Page 112 of Dragon Fires Everywhere
She studies it for a few moments, a lot like I did the first time I saw it. “It’s kind of like a vow, if you think about it,”Emerson says. “What happened when you freed Azrael, I mean. You were saying words of love out loud to your...”
I know she wants to saysoulmate, but with the current state of things with Azrael, doesn’t want to hurt me.
So I focus on the reality of what happened, regardless ofsouls. “Except I was furious at Sage, and not in a veryvowplace. I didn’t even know Azrael was real.” That’s not entirely true. “I certainly didn’t know about the past lives thing.”
“Maybe not,” Emerson says carefully, still studying the illustration. “But maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s not about youknowing on a conscious level. Your souls have always loved each other, if nothing else. So the words had your old lives andall that love behind them. The magic freed anyone who heard it.”
I frown. “That doesn’t explain why it didn’t work with Gideon. Azrael wasright there.”
Emerson ponders that, still studying the book. I magic myselfmore coffee. I have a long day of trying to get the archives to cough up some Joywood dirt for me, and I haven’t been sleeping well.
We don’t need to talk about how many times my dreams star a certain dragon. Maybe I should work up a spell to block them.But the thought makes me sad, because at least in dreams he’sthere.
You’re pathetic, I tell myself, though even that lacks heat, because believe me, I already know.
“What if...”
Emerson has an idea. A big idea—I can see it in the way her eyes gleam then. It’s the same look she gets when she’s revampinga festival or in her hyper planning mode. But something holds her back. She looks at Jacob, raises an eyebrow, and it’s clearthey’re having a private conversation in their heads.
I try not to scowl. I stab a blueberry on my plate with a fork while I wait for them to clue me in.
Jacob laughs softly. “If our weddingwasn’tin service of beating the Joywood, I’d be surprised.”
My eyebrows furrow. “Your wedding?”
Emerson leans forward, her eyes shining with a gleaming new plan. “We have it on Main Street. Outside Confluence Books. Ourvows are parts of the book—the parts you read Azrael. Readings from you guys can be the other parts too, just to cover ourbases. We broadcast it out for anyone who wants to hear. It should reach any magical creature in St. Cyprian, and it mightnot freeeveryone, but it’d be a start.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
Emerson shrugs. “Then it doesn’t work. Jacob and I will still be married. We can still have a wedding that’s part of a festival.”
“Her dream come true,” Jacob remarks dryly, but his mouth is curved, the love evident. He’s just happy to marry her. However,whenever.
I want this to be the answer. I want my best friend marryingthe perfect man for her, thatlovethey share, to be the key. If we do this, everyone will be free, and black magic will be done. Over at last.
But I don’t think it’s going to work. It’s not enough. It’s too simple. When nothing else has been simple this year.Especiallywhen we thought it should be.
That means it’s up to me to figure out what happens whensimpledoesn’t work. Like Emerson said, they’ll be married anyway. So I guess there’s no harm, no foul on that end. And it won’tbe the first time I go along with one of Em’s plans but make backup ones of my own. This is how I got through ten years ofher thinking she was a human.
I shake my head. “That only leaves you three days to plan your wedding, Em.”
“Give me a real challenge,” she says with a laugh.
And it’s my first genuine smile in days.
Later, as we’re walking through the foyer on our way out into our respective days, I look up at the chandelier. “Wait. Ifyour theory is right, wouldn’t Melisande have been uncursed when I said those words to free Azrael? It’s possible the rugin the living room couldn’t hear me, but she’sright here.”
I gesture up at the mermaid chandelier, and I swear it gleams back at me. Balefully.
Emerson squints up at the glittering crystals. “Maybe. And maybe this doesn’t work. But it won’t be you alone. It’ll be allof us—so extra love and vow power there.Andit will be on the solstice—so supercharged magic there. It will be a real wedding, soactualvows will be said. From a magic book. No matter what else happens, we know the book is magic.”
This is true, of course, but I’m still looking at Melisande. And realizing that the lights on the chandelier, which weren’ton, are now flickering.
“I guess you’ve figured me out,” a melodic voice says, pretty and tinkling.
The gold of the mermaid is...slitheringalmost, and then changing. Evolving and emerging. The tail of the mermaid moves with a flick of gold, and then it soundslike somethingsplashes—
And a wall of water seems to fall in front of us.
