Page 95 of Faking with the Fae King

When I tease my familiar for giving in to bribery, he humphs at me. “Well, of course I give in. It’streats. I don’t see you complaining when Severin brings you human treats, especially those spicy ones that smell.”

“Yep, you got me. I never say no to a cinnamon roll.” I scratch around Finn’s ears until he purrs. I don’t tell him the new fox treats are actually good for him, made with the extra taurine he needs in his diet.

Severin also had his conjurers make a little fox house in the corner of the palace gardens near the back gate, which now has a “doggie” door cut into it.

We decided that up until we get married, we’ll spend work nights at my cottage and weekends at the palace. Once we’re married, those times will probably flip, with the cottage acting more like a weekend getaway.

And the wedding… Hoo, boy, the wedding. Severin isnota man who does things by halves. He initially wanted to get married the day after the trial, but all I could picture was my mother’s head exploding in shock, so I asked for three months. We compromised on one month, which both delighted and horrified Mom. She’s ecstatic I’m getting married but can’t imagine arranging a wedding in only a month. I had to promise her I had everything well in hand, saying I wanted to support local businesses instead of using her connections in the capital. It’s not a lie—I will be using local businesses. They’ll simply be fae ones that use magic to get things done with a snap of the fingers.

The gnomes are doing the jewelry, the wood nymphs are doing the flowers, the pixies are doing dinner, the fae are doing the clothes, the brownie is doing the wedding cake, and Jared is doing the photography.

I get to pick out my flowers and dresses, but I don’t make a single attempt to get between Severin and the wedding cake order. If ever a man had an opinion on baked goods, it’s him. Every time I overhear him and Pepperpot discussing it, an extra layer ends up added to the cake, each a different flavor. They finally settle on five: vanilla with raspberry filling, zesty lemon, chocolate with hazelnuts, spice cake, and a Faerie confection flavored with lavender and elderflowers. The thing’s going to be so freaking tall it’s going to take extra magic to keep it standing, so it doesn’t turn into the confectionary version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa! But I’m happy he’s happy, and it’s not like I’m going to hate a reason to eat extra cake.

The Friday evening before the wedding, I work late in order to set up everything so I can be gone for a week. Severin and I are going on a honeymoon, and it’s going to be my first vacation in years. Hannah of only a couple of months ago would never have considered taking time off. New me can’t wait! Sun, sand, the sea… and Severin at the beach. I already bought him a pair of small swim trunks like Daniel Craig wore in that James Bond film. Yum.

When I step out of Town Hall, Finn races to me from the green. “Witch, you need to come with me. Something happened at Naomi’s shop.”

“What?” My heart skips. “Is everyone okay?”

He jumps up and puts his front paws on my thigh. “Youneed to come.” Then he dashes off, racing for the store like he’s got pixies on his tail.

I run after him, my ballet flats slapping against the sidewalk. Fortunately, downtown is small enough that I get to I Touch My Shelf pretty damned quickly.

Finn whines at the door, and I fling it open so we can race inside—

I stop short, in the middle of a dark, empty shop. “What the heckity heck?”

Magic shivers through the room, leaving behind light and motion and color as the entire Witch Bitch Spicy Book Club appears out of thin air. “Surprise!”

“Wha… what?” I shriek, hitting an embarrassingly high note.

“It’s your bachelorette party, bitch!” Autumn yells.

“A witch bitch one!” Skye adds.

I press a hand to my trembling mouth, overcome. Now that the trials are over, our coven meetings have become more relaxed, making me realize how much I missed having regular girls’ nights out before this last month and a half. We even started reading books, beginning with a spicy orc series that takes place in Faerie. The conversations about knotting have been seriously fun.

But for the Witch Bitches to do this… I can’t hug everyone fast enough. Smiling and laughing and crying a little.

“Hey, how did you hide like that?” I ask.

Autumn grins. “We got an illusion charm from Severin.”

“Well, it worked.” I look down at Finn. “And you completely fooled me!”

“It’s not as if it was hard. I am quite intelligent, you know.” He gives me his fox grin. “I did it to give you a nice surprise. It is nice, right?” He suddenly sounds a little uncertain, pressing against my calf.

“The nicest!” I crouch down to hug him and press a kiss to the top of his head. “What would I do without you?”

Finn laughs his fox laugh, a high and fast set of ha-ha-has. “It does boggle the mind how you ever survived before me.” I give him a few crunch berries for a special treat, and he heads back out to the green, muttering something about avoiding “girl time.”

When I turn back around, Naomi says, “We’ve got another surprise for you.” She flings open the door to the backroom to show…

“May!” I leap forward and throw my arms around my friend. She’s been off traveling Faerie with her orc husband, King Aldronn of Alarria.

Her tan face breaks into a huge smile as she looks up at me, a plastic tiara resting on her honey-brown hair. She picks up another and sets it on my head, then waves a hand toward Naomi. “Look at us! Three queens together.”

“Almost queen,” I say, pointing at my face.

---