by Amy Boyles
“I know!” She clicked her tongue as her gaze darted around the room. “He has the same feelings for her in this world as he does in ours, which makes sense, of course. It’s just that I wonder…”
“What?”
A spark flared in her eyes. “It’s almost as if this life is just a charade of the other. If we start peeling back the layers, like an onion, would we discover that the reality here is really no different than at home?”
I considered it. Cordelia made an excellent point, but to what end? “We might, but according to your father, that’s not why we’re here.”
“That’s true.”
Amelia’s eyes fluttered. She groaned and blinked, rubbing her chest. “Oh, I feel awful. Like I’m about to vomit.”
Cordelia rushed over and pressed Amelia’s shoulders back to the bed. “You’re okay. It’s just an aftereffect of the buckshot.”
Amelia’s hazy gaze focused sharply. “I’m going to kill Betty.” She pinned her attention on me, her eyes widening in horror. “Oh, Pepper. We ruined your union ceremony. I know I thought about doing that, but I didn’t really want it to happen.”
When my hand hit something, I hadn’t looked back until Amelia had been tucked safely into Sherman’s arms. I glanced back in time to watch the chalice’s contents spill out onto the ground.
The ceremony had been ruined, and I had been saved the agony of drinking blood.
I mean, it was sort of win-win.
A knock on the tent flap stole our attention. “Maybe it’s Garrick,” I said. “We sent a message letting him know what happened.”
“Come in,” Cordelia called.
But it wasn’t Garrick. Sherman entered awkwardly, shifting his weight and running his fingers through his hair.
“Um. Well, I came by to see if Amelia was feeling better.”
Not once did he make eye contact with her. My mouth split into a grin. Some things simply don’t change. Sherman was as awkward now around Amelia as he had been when they first met in Magnolia Cove.
“Sherman.” Amelia sat up and instantly clutched her head. “Oh.”
Sherman rushed over and sat by her side. “It’s okay. Take it slow. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
I didn’t know if it was the buckshot or simply the fact that Amelia felt deeply for Sherman, but she grasped his hand and placed it against her heart.
“Thank you for catching me. My family told me what you did, and I can’t thank you enough. You stopped me from having a head wound.”
Sherman’s face practically glowed red with embarrassment. “I just did what any man would’ve done.”
Amelia batted her lashes at him. “But no other man did.”
Whoa. Was it getting hot in here or what? “Er, um,” Cordelia said by way of butting in, “thanks, Sherman.”
Sherman and Amelia stared at one another.
“Um, thanks,” Cordelia said louder.
“Oh, um. Right. You’re welcome.” Sherman pulled his hand from Amelia and smiled at Cordelia. “Well, I just wanted to make sure the patient is okay.”
“Will you come back?” Amelia said. “To make sure I’m okay later?”
Cordelia kicked the cot. “Don’t you want to make sure that someone else knows you’re okay?”
Amelia stared at her blankly. “Who?”
“Arrick-gay, that’s who.”
“Who?” Amelia said.
The tent flap whisked open, and there stood Garrick, a look of anguish on his face. “How’s my little lady?”
Amelia stifled a yawn. “I’m okay.”
Garrick extended his hand to Sherman. “I sure do thank you for saving my girl, there.”
Cordelia’s face flamed red. She was so mad, but Garrick didn’t notice; he just kept right on talking to Sherman.
“You should stop by and have supper at the Craple’s house tonight,” Garrick said. “I told Betty I’d cook, and I’m sure Amelia would love to have you there.”
“I would,” Amelia nearly shouted.
Garrick looked at me and Cordelia. “I think your gentlemen are already attending,” Garrick said. “It was supposed to be an after-the-ceremony event.”
“I thought there was dinner here,” I said.
Cordelia folded her arms. “The whole skink debacle changed that. We’re doing dinner at Betty’s now.”
I stared at Cordelia. “And everyone is going to be at Betty’s?”
By everyone I meant Axel, Axel and Axel.
