Once they were gone, Tiffany burst into tears, sobbing in place while creating a racket that couldn’t have been genuine, at least if I read her emotions correctly.
Mixie rushed up. “Don’t make that face. You’ll get wrinkles and smear your makeup. Plus, people will think I didn’t raise you right.” She shoved a tissue into Tiffany’s face. “Now what’s wrong?”
“Those… those cows quit the bridal party.”
Mixie gasped. “Don’t they know what an honor it was to even be asked to be part of a Homes wedding?”
Vin snorted, but when Mixie spun around to glare at him, he put on an innocent face and drank his beer.
Tiffany wailed more. “I have to have a bridal party for the traditions to work.” She dragged out the last word until it had seven sobbing syllables.
Mixie noticed the guests watching and lowered her voice. “Get some of your childhood friends to do it. They could be useful instead of drinking our champagne.”
Tiffany simpered and sobbed though no tears actually fell down her face. Either she was pretending to cry to garner the sympathy it usually bought, or she had so much Botox that her tear ducts had stopped working. “No! The bridal party has to be at least two people who live in the area where the wedding is held and have some connection to the bride or groom. I was already scraping the bottom of the barrel with those losers, but at least they worked at the Magia, so we had a connection. There is literally no one else…”
Her eyes rested on Vanessa and me, and she trailed off as a smirk started to appear on her face.
Before she could start speaking, I raised my hands. “No way. Don’t even think about it.”
But her smile increased, the predatory grin settling onto her features. “You guys both live here. There’re two of you, and you have a connection with the groom.”
For a moment I thought she meant the chemistry between Vin and I that had grown and ebbed over the course of knowing each other. My cheeks heated, and my protest came out a bit too loudly. “I do not!”
“He witnessed your bonding with that annoying fleabag cat of yours. He’s responsible for your training.” She turned to face him as he started another beer. “Unless you lied to me?”
“I was there, but it is more of an honorary title. She doesn’t need me for her training.” He looked at me with a nod.
It was an unexpected compliment but not really at the right time to enjoy it.
Vanessa was sputtering next to me. “Come on! No way.”
Tiffany screwed up her face and threw herself onto her mom, who glared at us. Tiffany’s back was heaving, and pained noises came through as though she was overwhelmed with grief, but I could sense no sadness or despair from her, only smug satisfaction.
Colleen turned to me when it was clear no one else was going to speak. “If you two meet the requirements and there is no one else… duty before comfort.”
Vanessa groaned loudly.
Vin snorted around his beer. “We all must suffer for duty.”
I wanted to throw a fit and refuse to help, but I also wanted to show Colleen how mature and responsible I was. That I was a Monza who took duty seriously. “We’ll do it.”
Vanessa just closed her eyes and shook her head. I knew she would go along with me though she would certainly make me pay even though it really was our only option.
Tiffany spun around, her fake crying done. “I have to go make some rearrangements, but I will be in touch.” She dragged her mom off by the arm.
Tiffany hated us, even Vanessa as her future sister-in-law. The fact that she was so pleased that we were now her entire bridal party made me worry about the week ahead.
My stomach flipped at what I had gotten myself into, but the only benefit was that Colleen at least looked slightly pleased.
“I’m getting myself a drink,” I said as I left the group to cut across the room to the bar. I didn’t want to ruin my noble sacrifice by staying and whining about how miserable I would be. Duty wasn’t a concept that I was particularly used to, but it was part of mage life.
But not just duty, tradition was another thing they were obsessed with. I was used to nice traditions, like a party at a birthday and exchanging gifts with loved ones at Christmas. But it seemed like most mage traditions were the opposite. Like Monzas being forced to be celibate or us having to help with Tiffany’s wedding.
I paused in the center of the room, looking at the wet, drippy mess that was Tiffany the Ice Sculpture. One last apple was balanced in the basket. Once it fell, the party would be over, and I could go home. I was jittery from all the interactions; I wasn’t used to so many people or things to do.
Patagonia meowed and twined through my feet. She had not been as stuck by my side the past few months. She was still always present when I worked magic, but she had started to disappear to wherever it was she went, I assumed to sleep, more and more often in my down time.
She wrapped both her front feet around my ankle and dug in her claws as she tugged at my skin.
“Ow!” I gave my foot a little shake. Maybe she needed more attention. “It’s almost time to go home. I’ll give you a brushing when we get there.”
She glared up at me through narrow slits then lifted her back legs to kick at my legs. Long white lines appeared, then after a few moments, they turned red, and the blood started to roll down my leg. She grabbed my skirt and pulled back so hard that the waistband started to slide down, exposing my belly. I grabbed the fabric before she could pull it completely off.
I leaned over to swat at her, trying to knock her off my leg. “That really hurts, Patagonia.” My pain threshold had increased quite a bit, a side effect of working so much magic, but it was still enough to bring tears to my eyes. “What is wrong with you?”
“Ella!”
My head shot up. Vin was barreling toward me, shoulder down, preparing for impact. He looked like a football player about to take out the opposing team. I barely had time to throw up one hand before he hit me right in the middle.
