Page 99 of Faking with the Fae King

I pause for a moment, then follow, trying to walk at a stately pace, but my butterflies take flight, trying to hurry me forward.

The moment my foot touches the green, several things happen at once. The walking tulips race in from the sides and precede me down the aisle like literal flower girls. Pixies swoop out of the nearby trees, flying right behind the tulips and tossing showers of white flower petals as they go.

And Finn, my dearest Finn, trots out from under a rhododendron, a jaunty green bow tied around his neck, two rings strung on loops of the ribbon.

I blink rapidly as he shoots me a proud look and walks down the aisle in front of me, his floofy tail held high, the best ring bearer any girl could have.

Somehow, I make it down the aisle. I mean, I probably walk, but I’m so full of giddy happiness it feels like floating.

When the tulips and pixies reach the end of the aisle, they split into two groups and continue around until they form a semi-circle behind the wedding party. Finn stops in front of Varyn, who retrieves the rings and ribbon. Then my familiar goes over to sit beside Skye and Autumn, his fluffy tail curled around his front feet.

Mom stands and takes my bouquet right before I reach Severin. It’s an idea I thought of to give her a part in the wedding and hopefully softens the sting that I didn’t haveDad give me away.

I want to give myself to Severin.

Then I’m there, standing in front of him, his green eyes burning into mine.

“Your beauty undoes me, my bride,” he growls, lifting my hand to press a kiss to my knuckle right below my ring.

The local justice of the peace looks a little bemused as she starts the ceremony. While orcs and wood nymphs probably look human without much bother, I wonder what she and the other non-magical humans see in place of the walking tulips and pixies.

Severin and I stand facing each other, hands clasped, as she leads us through our vows. We decided to keep them fairly standard for the human part of the service, since so much else about the wedding is fantastical.

“I, Severin, do take you, Hannah, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forth.”

His deep voice gives the words a solemn promise that goes straight to my heart. I tear up, especially when he turns to take a ring from Varyn. Then Severin slides it up my finger, a beautiful gold band, made to resemble the twining stems of a flower, perfectly matching my engagement ring. I love it.

“I, Hannah, do take you, Severin, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forth.”

My voice sounds breathy to my ears, but Severin’s eyes never leave mine, full of love. I reach out a hand blindly, andVaryn lays a ring on my palm, a large, platinum band shaped with the same twining plant-stem design as mine. I slide it onto Severin’s finger.

The justice of the peace steps back, giving us space for the fae part of the ceremony.

Severin takes my left hand in his, retrieves the ribbon from Varyn, and drapes it over our clasped hands.

“Hannah, until I met you, I had no idea what love meant. In giving me your heart, you’ve given me mine. I love you and vow to spend the rest of my days making you happy.” He winds one end of the ribbon around our hands even as one of his shadows coils around my calf like a hug.

Tears prickle my eyes at the beauty of his words. God, I love this man!

“Severin, I never imagined I’d find someone so thoughtful and kind. You let me dream my dreams, then you help me make them come true. I love you and want to spend every day making you happy.” I wrap the other end of the ribbon around our bound hands.

Magic swirls around us, and his eyes meet mine, so full of love my heart skips.

“You may kiss!” the justice of the peace calls out.

Severin dips me backward. I cling to him, toes curling as his voice goes growly and possessive. “My wife.Mine.” His mouth takes mine in a searing kiss that makes me totally forget we have an audience.

When he finally pulls me upright, people laugh and cheer. He unbinds the ribbon and slips it into his pocket so that a beaming and crying Mom can push my bouquet into my hands. Severin escorts me back down the aisle, everyonethrowing birdseed over us, and I grin to think of the doves having a feast in the morning.

Rune, Luke, and Shadow leap into action, ushering everyone to the end of the green. In the center of the space, circular tables appear by magic, the chairs from the ceremony now arranged around each. Then a long rectangular table appears at the other end of the green, topped with the five-tier wedding cake.

Severin leads me to our table, where we’re joined by my parents and the bridal party. Since we had our wedding rather late in the day, the better to enjoy the floating Faerie lights and pixies, we eat dinner right away. The pixies fly several types of pizza to each table. Severin must have given them a strong talking to about what’s appropriate for a wedding, because they don’t scream “Pizza!” for the deliveries.

Mom makes a point of saying how “modern” it is to serve pizza at a wedding, but Dad says it’s refreshing to have food people actually want to eat instead of the over-cooked chicken he’s given at so many public events.

“Pizza has a special meaning for us,” Severin says, picking up my hand. “Hannah and I ate pizza for our very first date.”

That melts Mom’s heart, and she doesn’t say another word about any of our non-traditional choices.

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