Cordelia nodded. “I guess so.”
I shoved away my discomfort and reached for Sherman’s hand. “You’ll come, won’t you? It’ll be fun.”
Sherman glanced bashfully to Amelia, who nodded vigorously at him. Garrick either didn’t notice or didn’t care, which made me question even more the inner desires of the folks in this town.
“If y’all will have me,” Sherman finally said, “I’d be glad to come.”
“Then it’s a date,” Amelia said, quickly adding, “sort of.”
Garrick clapped his hands. “All right, y’all. I’ll take this from here.” He moved to Amelia. “I’ll make sure she gets home safe and sound.”
Which meant we were dismissed. Sherman, Cordelia and I exited the tent together. Cordelia shot the tent one last look of longing after the flap closed behind us.
“Are y’all sure it’s okay if I come?” Sherman said. “I hate to impose.”
I linked my hand through his arm. “Are you kidding? Amelia really wants you there. Doesn’t she?”
He shrugged.
“Sherman, did you meet Amelia when the Head Witch Order came?”
Cordelia blatantly rolled her eyes at me.
“I did.”
“Was she dating Garrick then?” I flicked my wrist as if short-term memory loss was a thing for me. Which in this case, it was. “I can’t seem to remember.”
He nodded. “I think they may have just started. He was around a lot, and we spoke a few times—Amelia and I—but nothing serious. Nothing substantial.”
Sherman rubbed the back of his head. “Thing is, he was so into Amelia that there seemed something a bit odd about it, like he was showing her all this affection for display.” He gestured with his hands like he wanted to erase the comment. “Don’t get me wrong, I definitely think he cares about her.”
“But there was a spark between the two of you,” I murmured. “Was that it?”
His gaze shifted from the ground in front of us to me. “Yeah, I guess that was it. She seemed really genuine with me, and I could be honest with her. Tell her stuff. At least, I felt like I could. Not that we had more than ten minutes or so to talk.
“And I like Garrick,” he quickly added. “He seems like a good guy. It’s just…”
“Maybe he’s not the guy for her,” Cordelia said quietly.
“Yeah,” Sherman agreed. “That’s the feeling I got.”
“Maybe your feeling isn’t entirely wrong.” I clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe you’ll get the chance to talk to her a little more tonight.”
“But he’ll be there,” Sherman argued.
“Oh,” I said, a small smile playing on my face, “we’ll think of something.”
The grass crunched beneath our feet. We passed another tent, black with silver swirls on it. I stopped in front of it.
“Is this Rufus’s?”
Cordelia nodded. “He’ll be waiting for you.”
I waved to them. “I’ll see y’all at the house. I need to speak to him.”
I tapped on the flap.
“Come in.”
I entered to see Rufus in the middle of undressing. His shirt was off and his leather pants hugged his hips. The word skintight didn’t do the picture justice.
“Darling,” he said, wrapping me in an embrace. His skin reminded me of butter, supple and smooth. My heart lifted at the thought that I’d ruined the potion. If I’d drunk even a drop, I knew that Rufus would be impossible to resist. “How’s Amelia?”
He squeezed my shoulders and glanced at me, his eyes searching for something. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. It was just, the whole thing scared me, and then I ruined the unity potion.”
A smile quirked his lips. “Not quite.”
“What do you mean?”
Rufus raked a slash of dark hair from his face and smiled proudly. “I, your husband to be, happened to save enough of it for you to take a drink. The ceremony is over, but you don’t need Swift’s words to make the spell work.”
Rufus magicked the chalice from thin air. He grasped the stem and presented it to me with a flourish and a bow. “My lady, here is your chalice.”
My stomach quivered. The one thing I thought I’d gotten out of had followed me. I could almost hear Ratchet snickering in the distance. And it wasn’t as if I’d gone against the wishing stone’s trajectory for my life on purpose. After all, I hadn’t intentionally meant to hurl the cup into the air and spill the blood.
