Page 63 of Beyond the Darkness

Once the call ended, Connie popped his head around the door, his iPad in hand. “I found the most perfect wedding planner ever. She comes highly recommended. And I can’t stress this enough, she ishighlyrecommended. And she is in the know, of course,” he announced cheerfully. “Marilyn Stokes apparently has the magic touch when it comes to luxurious weddings. Literally.”

“A magic user?”

“Yes.”

“Even better. Thank you, sweetheart,” Hudson said. “When can we meet her?”

“She’s free tomorrow afternoon. I thought we could all meet at her place of business. It’s called The Ivory Rose. We’ll go through some initial ideas and see how well we click.”

“Perfect,” Hudson said. He trusted Connie’s judgment implicitly, but meeting Marilyn would ease his mind. His dragon insisted he meet the woman before he let Kit anywhere near her.

“I’ll be back in an hour to grab you for lunch,” Connie reminded him.

“I appreciate that.”

HUDSON SURFACED long enough to go eat lunch with Connie, then he went back to his office. Connie stopped by at one point to drop off a couple of nuggets of gold, which reminded Hudson about the rings. After a quick phone call, he had a date for when to deliver the gold and rubies to a jeweler he knew.

The next thing on his list was checking on Kage. Hopefully, the building inspector had his report about the damage done to the Dominion.

Picking up his cell, he called Kage.

“Good afternoon,” Kage answered.

“Hey. I’m just checking in. Any news from the inspector on your building?”

“It’s actually good—the building is structurally sound. So, not as bad as first thought,” Kage said. “Embers is going to need a complete makeover, so the restaurant will be closed for the time being. I dodged a bullet.”

“That’s a relief to hear,” Hudson said, genuinely relieved for his friend. “If you need any help with the renovations or anything, you know who to call.”

“Appreciate it, Hudson. So? How are things on your end? Was the damage done to your outbuildings and cabins it?”

“Yes. I’ll most likely hire Kayden to either tear down or repair the damaged property. But it will probably be after he finishes with the gargoyles’ project.”

“Speaking of that, how’s construction going?” Kage asked.

“It’s going. Work on the master bedroom and bath is progressing nicely, as is the addition of space for Connie’s hoard. Kayden added another crew so they could wrap it up quicker since there was damage at Ward’s castle.”

“Is everything okay there?”

“I really have no idea. You know how private they are,” Hudson said.

“That’s true.”

“The only other big project I have going on is wedding planning. We started that recently too.”

“Sounds fun. It’s going smoothly?”

“As smoothly as one can hope for,” Hudson said with a smirk he knew Kage couldn’t see but could probably sense. “We’re meeting a wedding planner tomorrow. Turns out she’s a magic user, which should make things... interesting.”

“A magic user, huh? That does sound like it could add some extra... sparkle to your day,” Kage said.

“Exactly.” Hudson’s tone lightened a bit as he played along with Kage’s pun. “We’re looking forward to seeing what kind of magic she can whip up for the occasion.”

“Just make sure she doesn’t literally whip anything up at the wedding that you aren’t prepared for,” Kage joked.

Hudson laughed. “Duly noted.”

The conversation then shifted to discussing the damage to Kage’s building and the upcoming book signing. Kage planned to be there, which came as no shock to Hudson. Denisha and Maia were also going to be there. Again, no shock.

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