Page 26 of Battling Bright
Azreen was standing with his arm around Vaia, and he spoke with a bright smile.“Hello, to all who have stayed this long.Vaia and I are delighted that you have all been here to share this day.Yes, it is a renewal, but it is a fresh start with none of the strangeness and pressure of our first union.This time, we are both legal adults for one.”
There was some laughter in the audience.
Vaia thanked the new cousins who had brought things together for her, her friend Amy, her assistant Min, and her newly discovered cousin Imara, and of course, Krys.“You have been seeing her sprinting around the event all night, and she pulled this event off and got everyone the drinks they needed to survive this style of event.”
There was more laughter, but the tone had changed, and Krys heard the change and looked at the screen that was showing a lot of images that Krys hadn’t seen because she was in them.
“Oh, boy.”
She watched a bunch of images and videos that had no business existing.“Who took all of that?”
Reynal murmured, “The private detective that I hired is an excellent photographer.”
She looked up at him in shock.“What?”
“I had to know if you were as cute and bouncy with a devastating intellect as it seemed.You are, so your beauty didn’t blur my judgment.”
“You just like the wings.”
He grinned and kept an arm around her waist.“I really do.”
They watched images from the florist, from the butcher shop choosing meat cuts with Azreen, to the pastry shop for samples of cake.Taking Vaia and Azreen to the club to meet Korman-ehl, the goblin who fronted the band.
They listened and watched the variety of dancers on the floor.When the singer was on a break, Krys went and negotiated with him.
“How did you get him to agree to it?”
Korman-ehl looked at them and said in a voice that carried, “She told my grandfather on me, and he told me it was in my best interest to cooperate with the lovely lady.”
Krys beamed.“He was very cooperative once I called his grandpa.”
There was a laugh from Dem-rah, and he said, “It was worth the favour.”
There was an image of her and Korman-ehl high-fiving.
Vaia said, “So, we obviously already had the venue; she had the staff and the connections for food and drink.Nice call on the troll bartenders.”
The huge bartenders raised their hands.
“So, if Leonora hadn’t sent you to us, today wouldn’t have happened.You have been my real frost fairy godmother, cousin.Thank you for putting this all together, for a price.”
Krys blushed as the images of her snarling on a go-kart, looking pensive while on her phone eating a taco, and walking through the hospital with her wand out, in the ICU with folks smiling, in the children’s ward with sparkly shoes everywhere and finally, being escorted by Reynal to her car and driving home with a gargoyle flying low over her roof rack.
The screen returned to her twirling with the wand and crown.
Vaia grinned.“Now, Krys, I think you need to say a few words.”
Krys was gently shoved toward the stage, so she sprouted her wings and flew over the crowd.She took the mic and said, “Well, thank you to the happy couple.I hope your day was everything you hoped it would be.”
She turned toward the crowd.“The Grunwald mansion has a rather nasty and brutal history, as several folks here can attest.”Neekil and Hannah stood close together.Sable nodded from the rear of the crowd.“Lives have been lost here, but that is in the past.The entity involved was struck by lightning and smashed flat.Now, Mayor Matthias had a huge mansion on the city’s hands and minimal interest in a building this expensive to heat.Fortunately, he found a couple who was interested in the place, and the husband brings his own fire.”
The crowd laughed, and Azreen snorted fire out of his nostrils.Azreen’s father and mother grinned.
“Well, now that we have proved we can have a wedding here at the mansion with only one or two minor casualties, I hereby declare this family-occupied wedding and event venue open for business.If you want to impress dignitaries, we are getting a website up.If you want to have a super secret XIA adult bouncy castle event, make an appointment.”
The minotaur and his partners laughed.She looked.“Except you, Jennor, you have to wear tennis balls on those things.”
Laughter rippled out again.
