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“Afraid I wouldn’t show?” I asked, quietly, so no one else could hear. Amusing at least myself.
With a slight lift of the left side of his mouth, he inclined his head slightly, acknowledging the point. He lifted my left hand and placed a kiss on the diamond. “You look beautiful, my ravishing Gwynn. Thank you for that. And for not running, yes.”
That startled me. I’d been careful to keep those thoughts very quiet, after all.
“Did you think I can’t see that much, even without hearing your thoughts?”
“I may have wanted to, but I didn’t. I’m here and I’m going through with it.”
He seemed about to say something more but didn’t. Instead, he dropped my hand and offered me his arm. “Shall we, then?”
My hand shook a little as I slipped it through his elbow and turned to face everyone. The hall dripped with the Stargazer lilies, blue and silver ribbons, and rafts of candles, the room redolent of the sweet blossoms and the hot vanilla scents of wax. Athena and the dragonfly girls had outdone themselves. People filled the hall. Falcon glowered at me, while Lady Healer on his arm smiled serenely, lovely in a formal grass-green gown. Fafnir appeared to be escorting Nasty Tinker Bell, the silver collar around his throat as obvious as his frown. Puck waved fingers at me, a handsome elfin-looking man gazing at him adoringly. Marquise and Scourge, she dressed in glistening black and he in spotless white, leaned their heads together, fond expressions on their faces.
Beyond these, ranks of fae and humans had gathered. Brownies, dragonfly girls, soldiers, fae nobles I recognized from various occasions. All staring at us with rapt interest.
“Breathe, my skittish Gwynn,” Rogue muttered. “It’s a wedding, not a human sacrifice.”
“Easy for you to say. You’re not the human,” I answered. But his taunt had snapped me out of it and I felt more myself. I scanned the ranks again. No sight of Titania.
“Isshehere?” I asked.
“No. Not yet.”
“Maybe she won’t come.”
“Wish upon a star, my powerful Gwynn. If anyone can make it true, you can.” He led me down the aisle formed by the assembly. They bowed as we passed, then fell in behind us, as if we led a parade.
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” It must have been the nerves, because I’d voiced the quip before I’d thought about how the flipness wouldn’t translate, only the intent.
“That bodes well for my chances then. Have I told you how beautiful you look? How intelligent and brilliantly magical?”
I snorted out a tiny laugh. He drove me crazy, but I’d missed him these past days. If nothing else, he did understand me. And forgave me for my foibles. I should find it in myself to do the same for him. Rogue’s thoughts brushed over mine, like a caress down my spine.
“I missed you, too, lovely Gwynn,” he whispered.
“Thank you for being there last night—for waking me.”
“I promised I wouldn’t leave you alone again.”
“I dreamed that she—”
“I know. Don’t say it. That’s why we’re doing this. To prevent that. For us both.”
We stepped outside the castle, onto the drawbridge, which had also been draped in cloth of silver and blue. Snowflakes fell huge and thick, some spheres, others feathery. I tipped my head back and they swirled down in thick waves, so I felt I might be inside a snow globe. The little gold plate would read Royal Wedding in Faerie. A funny image, if I didn’t feel so afraid.
“Is it wise for us to be outside?”
“Inside or out, it doesn’t matter. She will interfere or not as it suits her. I’ve done all I can to distract her with the pomp and circumstance.”
“Distract her from what?”
“Shh. You will see. Trust me.”
I couldn’t decide how I felt about that. It went without saying that pretty much anything Titania wanted to happen did not bode well for me. But I put it aside, as I’d resolved to, and walked with Rogue across the drawbridge. As we reached the midpoint, a moat monster rose on each side and sent spouts of water arching overhead, a dazzling display, as the streams sparkled with ice crystals and curled with steam.
I laughed then, in truth. And it felt so much better than the dread of the past few days. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Rogue slanted me a smile. “Larch’s idea, I believe.”