He wrapped an arm around me and twisted in midair so that when we hit the ground, his body took most of the impact. Not that I noticed much as my body hadn’t registered the pain of him running into me yet.
His arm snaked up around my head, and he pulled me to his chest as we spun on the ground, his speed being too much to control.
There was a loud crash, and my head was still spinning even when our bodies stopped. I was lying half on top of him, and stars danced in my eyes.
“Are you okay?” Vin’s eyes searched my face. A hand caressed my cheek.
I blinked and struggled to catch the breath that had been knocked out of me.
I was unable to speak, sensations hitting my brain in a sluggish manner. The pain was high, but I also started to notice the warmth of Vin’s hard body under mine, his hand on my back, and our magic sparking between us. Desire flared in my body. Even if my brain had moved on from him, my body hadn’t received the memo and was responding to his.
He reached up and slapped my face a few times. “Hey, are you in there? Ella?” His voice was tight with worry.
“Stop that!” I barked.
He looked relieved and rested his head back on the ground. A low chuckle moved through his chest and vibrated everywhere we were in contact.
“What is going on?” Tiffany screeched.
Vin groaned, once again a sensation I felt rather than heard, and using both hands, he carefully shifted me off him and onto the ground. He rolled up into a kneeling position by me. “Are you okay?”
I grimaced and gingerly ran a hand over my body and wiggled my hands and feet, fingers and toes. My head ached along with eighty percent of my body, but nothing felt broken or permanently ruined. “I think so. What happened?”
He gestured behind me.
I rolled over and winced at both the pain in my back and the sight. The ice sculpture was now on the carpet, shattered in melting hunks over a twenty-yard radius.
“Ouch. I think I can gues
s where I was standing.” I carefully lowered myself back onto the ground. “At least you can finally go home.”
He snorted. “Sorry that I had to hit you so hard. The spell I used was effective but a bit overkill. I’m just glad I noticed it falling over.”
Tiffany stomped a foot. “Probably ’cause you’re always watching her.”
Vin stood up rather abruptly, and perhaps it was the lighting, but I thought the back of his neck turned red. “You are out of line, Tiffany.” He brushed past her and pushed through the crowd.
Tiffany threw one more glare at me then raced after him. She shouted something, but it was lost in the muttering of the crowd. They hung back but split their attention between me and gossiping with the people around them.
Vanessa wrapped an arm around me and helped me to my feet. “He does keep an eye on you. You know that, right?”
I took a great deal of time adjusting my clothing just so and wiping off imaginary dust as I replied, “That’s just because he’s supposed to monitor my training. I mean, he watches over you too.”
She snorted. “Gross! Never say that again. He does not look at me the way he looks at you.”
Vin stormed out of the party, Tiffany still on his heels.
I turned to look at Vanessa only to find her already watching me watching Vin. I cleared my throat and took an uncertain step. “Why don’t you help me home?”
CHAPTER FIVE
I rushed around my loft, tidying up. I grabbed sweaters and jackets off the back of the couch, collected the empty coffee mugs, and swept the mail into a tidy pile. I hobbled a bit, still stiff from my fall the evening before. Auntie Ann had assured me that nothing was broken, and a few potions had taken care of my sprained ankle. But I still had a few bruises and sore muscles. Magic couldn’t fix everything.
Bear was bringing Colleen over for some one-on-one time, which made me unbelievably excited and nervous. I didn’t think I had impressed her, but I had been awfully nervous. This meeting would go better. I was sure of it.
I checked my phone. There was a text from Bear that they were on their way. After comparing the timestamp and estimating morning commuter traffic, I figured that they would be at the loft any moment. There was another text from Tiffany, but I couldn’t even stomach the idea of opening it. I could just pretend I didn’t see it, at least until after my meeting with Colleen.
Even though there were no other text notifications, I checked my conversation from Thomas. I hadn’t heard from him for at least two weeks, and that was the longest we had gone without a midnight phone call or text. My stomach twisted a bit, but I put down my phone.
“It’s fine. It’s for the best,” I said to Patagonia.
She let out a tiny kitty snort and shook her head. I couldn’t blame her. In the year and half that we had been living together, I had fallen—hard—for two different guys in two different ways. I had been so sure that Vin and I were destined to be together. He had even asked me on a date.
The memory caused my heart to clench in pain. If he had just asked a month earlier, we might have already been together when I had to declare myself a Monza. We could have figured something out. I was sure of it. Even if he had just talked to me afterward instead of running back into Tiffany’s waiting arms. So many what-ifs that just thinking about them hurt, so I stopped.
Thomas was the opposite in every way. He had known I was a Monza, and it didn’t stop him. He had let me know how he felt from day one and had never hesitated to show me that he was serious. And no matter how I had tried to forget him, I couldn’t. When I was with him or spoke to him or even texted, it was like everything else on earth faded away.
Or at least it used to, but his long absence was making me question his devotion. Maybe he had met someone else and dropped me.
Patagonia interrupted my thoughts by jumping up onto the kitchen counter. I had tried to train her not to get up there, but that had been a losing battle. I had yelled and swatted, and for a while, I had even used a water gun, which had been a huge mistake. After I would spray her, she would glare at me, and I wouldn’t see her the rest of the day, even when I performed magic. That night, after a long shower, I would discover that every single towel in the bathroom, including the ones folded in the closet, were dripping wet and ice-cold.
