Page 104 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

The fabric is unfathomably soft, I can’t stop myself from petting it. The sweet, supple dress feels like magnolia petals… I bring it to my nose and inhale.

They are magnolia petals.

“Come on,” Minx says, wiggling as she holds the dress for me. “You don’t want to keep them waiting.”

They get my dress off and Calico holds my hand to steady me.

As soon as I step into the dress, those petals mould around me. The term “painted on” comes to mind as I smooth my hands down the bodice.

“Gods, you’re gorgeous.” Minx says with a fluttering sigh. “Just one more thing.”

She hands me a new mask, identical in shape, but white, with a lily that is such a deep red it might as well be black tucked against one ear.

Scooping up the gown Jack dressed me, Calico steps away as Minx nudges my hand. “Put it on over the other one.”

I grimace, but don’t argue. It doesn’t matter that it’s going to feel clunky. At this point, I’m just doing whatever I’m told until I know it’s over.

But the black mask seems to dissolve beneath the white.

“Perfection.” Calico slides her hand around Minxs’ waist, drawing her close. “Your Eebie’s waiting for you.”

Minx nods toward the arch that’s formed as the flowers draw away like curtains. A white sand path leads away from this space.

“Off you go.” Calico flutters her hands, toward the path.

“Are you coming?”

“Oh, we weren’t invited. It’s a principal gods-only kind of party.” Minx says with a sweet smile showing her pointed teeth. “We had to beg Ester to let us do this much.”

She bounces forward—a feat in the heels she wears—and presses a soft kiss to my chin.

“See you around, Lily,” Calico says, drawing her lover back. “Don’t forget about us.”

They disappear, fading like a mirage, and I’m left alone in the quiet of this flower lined place.

But Jack’s waiting.

The sand is cool against my bare feet, a pleasant change, and the train of the dress breaks off behind me, leaving those large, white flowers in my wake.

They wait for me at the end of that path, all of the principal gods, circled around Jack, and Death steps aside to let me enter.

He smiles at me… a flicker of flesh that covers their jaw for only a moment. And I don’t know if it is more or less unsettling than if he had simply watched me from his empty sockets, expressionless.

When I take Jack’s offered hand, Juun speaks. But I can’t understand her.

All five of them speak in the old gods’ resonant language, the words booming through me, reverberating in my chest, vibrating my bones.

I don’t need to understand the words, though, as they make their way around the circle, those words are agreements. Heim’s still sounds forced.

Ester says something with a placid smile on her face as she turns her gaze to me.

“Say yes,” Jack whispers, leaned down to me.

“Yes.” There’s no hesitation. Even if I couldn’t guess what this was, I know Jack would never let me agree to something that would harm me.

It’s not a wedding, for all the dress might make it seem. It’s something more sacred. More permanent.

He’s already mine and I’m already his, but this…. This is a declaration in front of the principal gods that will cement that as fact throughout the old gods’ realm.

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