Page 74 of Shadow Witch

Her breathing turned ragged as she searched the depths of her mind for something to convey a heartfelt emotion, but she found nothing. Her gaze flicked to the countdown timer, which crept closer and closer to zero as the seconds ticked by.

“Mr. Turner, you have ten seconds left,” Fleur announced.

She swallowed hard, her mind a total blank. As the time hit two seconds, she slammed her trembling hand against the red button, unsure what would pop out in the hologram.

A flood of images filled the air, a montage of their time together. From his first smile at her to their moments in the jungle, ending with his support over her mother, every honest moment between them spilled from her brain.

With her hands still shaking, she pulled away from the button and held her breath as the judges conferred.

The head judge leaned forward toward his microphone. Paige bit into her lower lip as she awaited the news.

“The winner of round three, the Duel of Shared Memories, and the Amor Fortis is…”

Paige’s eyes went wide as her heart thudded hard against her ribs. Time seemed to stop as the judge paused before making the announcement.

Finally, he spoke again. “Paige Turner.”

Paige’s eyes went wide as she stared at the judge, trying to comprehend it. Hands wrapped around her shoulders and shook her as she stood in shocked silence.

“Paige, you did it!” Dewey said with a grin. “You won!”

“I won,” she said, her voice breathy. “I won!”

A grin slid across her features as she curled her fingers into fists. “I won! I did it! I beat her.”

“That last montage memory was insane,” Dewey said.

Drucinda nodded with an arched eyebrow. “It really was. I’ve never seen anyone use anything like that before.”

“It was beautiful, babe. Really. All the time we’ve spent together and how meaningful it’s been,” Devon said with a grin. “It’s obvious how much I mean to you.”

Paige froze at the words as she glanced at him. Was she into Devon? Had she only been resisting because he didn’t fit into her plan?

No, she couldn’t think about that now. She had to focus on getting married, getting the soul compass, and finding her mother. She couldn’t worry about the off-chance that she may love Devon. Or at least…like him.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Right. Well, anyway, I won. And now you need to win tomorrow morning so we can get married.”

“Babe, I’m all over this,” Devon said. “By this time tomorrow, you will be Mrs. Devon LeBlanc.”

“Uh, oh,” Paige said, holding a finger in the air, “yeah, no. That’s not happening. I’ll be…Paige Turner. Sorry. I’m not…I’m a little bit of a women’s libber there.”

“That’s cool. Whatever you want, babe. Doesn’t matter to me,” Devon said with a grin.

“Awesome. Yeah, good,” Paige said with a nod.

“And now, as much as I’d love to let you love birds chat,” Dewey said as he wrapped a paw around Paige’s shoulders. “We have to get to dinner and your bachelorette party. We’ve got so much to celebrate tonight.”

“Yeah, let’s just not get too crazy, okay? I mean, I’ve got a wedding to go to tomorrow. I don’t want to be hung over.”

“Who’s going to be hung over?” Dewey said with a laugh. “Oh, Paige, we are going to have a blast.”

Paige offered him a tentative smile as she stepped from the ballroom toward the dining room. The excited chatter during dinner filled the dining hall. Guests congratulated Paige on her win throughout the night before Dewey whisked her away for her bachelorette party.

He gathered Paige, Drucinda, and a few others for the celebration, leading them to an upstairs sitting room.

A maid appeared with a silver tray filled with champagne flutes. Dewey grabbed his and passed one to Paige before he raised his glass in the air. “Thank you all for coming. We’re here to celebrate my good friend, Paige’s last night as a free woman. Tomorrow, she’ll marry…someone, we don’t know who yet, but someone. And then she’ll embark on her life with that person…wow, this is hard not knowing who you’re going to marry.”

Dewey cleared his throat and shook his head. “Never mind. Anyway, I’ve prepared a little speech for this occasion.”

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