But I hadn’t been disappointed when I had. But in keeping with the sacredness of the ceremony and the fact that I had willingly wanted to do it, I extended my hand for the cup and smiled.
“I’m so glad you saved some.”
I stared down at the inky liquid. Surrounded by onyx, the blood looked black.
“There are anticoagulants in it to keep the liquid from clotting,” Rufus explained. “As well as other magical ingredients.”
“Rufus,” I cooed, “do you really think we need this ceremony? Aren’t we already close enough as it is?”
Rufus tsked. “Darling, you’re the one who wanted it.”
My heart stilled. I wanted it. I had asked for this. Why? The obvious reason was because I wasn’t over my feelings for Axel.
As if that could ever happen.
But how did Axel feel about me?
I shoved the thought away. I wasn’t going to arrive in this world and ruin the happiest week of Rufus’s life. Besides, that was against the rules.
But Amelia had practically jumped into Sherman’s arms. What Amelia did was what Amelia did. I could only control Pepper.
I raised the chalice. “To us.” I tilted my head back, brought the rim of the glass to my mouth and held my breath as the blood trickled over my tongue and down my throat.
Contrary to what I’d been told, it did taste a bit like iron. But also cloves and sage. It wasn’t completely unpleasant, but it was surprising.
I swallowed and didn’t gag, which I counted as a win. I handed the chalice back to Rufus. With a snap of his fingers Rufus vanished the cup.
He extended his arms. “Now to seal it with a kiss.”
“To seal it—”
Then Rufus’s lips were on mine. This was not the kiss in the lodge, the meek touch of a man nervous to be spending a night with his bride-to-be. This was the kiss of a lover who knew what he was doing.
The blood made me heady, the potion made my heart open like a blooming rose and I kissed Rufus back, letting all the reserve I’d had unfurl and disappear.
A thousand thoughts invaded my head. My nerve endings lit with fire as Rufus stroked my back.
I moaned with pleasure.
The potion softened me to him, and when the kiss was over, there was no doubt in my mind.
I wanted to marry Rufus Mayes. It was inevitable.
Chapter 10
My head was light and foggy after drinking the blood. I’d had that initial overwhelming feeling of love for Rufus and it hadn’t evaporated completely, but it did dull some.
But not enough that I didn’t want to be around him. As he escorted me back to Betty’s, I enjoyed the feel of holding his hand and the closeness of him. The initial jitters I’d experienced, where I wasn’t so sure about him, had vanished. I felt more comfortable in my skin, so to speak, though in the back of my mind I still knew where my true love lay—with Axel.
It was just that it wasn’t so hard to allow Rufus to be the fiancé that he wanted, and I supposed it wasn’t so hard to be the fiancée that he needed, either.
Things were coming more naturally, you could say.
“Is this how I’ll feel all week?” I said.
Rufus squeezed my hand. “How do you feel?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Sort of giddy.”
“And that’s why I love you.” He stopped and turned to me. Rufus cupped my face and kissed my eyelids. He sprinkled kisses on my cheeks with each word. “That is why I’m marrying you, Pepper Dunn.” He stepped back and gazed deeply into my eyes. “You have stolen my heart and hidden it somewhere I’ll never rescue it from. Not that I want to.”
“Well, I mean, if you’ve lost something, you should find it,” I joked.
He shook his head. “No. I don’t ever want to find this. I’m hopelessly lost to you.”
“And I to you.” I’ll admit the words came out a little forced, but there was some honesty there.
He stared at me for a moment. “If it were up to me, I’d run away now and marry you. Forget about all this other stuff. We can marry anywhere.”
I cocked my head. “Why would you want to leave?”
“Because I can barely stand being away from you. The fact that we have to do it here, in front of the wolf—well, it bothers me.”
I frowned. “Why would that bother you?”
Frustration flared in his eyes. “You know why. Don’t pretend you don’t.”
Oh, crap. An impossible situation. “Sure. Okay. I understand.”
