Calla's Story

Chapter 30

Thirty

The weather couldn’t be more perfect. A warm afternoon sun hangs in a clear sky, illuminating the forest floor with shafts of golden light. The trees are dressed in an autumn palette of reds, oranges, golds and yellows more beautiful than anything I could ever paint. Leaves drift to the ground like confetti. Glass jars of glow-bugs hang from branches. At the center of the scene is a simple pavilion with slim branches woven into a domed canopy. Vines with tiny cream flowers twist around the structure, and petals of the same color are sprinkled over the ground. On one side of the pavilion, family and friends are seated on rows of simple wooden benches.

This wedding was pulled together in record time, and the organizers—Tilly and Raven—did a spectacular job. The scene isn’t quite as perfect as it could be, though. Mom isn’t awake yet, and Chase hasn’t returned from his ‘business.’ But Mom is safe, and Chase will be back soon enough, and this glorious celebration is everything I’ve always wanted for my brother and Violet, so I’m brimming with happiness despite the two empty seats.

A hush falls over the gathering as Vi and Ryn’s friend Natesa rises from her chair and stands to one side. She begins singing, and her enchanting voice is the cue for the ceremony to begin. As per tradition, Vi and Ryn enter from opposite sides, with Vi appearing on the left of the gathering, and Ryn on the right. They walk slowly toward each other, their gazes locked, as if they exist in their own world oblivious to the rest of us.

Vi’s ivory lace dress is simple but elegant with a V-neckline, a strip of lace over each shoulder, and a lace train that isn’t too long. I can’t see her feet, but I know she’s barefoot. Raven presented at least twenty different shoe ideas, and Vi said she wasn’t interested in any of them. Her hair is loose with tiny flowers pinned into it, and she carries a simple bouquet of three roses.

Ryn meets her in front of the pavilion. They share a look filled with meaning. Realized dreams, old fears, shared hopes, and a lifetime of memories. They clasp hands and step beneath the canopy together where the Seelie Court officiant is standing. He talks about the bond of the union, the strong magical connection created when two people pledge their lives to one another. And even though this has all technically happened before when Vi and Ryn signed the union scroll at the Guild, it didn’t feel nearly as special or real then as it does now.

A tear slides down my cheek, and Filigree—mouse-shaped, standing on my shoulder and clutching my earlobe—attempts to wipe it away. I pat him affectionately as I watch the officiant produce the two rings that Vi and Ryn usually wear over their ring markings. If this union were being created for the first time, this would be the point in the ceremony where the two of them receive the gold tattoo-like markings encircling their ring fingers. But those markings are already there, so they simply place the rings on each other’s fingers. The officiant holds their hands together and speaks the final bonding charm.

The ceremony ends with a kiss and plenty of applause. Everyone stands and crowds around the couple. Laughter and good wishes and congratulations on the coming baby fill the clearing. The happy gathering of people slowly moves from the pavilion through the trees to where tables have been set up in a U shape. As the afternoon sun slides closer to the horizon, we take our places around the table. We eat and drink and share stories, and all the worries of recent days—Gaius missing, my Griffin Ability gone, Saber and Marlin on the loose—fade into the background.

After the first course is finished, I leave the table for a while and wander back to the pavilion. It’s so pretty there. I want to see it in the soft light of sunset as the glow-bugs in the jars become brighter. I lean against one of the legs holding the structure up and lift my gaze to the tree tops. Red-orange light filters through leaves of the same color, making the scene look warmer than it feels. As a shiver runs along my bare arms, I try to enjoy this last moment of peace before the hard work really begins.

Apparently I’m not trying hard enough, though. I can’t help picturing the pile of extra studying waiting at home and the extra training sessions scheduled for this coming week. Olive obviously decided that if a combination of disinterest and verbal abuse wouldn’t drive me out, perhaps overwork would. Her plan will fail, though. I’ve spent the past week pushing myself in every training session to be faster, stronger, more skilled. I’m determined to prove to Olive that I am cut out for this life and that I’m not going anywhere. She can shred me apart with her words and pile as much work on top of me as she wants, but she will not break me.

Gemma, Perry and Ned help me out wherever they can, pointing out useful textbooks in the library and volunteering for extra Fish Bowl time if I’m in need of an opponent. It was difficult at first to accept their help when I still don’t really believe we’ll be friends for long. But as each day passes, and they continue to laugh at whatever story Saskia digs up from my past, I wonder if perhaps these are the friends who will stick around.

“You look a bit cold, Miss Goldilocks.”

My stomach flips over at the sound of his voice, and I’m already smiling by the time I turn around. “You came,” I say.

“I’m sorry I’m late.” He walks toward me and shrugs his coat off as he steps beneath the flower-laden pavilion. It’s the coat he always wears, the black one that reaches just below the tops of his legs. The one he always looks so darn sexy in. Warmth rises to my cheeks as he places the coat over my shoulders. I look up. His face is close enough to kiss, if I stood on tiptoe and leaned closer. Then I notice the fading bruise on his cheekbone. “Did that happen while you were taking care of your ‘business’?” I ask, raising my hand and touching my fingertips to his skin.

