Page 85 of Necromancers Don't Raise

“It’s not their race that bothers me, it’s their pain. Every one of them has a miserable history that brought them to the place they are now. I’ll need to fix it, but I can’t fix everything.”

“Ah,” he said gently, caressing my hair. “Like Fiora, the poor orphan you couldn’t help but save. Yes, I will mediate between you and Mr. Good’s employees. I will do anything to make you happy and safe.”

I leaned my head on his shoulder for a moment before we got out and walked towards the marble pillars of the court house, a steady bustle still going on, although the occupants were more mysterious and deadly.

When we got to the main hall, we almost bumped into my dad, who looked slightly rumpled and frazzled.

“Dealer,” he said, grabbing Mercury’s arm. “I got a message that my wife would be here, but she’s not. I don’t suppose you’d know anything about her. She’s been so broken ever since our sweet Cassandra died, but she wouldn’t do anything desperate, would she?” The pain and fear in his eyes ripped me apart.

I gripped Mercury’s arm more tightly while my heart ached unbearably. My dad was good. My dad was the best, most decent, well-adjusted person I knew, but he wasn’t doing great, not now.

Mercury cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. Your wife is at the Bell, getting the best possible care from Vincent Bellham himself. Do you know Miss Nova? She’s your wife’s niece. There was a mishap at a media event where Miss Nova was explaining her relationship with the Clarences when a poor distraught, delusional half-demon girl brought a gun out and, well, your wife fell and was injured, but I’m sure she’ll be feeling better shortly. We were going to go over to the hospital as soon as we’re married. Would you be willing to be our witness?”

My dad looked surprised, really looking at me for the first time.

What was Mercury doing? I didn’t want my dad to be hurt any more than he was already.

My dad smiled at me, warm and genuine, holding out his hand. “Is that what that was about? My wife doesn’t talk about her family much, but she should know that I don’t require perfection. No one’s perfect, and no one should be expected to be. It’s nice to meet you properly, Nova.”

I took his hand, feeling a rush of relief. I’d missed him so much. My eyes watered, and I blinked back tears. “Sorry for my display at the funeral.”

He squeezed my hand comfortingly. “We all handle our grief in different ways. You must have known my Cassandra well.”

“Yes. I did. She said how wonderful you were, how real and kind.”

“Kind? Me? I mostly keep to myself, or I would if Mrs. Clarence didn’t have better things for me to do. You said she’s at the Bell?” he said, looking at Mercury in concern. “You’re sure she’s not seriously injured?”

“I’m certain she will have no lasting harm. Shall we?” Mercury asked, gesturing forward.

“Sorry,” I murmured. “It’s a last-minute wedding, or we’d have arranged a witness.”

My dad patted my hand. “I’m glad I could help. You remind me of her. My sweet daughter. Not that she ever had a last-minute wedding. Pity. I hope wherever her soul is, she is at peace.”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. “I’m sure she is.”

The wedding was in a large hall with a pale-skinned vampire in black robes at the end. Music played, the traditional wedding march on an organ, and then the words:

“Do you, Oswald Mercury, promise to love and care, to worship and adore Nova Star, as long as you both shall exist in any kind of animated state?”

“I do.” He looked at me with a softness in his eyes that sent a thrill through me. He’d love me with the devotion he gave to his dead, with his whole heart and soul.

“Me too. I, Nova Star, promise to love and care, to worship and adore. Even if we’re dead or undead or reanimated. No matter what may come. I do.” Maybe I sounded a little too eager, but he was mine, and I was his, and I loved him more than anything else in the entire world. He was absolute perfection for me, particularly because he wasn’t perfect, didn’t try to be, and didn’t expect me to be either.

The vampire cleared his throat. “Yes, well, that’s good enough. By the power vested in me, by Singsong City, I hear-by pronounce you man and wife. Sign these papers.”

I signed, and then my dad signed on the line for witness.

“Aren’t you forgetting to kiss the bride?” my dad said with a slight smile.

Mercury took my hand firmly and looped his arm in my father’s. “No. I will kiss her later, after she’s satisfied that Mrs. Clarence is safe, and made certain that everything else is resolved. Please watch your step.”

Wait, what? No kisses until when?

Mercury pulled us through a dark net of keening misery. After another lurch, we came out into the immaculate halls of a hospital.

I took a second just clinging to him, still unsettled at the supernatural traveling system. Also, was he serious about not kissing me? Were we actually married? I didn’t feel any different, but I had signed my name on that paper. Not that it was my real name.

“Are you all right?” Mercury asked, looking down at me with concern.

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