take the safe route and wait to grow my little triplets? I bet within the next couple hours someone would know the answer.

   

  THE END

  AFTERWORD

  The end is in sight

  I feel a little sad that I can see the end of this little adventure. I really wanted to include the triplets in this book, because I know by the end of the next one they won’t be born yet and I haven't decided if we’ll go past that. I can see more stories in Avery’s future, but I’m not sure what kind of villain could take Malphas’ place.

  I think Aisling is my new favorite character, passing Avery and Eva. That little girl is hilarious with her grown-up talk coming from her little body. The other kids were cute enough, but Aisling stole all of her scenes. If nothing else comes after the next book, I’ll make sure there are some novellas detailing what it’s like to be in a house with a mouthy little oracle growing up.

  I’m a little surprised at how emotionally involved I’ve really gotten with these books. There are times when my characters do things that practically have me in tears. Of course no tears actually fall, but I feel my heart strings being pulled.

  The next book will end up with a resolution to this whole war concept. I’ve known since the third book what was going to happen and it will be great to finally get it down on paper. Hopefully then, I can clear room in my brain for other important things.

   

  Amber 

  About the Author

  Amber has always had a passion for the written word. Along with that, she’s always had ideas for stories swimming around in her head. It finally got to the point where she couldn’t take it anymore and had to start getting her thoughts down on paper. There are still too many ideas, but she is working to get them out as fast as she can. Her hope is that one day her brain will be hers again.

  Other hobbies of Amber’s include: drawing, baking, arts and crafts, motorcycles, hockey and archery. She likes to think she has eclectic tastes where her hobbies are concerned. She loves to laugh and tries to make herself smile at least once a day. With the crazy thoughts going on in her head that usually isn't hard.

  Other books by Amber Lynn:

  Argonauts’ Adventures

  The Witch’s Web

  The Dragon’s Fire

  Daughter of Gaia Series

  Daughter of Gaia

  Queen of Aquima

  Nightwalker Saga

  The Nightwalker Knocks

  The Nightwalker Teaches

  Unlucky in Love series

  Calypso in Love

  Nani in Love

  Rhea in Love

  Hermia in Love

  Desma in Love

  Nyx Slaughter series

  Night Calls

  Night Marks

  Night Bites

  Night Howls

  Night Lurks

  Night Finds

  Night Rises

  Nyx Slaughter: Books 1-7

  More Books

  Searching for Home

  Between Blood