“It did,” he says. A faint pink flush appears in his cheeks, and it makes me feel ridiculously warm inside knowing it’s my touch that’s causing that.

I lower my hand and ask, “Is it finished? Whatever it was you had to do?”

He nods and catches my hand before it reaches my side. His fingers slide between mine, and I suddenly find it harder to breathe. I look down at our intertwined fingers and can’t remember what it was we were talking about or what I was planning to say next. Holding hands isn’t supposed to be this big a deal, is it? It isn’t supposed to quicken my breath and speed up my heart and set my skin on fire.

Is it?

A spark of bright light appears above us, and then another and another. I look up and see the tiny flowers twisted around the domed canopy igniting, each one bursting alight with a tiny flame before fizzling out.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Chase asks.

“Uh, I don’t think so.” Fortunately, the small spontaneous fires stop moments after they began. I meet Chase’s gaze once more with a frown. “Strange.”

His grin tells me he knows something I don’t. “Strange, indeed,” he says. His eyes remain locked on mine as his expression turns serious. He looks down, then back up. “Is your heart still set on working for the Guild?”

He sounds almost hopeful, and I hate that my answer will smother that. “Yes. It isn’t quite what I thought it was, but I still want to work there. It’s still my dream to be a guardian.”

He nods slowly, but says nothing. I know what he’s thinking, though, because I’m thinking it too. How will anything ever work out between us if one of us is upholding the law and the other is continually breaking it?

“Tell me what you do,” I say. I think I’ve guessed correctly, but I want to hear it from him.

“I … help people.”

“But you work outside the law in order to do that.”

After a pause, he says, “Yes.”

“Why? If what you’re doing is good, then why don’t you work for the Guild?”

The smile he gives me is sad. “They wouldn’t have me.”

“Why not?”

He looks away. “If they knew my history …”

“If they knew my history they wouldn’t take me either.”

“I keep secrets from enough people already,” he says. “I don’t want to add anyone else to that list.”

That list. His words wake something inside me, jolting me from warm dreams to cold reality. I’m silly to think I’m different or special, or that this could possibly work out. Not when I’m on that list like everyone else Chase keeps secrets from. I pull my hand out of his and step back. “We don’t just have the problem of me working for the law and you working outside it,” I say. “There’s the problem of all the secrets you’re keeping from me.”

After a long moment, he says, “Yes. But that isn’t going to be a problem after I tell you everything.”

Everything? After all the mystery surrounding this guy, I didn’t expect to hear those words. “Do you mean that?”

He takes in a breath that sounds a little shaky. “Yes. If you want to hear the truth.”

The truth. Do I really want to know Chase’s truth? Perhaps not knowing is better. It will be easier to face the Guild every day if I don’t know all the details of his illegal activity. But not knowing means there can’t be anything … more between us. Because a relationship can’t work when there are secrets.

“Calla? Cal, are you out here?” Violet’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.

“Who’s that?” Chase asks, a frown creasing his brow.

I look over his shoulder to the trees where the voice came from and see a figure in white moving between them. “My brother’s wife.”

“Cal, come back,” she calls, waving as she sees me. “Tilly wants us to do that silly dance and I’m so not doing it without you.”

“Come on,” I say to Chase, deciding I can make my choice to hear his truth or not later. “You can meet my family and make fun of me while I pretend I can dance.” I tug at his hand, but he doesn’t move. His face is frozen into an odd expression.

“No,” he murmurs, staring unseeingly at the ground.

“What?”

“I do know you.”

“What do you—”

He looks up, his gaze suddenly intense. “The moment I first saw you, I knew I recognized you. I knew it.”

“Chase—”

“I’m sorry, Calla.” He takes a step back, and over his shoulder I see Violet coming toward us.

“Chase, what’s going on?”

“I’ve never lied to you, I swear. This is who I am.”

“What are you …”

My voice trails off as Vi stops just outside the pavilion, her mouth open to say something before she freezes, her expression turning slowly to one of horror. Several things happen at once then, and I see them all as if in slow motion: Vi’s arms rising into position and grasping a bow and arrow, Chase’s hand sweeping through the air as he backs away from both of us, and snowflakes—snowflakes?—falling everywhere.

Then everything speeds up. The snow is a blizzard, and the wind whips my hair around my face, and all I can see is white as I raise my hands to protect my face.

The wind dies down. The snow drifts away. A hush falls over the area.

Chase is gone.

I’m utterly confused. I look back at Violet, at the stunned expression on her face. “It can’t be,” she whispers. And then the greatest secret of all comes crashing from her lips:

“Draven.”

A FAERIE’S REVENGE