Luna turned to him sharply, her eyes bright with surprise. “Not really!”
He shrugged.
“‘And they all lived Happily Ever After? The end?’”she quoted and shook her head. “Have you never read even a single novel, Mr. Grimm?”
“My father didn’t approve of novels.”
“Well!” She was silent for a few steps save for her huffing breath. Then finally: “Well, I don’t think I approve of your father!” The words were no sooner slipped from her lips than she clapped a hand over her mouth and shot Nigel an apologeticlook over her fingers. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me, wasn’t it? Speaking ill of the dead and all.”
The corner of Nigel’s mouth pulled. “I’m not offended.” He progressed up a few more steps before adding, “Truth be told, I think the old man would have quite liked you. Your brand of Green Magic would have suited him exactly.”
“Now I feel even more like a beast.”
He looked back at her where she trailed a few steps behind him. “Don’t feel bad, Miss Talbot. Alfred P. Grimm was a mixed-bag of a person. He wouldn’t have cared whether you approved of him or not. He simply was what he was.”
They reached the landing and paused for breath. Luna rested against the wall, not looking at Nigel. So he took the opportunity to look at her instead. He liked to see her this way, with her cheeks all pinked from exercise. She’d taken particular care to curl and style her hair this morning in preparation for interactions with their High Society customers, but one would never know it now by the amount of frizz and tangle. Sweet and disheveled, her angelic beauty in no way compromised, somehow she seemed moreattainablelike this.
Not that she truly was attainable. Not for a man like him.
Not after everything he’d done and been.
Nigel swiveled his gaze away from her, studying the texture of the concrete wall. To fill the silence more than anything, he said, “So, what exactly is the definition of this Happily Ever After of yours?”
“Oh, it’s pretty much what it sounds like.” Luna tilted her head, considering her answer. “Following the great crisis and ultimate resolution, our plucky and intrepid heroine achieves a pleasant outcome, and nothing bad happens to her ever again.”
“Sounds a bit boring, actually.”
Luna sniffed. “I suppose you’re right.” She pushed away from the wall and continued on up to the sixth floor. Nigel fell intopace beside her. “And I suppose I wouldn’t wish it on her anyway, come to think of it. But maybe a little Happily For Now would just about suit Eugenia. Something to brace her before the next adventure.”
They achieved the sixth landing. “This is the correct floor, is it not?” Nigel said.
Luna nodded. “Are you ready to assault the wait staff defenses?” she asked, leaning against the door.
Nigel offered a crisp salute.
With a wicked grin, Luna pushed the door open and sprang into the hall. “No one here,” she declared, beckoning him. “Quick, while their guard is down!”
She led the way along the plush red carpet to the side entrance of the banquet hall. Nigel trailed at her heels, casting a few nervous glances over his shoulder, not altogether convinced the wait staff wouldn’t use violence if necessary. Some of those fellows had looked quite combative. Cracking the door open, Luna peered into the banquet hall. Soft strains of music emerged from within; apparently, the reception band was already in place and practicing. This made their little covert endeavor rather less covert.
Luna and Nigel exchanged glances, then Luna shrugged and stepped boldly forward. Nigel followed her into the gaudy chamber, greeted by a blast of familiar, floral perfume from all the many arrangements.
“Green Mother drat it!” Luna declared, fisted hands planting on her hips.
“Something wrong, Miss Talbot?”
She pointed to the nearest table, then the next, then the one after. Little spatters of potting soil trailed away from each of the arrangements, across the white tablecloths, and onto the parquet floor. “The violets,” she said and heaved a sigh. “Every last one of them has abandoned its post!”
All the trails seemed to lead in a single direction. Like a hound on the scent, Nigel led the way through the tables and chairs to the bride and groom’s table at the head of the chamber. Luna followed him, and they got down on their hands and knees as Nigel lifted the tablecloth.
A hundred little purple faces turned to blink up at them before immediately ducking shyly behind little green-leaf hands.
“Oh, you little ninnies!” Luna huffed. She turned her head to Nigel, her nose nearly bumping his. She blinked rapidly and faced forward again, and he thought perhaps a little pink tinged her cheeks. “Lesson learned,” she said. “You’ll never catch me using violets in formal arrangements again!”
“Perhaps we could request Garden breed a more courageous strain,” Nigel suggested. “For future endeavors.”
She blew a sigh through her lips. “I suppose it doesn’t matter, since the wedding’s off anyway. I’ll just gather these fellows, and—”
Just in that moment, an imperious voice rang out from across the banquet hall, louder even than the musicians at their practice. “No, I willnotbe calm! Our daughter has made a mostfoolishandheadstrongdecision, and now all that effort is to beruinedon a frivolous display ofsheer, arrogant willfulness?”