The next morning, I would wake up to discover she had returned. She would be curled up on the bed and stare at me coolly until I had adequately apologized and lavished her with attention. But things hadn’t really turned around in our standoff until she watched me throw the water gun in the trash and take the bag out to the dumpster. At that point, she rubbed up against my leg and purred like a sports car.
My delight was short-lived when I went to grab a pair of shoes and found every single right shoe was missing.
I saved all the left shoes, sure that she had hidden them, but they had never reappeared, and I was forced to buy all new shoes. As I had sorted through my remaining left shoes, she had trotted over to me and dropped a pair of earrings by my side. The threat was obvious: first were wet towels, then the shoes, next up, jewelry.
Perhaps I was attributing her with too much human intelligence, but only the right shoe in every single pair? And how had she gotten all the towels wet then folded back in the closet? That couldn’t be an accident. I looked up to catch Patagonia staring at me, and she slowly winked at me, with all her tiny, sharp teeth showing.
There was a knock at the door, and I grabbed everything that I had lumped into a pile. On the way to answer, I chucked all of it into a closet.
“Welcome!” I said as I opened the door.
They entered, and I tried to be cool and casual as they sat down.
“Let me get you a coffee and some pastries. After my little accident last night, Vanessa brought me home, but I insisted she stop and get some pastries. These are the best. We know the gals that own the bakery, they are really cool. I mean, I think so. Vanessa doesn’t. She only thinks one of them is nice, but that’s neither here nor there. I picked out some chocolate croissants, éclairs, and cannolis.”
I couldn’t stop talking, but I had the food on the coffee table and coffees delivered. I flopped into my seat, faced Colleen, and was finally able to convince my mouth to stop moving by stuffing an entire pastry into it. I caught sight of Bear, whose face was beet red from trying to stifle a laugh. I wanted to smile at him and let him know I had myself under control, but I was pretty busy not choking to death.
She was dressed far more casually than I had expected but somehow still looked ready for a photo shoot. Her black hair was back in a braid, and her pants were stylish with zippers and accent patches but made of a tough material that could probably handle any kind of mission.
“Ella, how are you feeling this morning?”
I tried to answer but choked a little on my last swallow of éclair. I tried to wash it down, but I forgot that the coffee was still scalding hot. I sputtered and coughed. Coffee dribbled onto my shirt, and I frantically wiped at my mouth with one napkin and dabbed my shirt with another. My eyes watered, and it took nearly a full minute to catch my breath.
I used the back of a spoon to clean up the mascara that had smudged under my eyes though it was clear that the best I could hope for was an only-slightly-drowned-raccoon look. I needed to pull myself together and act like a normal mage with her. Maybe I should have had an Irish coffee. “A little sore but overall not too bad.” I ran my tongue all over my mouth, feeling the burned skin inside.
“Did they figure out what happened?”
That took me by surprise. “Oh, I don’t know. I just assumed it was a stupid idea, and since Tiffany was so top-heavy, the whole sculpture tipped over.”
She didn’t look convinced. “I noticed you don’t get along.”
“No. She’s…” I briefly thought of mentioning the whole situation with Vin and me and their breakup then reunion. But it was long, boring, and not really relevant. “We’ve never gotten along very well. But enough of her. How
were your travels to Rambler?”
She waved a hand, dismissing the question. “Long, and I already dread leaving again in a few weeks.”
“So soon?” I tried to keep the disappointment out of my voice.
“There are people who are depending on me. But I might be able to come back, depending. Now there is something that really interests me.”
I perked up. “What?”
“Bear was telling me about the murders you’ve helped solve, and it sounds like there is another one right now?”
“Oh!” It was not where I had planned to start, but it was as good a place as any. And I was glad she was interested in something I was involved in.
So I told her all about the investigations I had done. I had already decided to be as honest as I could. I started with my first job in Rambler and how I had discovered my abilities, met Patagonia, and helped to solve several supposedly accidental deaths that were actually much more. Colleen asked many questions about my ability to see and experience magically caused deaths. Especially my vision concerning the murder of Edward Santini, Olivia’s father.
“Do you still pass out when you try to read the vision? If you can’t read it soon, will it just fade from your memory?”
“It fades at the location but not up here.” I tapped my temple. “That is what I was told, and so far that seems to match up with my experiences. And I no longer pass out when I try to view it, but I do get a wicked headache the rest of the day. Plus, I’m not totally sure that I am really getting all of it.”
Colleen pulled out a notebook from her purse and jotted some notes as we continued talking. “What do you mean by not getting all of it?”
I scrunched up my face in concentration. I wasn’t exactly sure either, but I wanted to try my best to explain. “I’ve never had a migraine, but it kinda reminds me of what I’ve read about them. As I experience the vision, everything gets fuzzy, not just my sight but all the senses. Then the headache starts, and everything dims. I think the vision is in there just… like… I can’t fully see it? Experience it? Does that make sense?”
Nice Day for a Mage Wedding: Casino Witch Mysteries 4 Page 4