Page 96 of Crown of Wings and Whispers

“Um. Fine. I mean… Should I keep my armor on while I tell you about it?”

He lowered his chin and searched my eyes. “That might be a good idea.”

34

Satin and Plaid

Due to our attentive audience, Griffon agreed, reluctantly, to hear about my Christmas later. In the meantime, I sent Kivi away and followed my friends inside. Many of them had noted my dragon’s slip of the tongue, but only Flann dared mention it.

You’ll tell me later?

Not if I can help it.

Over supper, in a long and spacious dining room, we told my friends where we’d been for the last couple of weeks. The boys grilled us with questions about Kivi, the taste of reindeer, and flying, which led to me explaining, again, how I was able to control my body temperature. The boys wanted to know if Kivi could breathe fire like the black dragon, which Griffon assured them she could, and that was followed by a dozen new questions that I promised Kivi would answer herself.

“If you don’t eat your supper,” Ivy said, “you won’t be riding or speaking to any dragons tomorrow.”

They all but licked their plates clean.

In the midst of our dessert course, Griffon caught my hand under the tablecloth and gave me a wink. “Wickham?” He turned to the head of the table. “Do you know any clergymen?”

Wickham’s eyes widened. “I do. A friend of ours, Father Donne, is at St. Mary’s here in Inverness.” He glanced at me, swallowed, then looked at Griffon again. “What do you need?”

Griffon waited for my nod of permission—or maybe just my reassurance that I still wanted to marry him--but I gave both. He lifted my hand and kissed my knuckles, making promises with his crinkled eyes.

All the women in the room sighed.

“I had trouble with a reverend in Finland,” Griffon continued. “Said he couldn’t marry us in his church—”

Everyone gasped.

“Unless we were members of the congregation. Do you think Father Donne would mind performing a civil ceremony for a couple of…”

“Fae?” Brian offered.

“I was going to say heathens, but yes, Fae.”

Wickham nodded enthusiastically. I was pretty sure there were tears in his eyes when he reached for Ivy’s hand. “I am sure of it, mate. Welcome to the family.”

* * *

Welcome to the family.The words echoed over and over in my head.

I had refused to kick the boys out of their room and insisted Griffon and I were fine sleeping on the dining room floor. The parlor was already being used at night by Alwyn and Rinky, who had married in my absence.

Welcome to the family.

Yes, we were an odd collection of humans, witches, and now Fae. But a family we still were. And knowing we were all back under the same roof, for the moment, was its own kind of magic. It was easy to forget that there was someone powerful out there, hunting us and planning to destroy the world we knew.

Wickham had insisted we put off talking shop until tomorrow, but I could tell something was seriously wrong. When I’d reached for Flann’s thoughts during dinner, I’d teased,You’ll explain later?

Not if I can help it,he’d teased, then sent me a reassuring wink that was anything but reassuring.

Come on. Something’s wrong. Can’t you give me a hint?

It’s Orion. He found where Wickham was keeping the Naming Powers.

He took them?

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