AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The Scholar glared at Katrina and then gave the angel an icy nod. “I’m so glad that you took a moment to pause and understand a young vampire’s impetuous dance invitation. Music? We are, apparently, dancing.”
He took me in his arms, and then we were dancing. I’d never really danced before, but he was a vampire and could look into my eyes and suggest the right steps to me, so I didn’t completely humiliate myself in front of our guests.
“This is the weirdest wedding I’ve ever been to,” I whispered as he spun me around near the edge of the waterfall, and I didn’t worry about plummeting to my death.
“Have you been to many weddings?”
Come to think of it, no, I had been to many more funerals than weddings. I’d gone to one of the assassin’s weddings after he settled down with a lovely werewolf after he was infected and put into partial retirement. That had been a pretty weird wedding too, come to think of it.
“I withdraw the comment. Weddings are weird.”
He cleared his throat and pulled me closer. “I love you. When I said that it was easy to step away, I meant to reassure you, not to suggest that I would find it easy, or that I went around starting relationships and ending them. I’ve never been married, never been serious in any meanings of the word with another person. I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone who could so thoroughly bewitch me. I’ve noticed that you do tend to translate with insufficient lighting. I take my vows seriously, so that’s the first thing I’m going to take care of.”
“The first thing?” I wiggled my brows and tried to look suggestive.
He smiled softly. “I will research with you while you translate your favorite texts. Your health, happiness, and pleasure are my serious duties. How did I get so lucky?”
I beamed at him. “If you think it’s lucky to be sworn to a demon angel librarian assassin, you’re probably crazy.”
“Crazy about you.” He kissed me, dancing and kissing so cleverly I almost forgot about the other guests.
No such luck. After the first dance ended, Tiago asked me to go around with him. “Have you seen Mirabel?” he asked as we spun around, him surprisingly light on his feet, considering his age.
“She isn’t here? And she said she wouldn’t forget.”
“Well, the music master was here, but then after the holy knight came, she disappeared, said she had to check on the snacks. Speaking of snacks, did you see them?” His eyes were bright with satisfaction. This was definitely a happy ending for him.
“Can I have this dance?” the angel said, once the music had stopped.
I stared at him and then held out my hand because dancing was better than bloodshed. He danced like an angel, but I danced like a librarian, which is to say, I kept stepping on his feet.
“Tell me about the musicians,” he said with a smooth smile. “I thought I heard a harp earlier. You know how angels love harps, but it seems I was mistaken.”
“Mirabel plays the harp, but apparently she got sucked into the snacks. She’s like that, scavenging like she doesn’t know how to buy groceries. I’m going to have to do something about the music guild finances. Maybe I can give myself a raise.” I smiled at him.
“You’re a member of the musician’s guild? What do you play?”
“I don’t really play, but I got sucked into the job of musical maintenance when Mirabel took over as Music Master.”
He winced, like I’d stepped on his foot a little too hard. “Ah. And you consider this Music Master a friend of yours in spite of her making a musician out of a librarian who was probably happily minding her own business?”
I hesitated. It’s like he knew her. “Yes. She’s my musical matron of honor. If your order was interested in funding a music hall?—”
He spun me under his arms and left me spinning wildly as he marched over to the musicians like he was going to war. He walked directly through the other dancers, like he knew that they’d get out of his way. They did.
When he reached the small stand where the musicians played, he leapt lightly up, took a mandolin out of the nearest musician’s hands, and strummed a note.
It was golden, flooding the space in a swirl of light and sound that cut through any remaining chatter, bringing every eye up to the angel on the stage. Were all angels this crazy?
“I hear that Singsong City’s new Music Master is named Mirabel. I know a song by that name, about a shameless woman who chased music like a hound chases a stag. You are honored to hear me play it for you this day.” He bowed and then, before I could be skeptical about the ‘honor’ he was bestowing, he began to play.
Mirabel was magical, but I’d never seen her perform alone, without a group around her that she supported with her magic to bring out the best in them. This was unabashed brilliance coated in talent, magic, and dazzling charisma.
The song was about some girl who did something, but the music was so compelling, so dizzying, I didn’t realize that I’d been drawn to the stage until the Scholar’s arms came around me, stopping me from pressing any closer.
He kissed the side of my neck then murmured in my ear, breaking the music’s spell, “You’re right about this being a weird wedding.”
The angel sang until Mirabel came stumbling out of the shadows, reluctantly drawn by strands of golden sound that wrapped around her wrists and throat, tugging her up on the stage until she was standing in front of the angel, glaring at him with her darkest scowl.