But I didn’t. Had to figure that part out. I slid my hand through Rufus’s. “Come on. Let’s get to the house. A little bit of cooking always makes things better.”
He nodded. “You’re right. Lead the way.”
When we reached the house, everyone was already there. Axel stood by the fireplace, quietly talking to Betty. Cordelia and Amelia were setting the table. Sherman looked completely out of place as he played checkers with Ratchet and Garrick was nowhere to be seen, but the smell of charcoal drifted in from the backyard, so I assumed he was out back getting the grill going.
Betty flashed Axel a quick look of warning and beamed at us. “Well, isn’t it the happy couple on the first night of the unity ceremony. Welcome, kids.”
She gave us big hugs. Axel extended his hand to Rufus. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Rufus said pleasantly.
Axel turned and my breath hitched. He held his hand out to me, and I slowly slid my palm over it.
Fire snaked up my arm, and the closeness I’d felt with Rufus immediately vanished.
Axel’s gaze burned like a line of fire straight to my soul. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” I murmured. My gaze darted from his, and I couldn’t get away from him fast enough. I turned to Rufus. “I’m going upstairs to change out of this.”
Because I still wore that hideous black dress that I could barely breathe in.
He rubbed my back. “Don’t be long.”
I made it upstairs, but as soon as I got up there, I realized I couldn’t unhook the dress by myself. I reached for the zipper and managed to get it down, but the hooks at the very top I couldn’t grasp.
“Great.” I kicked the skirt of the dress in frustration. “How am I supposed to get this off now?”
A knock came from the door. Thank goodness. Maybe it was Cordelia coming to get away from Axel.
I could only hope, but the one and only time I’d witnessed them together, Axel looked pretty comfortable with her.
Traitor.
Who was I kidding? I was the real traitor.
I opened the door. My gaze dropped until I found Ratchet standing in front of me, arms crossed.
“Need some help getting out of that dress?”
“Yes. Oh my gosh. Come in.” I shut the door behind him. “How’d you know I needed help?”
“Because you always do.” He hopped onto the bed and twirled
his finger. “Turn around and I’ll get you out of it.”
I did as he said and pulled my hair from the nape of my neck. “I take it you do this a lot.”
“All the time. It’s practically my second job behind finding hard-to-locate artifacts for you—like an eagle feather.”
His nimble fingers unhooked the dress, and I exhaled a full breath. “Oh, that feels so good. To be able to breathe. Thank you so much.”
He clicked his tongue. “My pleasure.” Ratchet walked toward the door.
“Ratchet.”
“Yeah?”
I motioned toward the bed. “Do you have a minute?”
He glanced at his watch. “I guess so. Garrick said dinner wouldn’t be for about ten more minutes. That’s if he doesn’t burn it. I can’t stand a burnt burger. But if I had to guess, he might burn just one so he can slip it in Cordelia’s bun.”
I moved to the closet and shut the door enough where Ratchet couldn’t see me change my clothes. “So I guess Garrick still has issues.”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, most of the folks downstairs do.”
Not wanting to bait him but definitely wanting to know what he meant, I said, “Oh really? I hadn’t noticed.”
“You didn’t notice the way Axel looked at you? I can promise you that Rufus did, and he can’t wait to marry you so that the three of us can leave Magnolia Cove.”
I slipped a T-shirt over my head and wiggled into a pair of jeans. “And how do you feel about that?”
“I don’t know. Great, I guess. That’s if you really exist and I really exist and when you leave, the real Pepper comes back and I remain where I am.”
I exited the closet and found Ratchet sitting on my bed, his legs dangling off. “Can you tell me how we met?”
“Oh sure, you found me in an alley going through a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts like there was no tomorrow.”
I sat beside him. “We don’t have Krispy Kreme in Magnolia Cove.”
“I know.” He scratched his head. “I’d swiped them from a town and brought them here to eat in peace. I’d never been a familiar before, but I knew that I was different somehow. I could always find things that I needed. Like the doughnuts. Though you convinced me all that sugar wasn’t good for me.”
