“Holly, seriously, relax. It’s perfect.” I pull her into a hug, and she stiffens against me; we’ve come a long way since the drama of last year, and though she still has some walls up, it’s nice to see her trying. I just wish she would worry less. Holding a grudge against her is impossible, even if I wanted to.
“Okay, games!” Clara rummages through her purse, pulling out a stack of papers and pens, passing them out to each of the guests.She is still a little jittery, but she seems to have finally gotten comfortable. The suit she’s wearing is covered in peonies in deep blue, and considering most of the time I see her she’s wearing overalls, it’s cute the way she twirls, letting the coattails billow as she walks.
“Oooh, I have wondered what kind of games mortals play at these affairs,” Oak says, ditching his post to lounge on a picnic blanket between Ruby and Widow. With the grace of a cat,he rolls on his stomach, propping up his head with his hands. “What will the stakes be?”
“Oh, well…” Clara holds up her own paper to show the group “It’s amysticalthing called a survey, one of those ‘who knows the couple best’ kind of things, and the prize…”
“A cluster of gemstones?” Ruby asks, a competitive gleam now flickering in her eyes.
“A satchel of gold?” Oak offers. I note, with a smirk, that he seems to be sittingawfullyclose to everyone’s favorite seamstress. They would make a cute couple.
“The blood of our enemies?” Holly asks, and everyone roars with laughter. Well, everyone except for Clara, who gives me a wide-eyed look. I shake my head and lip the words, “She’s joking.”
“Close!” Rosie chimes with a wicked grin. “It’s a gift card to a local coffee shop.”
My lovely gaggle of faeries tilt their heads in confusion while I stifle a laugh. Considering we live in the middle of nowhere, my sweet neighbors had to drive upwards of an hour to get that little piece of plastic. It’s not a gift to be taken lightly.
“Sounds like the winner gets a field trip to the mortal realm,” Oak announces loudly.
The group erupts into chaos before straightening up, as if they’re ready to take a college exam and spent the entire night studying.
“She is my future sister-in-law,” Holly sneers. “I will win and have this adventure.”
“Well, she’s our best friend,” Ruby says, wrapping an arm around Oak, ever-so-slightly pulling him away from Widow, who I notice is now wearing a frown on her bright red lips. “We will be formidable rivals.”
“Not so fast!” Rosie argues, not so quick to give up the fight. “She’sourbest friend too, and playing as a team is not allowed.”
“Okay, you areallmy best friends, so calm down,” I say with as much authority as I can muster. Honestly, how can I pretend I’m not loving this? A few years ago, I could easily count my genuine friends on one hand, and now I’m surrounded by these wonderful people, and they’re fighting over me! This may be one of the best moments of my life—until the wedding, of course. I love them all so much.
“Question one!” Clara announces. “How did our happy couple meet?”
“Oh, that’s easy: he fell on her roof,” Rosie replies—loudly.Everyone scribbles down their answers with smiles across their faces.
“Shh.” Clara shakes her head. “Do you want to win this or not, babe?”
“Sorry!” She laughs. “Ignore me.” And if the others want to win, I hope they ignore her. Technically, Rosie is incorrect—but, by the smug expression on Holly and Ruby’s faces, it’s a detail I don’t think they remember as they copy Rosie’s answer.
“Wrong! Heather fell out of a tree and Moth saved her,” Clara announces, placing a hand on her hip as if she knew all along and the answers aren’t written on the card in front of her.
“How romantic! Why don’t you ever tell that part of the story?” Ruby asks, casting her amber gaze in my direction.
“Because I thought he was going to kill me.”
“Ah, people love a twist—leave it in next time,” Clara teases, shuffling the deck of cards, gaining a look of approval from Holly. “Okay, second question! Where was their first date?”
“That grubby little diner you took me to on my last visit!” Holly replies with her head held high. If she managed to pay attention to the rules, she might actually win this thing.
“You’re going to need to write down the answers if you want to win,” Clara reminds her, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Who said ‘I love you’ first?”
Me.I don’t mention that I shouted it during a fight, but whatever, it still counts.
“Who is messier?”
Honestly, that’s a tie. We both leave coffee cups all over the house, although my clothes are normally scattered as well. Moth still hates wearing pants.
“Where will they be going on their honeymoon?”
Queen Plume offered us their summer chateau in the Butterfly Court. It’s apparently in the middle of fields of flowers, totally secluded and, considering I still haven’t seen much of Eclipsica beyond Moth’s territory, was hard to say “no” to. Meanwhile, Clara and Rosie are trying to peer pressure us into doing a joint theme park trip in Florida for their anniversary, which Moth is understandably on the fence about. The truth is though, we haven’t actually decided on anywhere, though Moth seems like he has something sneaky he’s been planning.
