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“What can?”
“I took over in the interim, supposedly until they hired someone new, but they didn’t seem to be making much progress on that, so I was kind of hoping they’d consider me.”
“I’ll put in a good word for you.” I wasn’t entirely sure what good my word would do, since to most of the company, I was a traitor who’d quit and gone to work for the enemy, but I hoped my participation in the day’s battle might count for something in public opinion. Telling Perdita was a good start in making sure everyone in the company knew, even before Merlin sent out a memo about my role in the Collegium takedown.
“What were you doing, anyway?” she asked.
“Have you heard of the Collegium?”
“It really exists?”
“It did. Not anymore.”
Her slanted eyebrows rose. “Because of you?”
“I can’t take all the credit, but I was the one on the inside, undercover.”
“Wow! That must have been exciting.”
“Most of the time, it was actually kind of boring. Today, though, yeah, it was really exciting. Anyway, I came up here to ask you for a favor.”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“Do you still make fancy coffee drinks?”
“Yeah, what do you want?”
“I need a couple of mochas with extra whipped cream.”
A second later they were in my hands. “I’ve been thinking of selling my spells for that,” she said. “I’ve got them pretty much perfected.”
“You’d know how to market them. Thanks a bunch.”
Before I was even out of the office, she was already on the phone, spreading the news about what I’d really been doing when I quit MSI.
I found Owen still hard at work when I returned to the lobby. I approached him, handed him a cup, and said, “It’s not chocolate cake, but it’s sugar and caffeine, which you need, and you need to take a break.”
We sat together at the bottom of the grand staircase. He took a sip of his drink, then closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I did need this. Thanks.”
“I have a lot of catching up to do in looking after you.”
“Speaking of which, you never did tell me what happened to me while I was under that sleeping spell. How did I end up in Roger’s office?”
“Trust me, you really don’t want to know.”
He looked suspicious. “I was a frog, wasn’t I?”
“I’m not sure it counts, since you were unconscious the whole time.”
“But I was a frog. Please tell me you were the one to break the spell.”
“Of course I was. Though I should probably confess that I broke a lot of frog spells today. But they didn’t mean anything. Yours was the only kiss with emotion to it. And I kissed each one with the hope it would be you.”
He laughed. “I won’t hold it against you.” He glanced around the room. “I’m thinking we should have the altar there, on the landing, where the staircase splits. We’d stand here on the steps, in front of it. We’d set up the chairs for the guests out here in the lobby.”
It took me a second to realize he was talking about the wedding. Not that I’d forgotten about it. I just hadn’t really thought much about it lately. “You mean, have the wedding here?”
“Why not? It’s church-like, and we’d surely be able to book it. I was thinking we could have the official wedding here, with all the magical trappings, then have a small ceremony and reception in Texas for your family. That way we can deal with the paperwork where we live, but still have something your family can attend.”
