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I laughed. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”
“Me too.” She pulled out a brush. “Now close your eyes. I’m adding silver too. I actually laced it with some of my magic. It’ll look like it’s shimmering to anyone who looks at you.”
I smiled. “If you weren’t selling illusions, I’d say you should sell this stuff. No one has made makeup as good as you have. You even created that black stuff that goes on eyelashes.”
She shrugged. “It’s just stuff I mixed up in my room.”
“It works. Seriously, you should sell it too.”
She bit the inside of her cheek, looked up, and smiled. “Maybe I will.”
She finished with my eyes, applied a deep-purple lipstick, and stepped back, clasping her hands together. “You’re ready. I’ll send a magic quill to the others to come.”
“No need.” I could hear their breathing through the door. “You can come in now.”
Maddox pulled down the handle, grinning. “Well you shine up nicely, I guess, and your hair doesn’t look terrible, so good job.”
I chuckled. “Thanks for the dress. You chose well.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Girl, of course I did. It flatters your figure, and I love lace.”
“Who’d have thought the new elder in the council would be picking out dresses for me?” I exclaimed, but we were all so proud of him. After Alma and the rest of the council had learned about everything, they offered him and Edmund positions on the council. Edmund had refused, choosing to stay as grandkeeper, but Maddox had taken the position without hesitation, promising Edmund he’d still help him if something urgent came up.
He flashed a pearly white smile. “You’ve been through a lot. You deserve to look drop-dead gorgeous on your wedding day. Besides, half the town has shown up, now that you’re a goddess and all.”
I hadn’t even thought about that. “Will they be expecting anything from me?”
He laughed. “Girl, I think they’re just hoping you don’t eat their babies or sacrifice them in the night.”
Naomi shot him a glare. “No one thinks that. All the lies about the gods have been cleared up.”
He shrugged. “It takes more than the council’s word to pull a lifetime of stories from people’s minds, but no one is saying anything bad out loud to our faces, which is what matters.”
“Great.” My stomach ached. “I feel tons better.”
“You’ll be fine. You actually care about other people, so I’m sure they’ll all see in time you’re not too bad.”
“Right.”
“Plus.” He whistled out a breath. “You should see Raiden in his tux.” Maddox looked upward, lost in a thought I probably didn’t want to imagine. “He is something else.”
Naomi packed her makeup into a bag. “You would say that.” She pushed past him, whispering to me as she passed, “He is right though.”
I smirked. “Where’s Edmund?”
“Coming soon.”
My stomach dipped. “Mona?”
“On her way now.”
“Good.” I sat on a white, stone bench. “Is Raiden okay?”
Maddox grinned. “He’s not about to run, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
I looked down. “I didn’t mean that. He’s been lost since Aziel died. He thinks I don’t notice, but I see it when he thinks I’m not looking. He looks so… broken.”
The makeshift funeral we had held after we got back lingered in my mind. We’d engraved two headstones, one for Aziel and one for Leda, and we left the portal unsealed so Raiden could go to the underworld whenever he missed his only remaining sibling.
