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“It’s a legend that morphed into a tradition. Supposedly, the first fae couple lived in the mountain and used the lake to bathe. One night, when the female went to bathe, she tossed in the petals from thegossamer rose, which looks like spiders have spun glittery pink cobwebs on them. When the petals hit the water, the surface sparkled. She lifted the petals out of the water and they evaporated, settling on her skin like dust. She had a vision of her unborn child. She cast a spell as a blessing on the baby and invited her mate to join her in the water. It became the tradition of our people, especially with the first child, to make the trek to the lake.”
“That’s pretty damn cool. Did your parents do it?”
“No. The couple has to be mated, and my parents never considered each other as mates.”
“Would the blessing still work if you opened a portal to the lake instead of walking?”
She elbowed him with a smile. “Getting tired already?”
“I’m just curious.”
“Although we think of walking to the lake as symbolic, the blessing spellwouldwork if we portaled, but the vision wouldn’t come.”
He hummed. “What’s the vision like?”
“I don’t actually know how far into the future it goes or what we’ll see exactly, but I believe the visions only show good things.”
He brought her hand to his lips and kissed the top. “Having a fairy for a mate is incredible. I thought being a shifter was magical but being around you andrealmagic is amazing.”
“I think having a wolf shifter for a mate is pretty magical.”
He winked.
For the rest of the walk, they talked about living in Wilde Creek full time. Aside from wanting to set up one of the spare bedrooms as a nursery, she wanted to work in the backyard to make it into an oasis for their family, with a garden and a huge tree.
“Why a big tree?” he asked.
“For a swing for our baby. And shade for picnics,” she said, smiling at the image in her mind of their little one sitting on a red gingham blanket under the shade of a tree.
He stopped and looked down at her, his eyes luminous with emotion. “I love you so much, Kismet. You’re the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to me.”
“I love you, too.”
When they reached the end of their journey, Kismet stopped at the edge of the lake and stared out over the smooth surface. The bright moon made everything glow, and the sky was lit with a million stars. The mountain rose like a dark shadow beyond the lake. Ren set the bag down and opened it, handing her the shovel.
“You never said what the shovel is for,” he said.
“We have to dig up one of thegossamerrose bushes and bring it to the lake.”
“Where are the bushes?”
“At the bottom of the mountain,” she said.
He picked up the pack again and they followed the curve of the lake to the base of the mountain. She used the flashlight on her phone to illuminate the plants before them.
“This one,” she said, as she stopped the light on a rose bush full of blooms.
“Let me dig it up,” he said, trading her the bag for the shovel.
“Just be careful of the roots. The plant is sensitive and will die fast if the roots aren’t left intact.”
He nodded, pecked her cheek, and put the tip of the shovel into the ground, which was a mixture of sand and dirt. He pushed down with his foot, sending the shovel into the ground. Then he lifted the shovel and repeated the motion in a wide circle around the shrub. He slowly began to work the shovel under the plant until it lifted free of the ground. She knelt next to him and held the bag open as he pulled the plant from the ground and settled it gently into the bag.
“The blooms smell really sweet, like sugar. Not like the way roses usually smell.”
“I think that’s why she used them for her baths.”
“Will we have to come back here and replant it again after the ceremony?”
