Page 110 of Feral Guardian
“Zane, darling, what makes you think you can walk into the bride’s preparation room?” Scarlett asks with a bit of fire in her voice.
“This ismyhome,” he says with a scowl.
A knife sails through the air and pins in the frame of the door beside Zane’s head.
“Ourhome,” Zane corrects quickly with raised hands.
“You could’ve seen my little sister naked, and then I would be doing the eye-gouging,” Scarlett says. “You like both your eyes, don’t you, Zane?”
“They’re only for you, I swear it. I was sent to check on the progress of things. The groom is…anxious. He’s waiting at the greenhouse, and the longer he waits the more he suspects foul play.”
“We’re almost ready. Oh, could you get his horse? Lily has a special entrance in mind,” Scarlett says with a broad grin.
“More than happy to,” Zane says. “The damnable beast has been mating all our mares,andone of my studs.”
I giggle. “Sounds like Kor’Tar.”
Zane disappears behind the door and Scarlett finishes her hemming of my new top. She’s combining my powers with Cecillia’s to do the work, and it’s very fine. In another life, she could’ve made wedding garments for queens.
“There you are. What do you think?” she asks, standing back to check her work.
The reflection in the mirror is much more me. The off-the-shoulder top cuts off just below my ribs, still offering support for my breasts. The pants sit low on my hips and are tight around my ass, but then loosen and billow around my legs.
“I’m going to stop Alastair’s heart,” I say.
“And stiffen his cock,” Scarlett remarks.
“It’ll be a fine way to go out,” I reply, and we laugh until we’re in tears.
When we come down, Scarlett looks nervous.
“What is it?” I ask.
She looks away from me, pursing her lips. “Nothing.”
“Don’t lie, I can see it on your face.”
Finally, her gaze comes back to mine in the mirror. “I’m so sorry we missed twelve years of this. I’m so sorry I didn’t come for you sooner—”
“Stop it. This was the only way it was going to go. If you’d come sooner, you would’ve died. And then you wouldn’t have met Zane, which I’m sure he would be very upset about. And I wouldn’t have had the journey with Alastair I needed to get him to marry me, which I would be very upset about, too.”
We share a small smile, but I can see it’s still eating at her.
I face her and grab her hands. “Please, Scarlett, don’t think on this a second longer. Everything has happened how it’s needed to.”
She nods. “All right.”
I pull her in and hug her tightly.
Cecillia sniffles in the corner, dabbing at her eyes. Even Ignis, the sassiest man on the planet, looks happy.
“Let’s get you to Alastair before he rips the door off the hinges looking for you,” Scarlett says as she pulls back. “May I escort you to your horse?” she asks nervously as she holds out her arm.
“It’d be my honor to walk with the Spider Queen of the Underbelly,” I say with a smile as I loop my arm through hers.
My heart is light and my body electric as we step through the door and down the three stories to the main level of the Nest. Kor’Tar is waiting just outside the threshold of the house, tapping his hoof on the cobblestones. When he sees me, he whinnies excitedly.
I pat his snout and give him a good scrub under the chin. “Ready to take me to Alastair?”
