Page 35 of The Grip of Death
“I can’t tell you. That would ruin the wish. Or something. Probably.”
Xander protested, but I grabbed his hand in both of mine and kissed the back of it. He was so warm. He smelled so nice. This had to be a dream, the comfort of him, the balmy breeze in this garden, the perfect glow of the sun. A wedding in the Verdance,a party for me and all my friends and my future husband. My husband, Xander Wright!
Every waking moment since we’d entered the Summer Court had felt like swimming in honey. Honey, or maybe the sweetest tree sap. To be locked in amber, to freeze this moment forever? I couldn’t imagine a happier time in my short life.
Fatima was the first of our friends from the Verdance, before we even knew she was fae. Masquerading as a cloth merchant in the Black Market, she’d told us that the sensual pleasures were all heightened in the Verdance. “Sugar was sweeter,” she said.
And while Xander and I had shared desserts and dishes and even our bodies in the Verdance, it was this glorious afternoon, of all things, that led me to truly understand what Fatima meant.
I pressed a kiss against the dip between Xander’s knuckles, held the metal of his enchanted engagement ring to my lips until they tingled with magic. This was the perfect place to fall truly, madly in love.
“The two of you are disgusting,” Beatrice said, her thrilled little smirk betraying what she really thought of us. “Don’t mind the rest of us, we’re just working our beautiful butts off while you gross the rest of us out with your public display of affection.”
“Don’t tempt me, Rex,” I growled. “We could be openly making out instead. Or worse. Far worse.”
“Please!” Niko cried. “I just had lunch. I don’t want to lose it all over the lawn.”
And what a lunch it was, too, prepared and served by King Oberon’s delightful subjects. The people of the Summer Court clearly loved their king, and they channeled their happiness at his long-awaited return into preparing a sumptuous feast for their humble human guests.
I’d never seen so many different varieties of cakes and sweetmeats, and all decorated with swirls of icing and sheets ofsugar lace that defied logic and gravity. The fruits and vegetables of the Verdance seemed at once so alien and yet so familiar.
The king’s kitchens had also, quite touchingly, attempted to recreate popular human dishes, with mixed results. I only bit into the bright green hamburger to be polite, but it turned out delicious anyway.
The best part was seeing that Xander had continued to retain his healthy appetite. I knew that seeing him so hungry and so eager to dig in upon waking up was a good sign of his recovery.
The healers had been right in the end, that there was no permanent damage to his body and soul, that he only needed some time to gain back his strength. I never would’ve forgiven myself if the arcane engine had actually hurt him.
My opinion of what had actually happened ping-ponged so much between everyone else’s assessments. I thought that talking to my friends about the accident would have helped clear things up, but sometimes outside opinions only led to more conflict in my brain, especially hearing from people I respected like Gertrude Goodness, or Hecate, or hell, Reza Arshad.
Something he could never know about me, of course. It would go straight to his head.
In the end I’d gone with what Hecate had said. “To err is human,” right? It stung to accept it, but putting Mom and Dad on a pedestal had clouded my judgment of their capabilities.
It was very cool of Gertrude to try and convince me that my parents were awesome and infallible, but that was hardly the realistic view. Octavian and Luciana made a mistake, and so did I. End of story.
Again I made a mental note to send Giuseppe the nicest apology basket money could buy. Well, whatever we could afford after spending on this wedding. But what excuse would I have for not splurging on Giuseppe? We were saving a ton having our friends pitch in on the supplies and decorations.
Earlier in the day, Lore had lovingly wheeled in his monstrosity of a wedding cake. When I say “wheeled in,” of course, what I meant to say was that he politely threatened me, Preston, and the others as we rolled the cake in through the Verdance portal. It was hard not to be at the peak of physical efficiency when we had the threat of laser beams looming over our heads.
Even worse, now Lore had Whitby with him as well, the two of them zipping among us like a pair of anxious hummingbirds. Whitby would pick up how to fire lasers from Lore in no time. On the plus side, Xander and I would end up with the sickest security system in all the Black Market.
Lore had actually panicked about where to store the cake as soon as we arrived at the Palace of Briars, but Oberon’s people were right on top of things. His kitchen staff had set out a ring of flowers, which looked very pretty indeed. One of the cooks explained their purpose.
The orange flowers radiated heat, while the blue ones radiated cold. Arranged in just the right combination, the impromptu floral arrangement would keep Lore’s creation in perfect condition for a long time indeed, or at least until we needed to actually cut the cake.
Which wasn’t a long time away, mind. Only one day until we were set to get married. I finally stood up, grabbed Xander by the waist, and pulled him in tight.
“Can you believe this? We’re getting married tomorrow. Just one more night and we won’t be bachelors anymore.”
Niko groaned. Beatrice shrieked. Preston slapped himself in the forehead. I frowned at them all.
“Wow, you guys. I know the running joke is that we gross you out, but I didn’t think the idea of us getting married was actually so repulsive to each and every one of you.”
“It’s not that,” Preston said. “We forgot about the bachelor party, Jack. Everyone was so busy with the wedding preparations that we just plain forgot.”
“The bachelorparties,” Beatrice corrected, her eyes huge, her fingers crooked like she was looking for someone to throttle. “Plural. Oh my gods, Xander, I was supposed to be your best man, and look at us now.”
Xander chuckled. “You guys, it’s no big deal. I forgot myself. What does it matter? We’re all going to have fun together at the wedding anyway.”
