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“Aaandthat’sour cue.” Gany pointed to a nest of enormous plastic tubs on the shelf over a deep enamel sink. “Hector, Gage, Dakota, Finn. Please take those along with those bench scrapers and clean up the fallen cake.” He turned to Peyton and Melina. “I’ll carry the bottom layer. You two take the sixth and seventh. We’ll assemble those and then come back for the top five tiers.”
Without a single protest, everyone did exactly as Gany ordered. By the time he, Melina, and Peyton maneuvered the top layers into place—aided by Peyton’s levitation spell, Nerida peeking bright eyes over the edge of their apron pocket—Finn and his friends had the floor in front of the table completely clean, the oak planks gleaming.
When Gany stood back to take it in for a moment, pride filling his chest, he heard a sharp intake of breath behind him. He turned to see the bride—Annemiek— gazing at the cake with shining eyes, Del at her side.
“It’s beautiful,” she murmured. “I’d never have thought of this but it’s perfect. How did you know?” Then she laughed, a little wryly. “What am I saying? Of course you knew. You always know.” She kissed Del’s cheek. “That’s what I get for marrying an oracle.”
Gany blinked.Oracle? Finn’s supe community wasn’t limited to werewolves and witches?
Still… oracle. That explainedso much.
Gany motioned to Peyton and Melina and they headed back to the kitchen, leaving the newlyweds with the photographer.
Peyton and Melina pushed through the door into the kitchen, but Gany waited, hands clasped under his chin, as the couple cut into the middle layer with the commemorative silver cake knife.
Finn joined him, kissing Gany’s curls and wrapping an arm around his waist. “You did it, sweetheart.”
“No,wedid it. All of us. Peyton and Melina and I couldn’t have managed without you and your friends—or Mr. Johnson and his crew.” Gany slanted a glance at Finn. “I’ve already figured out that your supe community is bigger than I imagined. Del, apparently is an oracle.”
Finn smiled down at him. “That’s true.”
“Any other secrets you can share with the class?”
“Well, Annemiek is a swan shifter.”
Gany’s jaw sagged. “Shutup. Seriously?”
Finn nodded, smirking. “You hit that one right on the head, without knowing anything about her, so kudos to your baker’s intuition. Mr. Johnson is a beaver shifter, but he can’t shift. He’s married to a vampire.”
Gany felt like his eyes were so wide now they might pop out of his head and roll across the floor. “Vampires?” he squeaked. “They’re real?”
“Uh huh.” Finn’s gaze darted past Gany’s shoulder and he gulped audibly. “And don’t look now, but you’re about to meet a demon.”
The man hurrying across the ballroom toward them didn’t look anything like what Gany imagined a demon would look. He was a little taller than Gany, his skin paler, his black curls shaggier, and he wore cute rectangular hipster glasses—in other words, just like a guy who’d pop into Nectar & Ambrosia any day of the week.
“Will he hurt us? Hurt you?” Gany asked, bracing himself just in case.
“Not physically. But I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop when it comes to the consequences of my father’s actions.”
When the man reached them, though, he broke out into a sunny smile. “Finn! I couldn’t believe it when I saw you. We’ve been trying to reach you forages.”
“Hey, Zeke. You have?” Finn edged a little closer to Gany, as if seeking comfort.
“Yes. We thought we could catch you when you came back to the hospital for your follow-up visit, but you haven’t been in yet.”
“Yeah. I’ve been, um, busy.”
“Well, no matter. I’ve got you now.” Even though Zeke’s tone hadn’t been cheerful rather than threatening, Gany felt Finn tense beside him. “There’s a settlement.”
“Shit.” Finn’s shoulders drooped and he scrubbed a hand over his face. “I was afraid of that. What do I owe?”
Zeke blinked, his eyes dark behind lenses that glinted with red highlights. “What? Oh. No, you don’t understand. It’s the council that owesyou. A reward for exposing Patrick’s schemes. You should have gotten it before you left the hospital the second time, but it got held up.” He shrugged apologetically. “Apparently the exchange rate between Faerie gold and US dollars was in flux at the time.”
Finn exchanged a glance with Gany before meeting Zeke’s eyes. “How much?”
The amount Zeke named wasn’t as much as the Fates had awarded Gany, but it was pretty damn close.
“Fuck,” Finn muttered, leaning heavily against Gany.
