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Apparently, there were several other options for the breeding program since the man who was Lillian’s biological father had gone through a highly frowned-upon phase of sowing his wild oats. He claimed he’d been careful but somehow still ended up with more than several illegitimate children. Lillian was just the lowest-hanging fruit.
Well, the joke was on them if they thought this was going to be easy. You couldn’t just run a breeding program for shifters like you did for wild animals.
“So, Lillian is half-shifter?”
“Seems to be the case.” Despite a thorough search, we hadn’t yet been able to find the name of the man who was supposed to be Lillian’s biological father. The adoption agency was keeping that information locked up tight. Then again, he hadn’t been in her life at all, so what did it really matter?
Lillian had said she thought she had very little shifter in her since she couldn’t fully shift, but it seemed she was fully half snow leopard.
“Let’s go pick up some dinner for the ladies,” I suggested.
“You’re not taking Lillian out? I thought you’d want to take her somewhere fancy, maybe even in your gargoyle form, you know, to drum up some extra talk.”
I frowned. “Lillian doesn’t really like being the center of attention. And she’s been through enough already the last few days. There’s plenty of time to make a stir after the wedding. And besides, I want to spend some time alone with her, just us. No cameras.”
“You like her.” It wasn’t a question.
“I do. But I don’t know her that well yet, and she doesn’t know me.” I wanted to change that.
Eamon messaged the girls as we drove, and we settled on picking up dinner from the Middle Eastern restaurant owned by a djinn couple who’d been in Darlington for so long that some wondered if they’d been here when it was first founded. They’d certainly been around since long before my brothers and I had been carved from stone and given life. They were no longer in the business of granting wishes, but they made a mean Kabuli Pulao…so I guess they did still make everyone’s food wishes come true.
We ordered enough food to feed a small army, which was usually the perfect amount for a household that included three gargoyles and a demon, and started back.
Chapter 9
Lillian
Ieyedtheselectionof gorgeous gowns lined up on the couch. Only one of them was white, but Gunnar had mentioned that Tansy was a witch, and maybe color changes were possible with magic.
“I wish I had more to show you. These are just the basic samples I keep around to show clients the different styles of dresses I can make. They are also too big for you. For sampling purposes, I always go large and pin them to show clients how they’d look on,” Shelby explained. “Usually, I wouldn’t be able to make such a significant alteration on such short notice, but Tansy and I have been working on a process to use her magic to speed things up. I hope you don’t mind being the guinea pig.”
“Not at all. I’m super grateful for your help. All this is happening so fast, I didn’t even think about the dress.”
“Well, we’ve got you covered,” Tansy said. “Literally.”
An awkward feeling washed over me. I didn’t really know these women that well, and all they knew about me was that Gunnar and I were only faking it to get me out of a jam. What must they think of me?
They didn’t give me much time to dwell on that, however, because they immediately had me trying on dress after dress, spinning in front of the mirror, and taking tons of photos. By the time we’d gone through all of them, I was exhausted, and I couldn’t remember what the first one had even looked like.
“Okay, which do you like the best?” Shelby asked. “Ignore the color, because we can totally change that. Try to imagine them all being white.”
We went through all the photos. I wasn’t sold on any of the fairytale ones with poufy skirts. There was a pink one with a low back and a flared mermaid tail that I loved the style of, but I was short, and the best part of the tail would have to be cut off. It was also huge on me, and once pinned, the low back wasn’t so low anymore.
I picked up the mermaid dress. “I’m not sure this would work on me, but I like the basic idea.”
Shelby took it from me and analyzed it, her professional gaze flitting between me and the dress. “Once it fits, it’ll look great on you.” She turned to Tansy. “So how do we do this? Color first, then fit?
“Definitely color first. And we’ll do it right on her.”
Shelby helped me into the dress again, and Tansy started to recite a spell. Magic shimmered in the air, and my skin started tingling. I’d seen spells being cast before—back at the clinic, we had a witch who often heated her lunches with a spell since she didn’t trust microwaves—but I’d never felt magic on my skin before. I rubbed the goosebumps from my arms, and kept my eyes glued to the mirror as the pink slowly faded into a creamy white.
“Ooh, that’s so cool!” Shelby clapped her hands and bounced up and down a little. “All right, now hold your arms out to the sides.”
I did, and she started rattling off instructions to Tansy: take it in here, lift and shorten it here, scoop some out here. I held my breath as sparkling tendrils of magic swirled around me. They felt like little fingers as they nipped and tucked the fabric into shape. Minutes later, I stood in front of the mirror in a wedding gown that fit me to a tee.
Shelby was right. It looked amazing on me now.
“Thank you. I—” A lump caught in my throat. “I know this whole marriage isn’t real, but this still means a lot to me. I don’t know how to thank you both.”
