by Sarina Dorie
“I thought you were sending me origami because you wanted to remind me of the school dance.” His voice was almost lost in the howl of wind.
I had thought the same thing. On our very first date, his touch had sparked my own, causing untamed magic to cast flurries of origami down on us from the rafters.
“Remember that time you made them for me and used them to apologize?” I asked. “I thought you were sending them now because you wanted me to forgive you. I thought it was because you had found out I was getting married.” The first note had implied he knew about that.
“What? You’re getting married?” The shock in his voice hitched an octave higher.
I turned.
Forced cheerfulness stretched his lips into a smile. “I mean, that’s great. Congratulations. You’re moving on. You don’t need me. I’m happy for you.”
He hadn’t known? And he hadn’t gifted me with the cranes?
I’d shown up in his happy dream uninvited and given him heartbreak. I was the witch of nightmares. My heart sank lower with guilt.
“You two deserve each other,” Derrick said. “He’ll be good for you. He cares about you. That’s what is most important.”
I hated that sorrow in his eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to surprise you with this.”
“No. It wasn’t a surprise. I knew it would be coming someday. It was only a matter of time before you realized what a great guy he is. I know the reason he rescued me from the Raven Queen was for you, because he wanted you to be happy, and he hoped we could be together someday.” His smile was resigned.
“That isn’t true. He rescued you because you’re a good person. He didn’t want to see you suffer. You were his student, and he cared about you too.”
Derrick’s brow crinkled up in confusion. “What? I wasn’t his student.”
Now I was the confused one. “Didn’t you have him as a teacher while you were at Womby’s? He probably taught you alchemy or potions.”
The rosy flush to Derrick’s cheeks drained of color. “Wait a minute. You’re talking about Felix Thatch? Are you saying. . . ? No, you are not marrying him!”
“Who did you think I was marrying?” Thatch was the one who had saved him from the Raven Queen, wasn’t he? Derrick’s memories had been altered, but he had remembered this detail, and Thatch had confessed it as well.
Then I realized he had to be talking about Elric.
Derrick shook his head at me. “Clarissa, you can’t marry Felix Thatch. He’s evil. He works for the Raven Queen.”
I could see how he might think that from his last encounter with Thatch. “He only pretends to work for her. I think she knows it too now because she kidnapped me, and we tricked her into letting me use my magic so we could escape.”
The sky was darkening around us, the gray gloom of a storm smothering the bright fluff of white clouds.
His face crumpled up with the coming tempest of anger. “She only lets people think they can escape. Like when Felix Thatch supposedly saved me. She let me believe I had freedom.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “And the second time I was liberated, after she’d removed my heart, I can see I was an idiot to think I could fool her again.”
Vehemence radiated from him in waves, rippling across the space between us. I drifted back.
Derrick continued. “She only let me go because it was in her best interest. She even told me to my face I could resist as much as I wanted, but I would return to you, and when I did, your touch would trigger the curse she cast on me.
“But I didn’t return. I promised I wouldn’t. I kept myself as far from you as possible. I’ve tried to get over you and what I did to you. Now you have to drop this bomb on me and expect me not to save you from Felix Thatch?”
The clouds around us had turned indigo. Thunder rumbled so that I had to shout to be heard.
“I don’t need to be saved. I’m happy. I want to marry him.”
“No, you don’t. He’s cast a spell on you. I’m going to have to find you and stop him.”
CHAPTER TEN
Nice Fae Finish Last
Even before I’d woken, I knew I was in trouble. My muscles were tight with tension, and I sat up in my bed. Derrick with good intentions was just as dangerous as with ill intentions.
I stumbled out of bed, even though it was still dark, knowing I had to do something. I lit my wand, ready to shake Vega awake. She wasn’t in her bed. Probably she’d snuck out again and was with Elric. I threw on a fuzzy housecoat and ran out of my room, not knowing if I should tell Khaba or Thatch first.
Khaba was the dean of discipline, and he had a heads-up on wards and security. If Derrick was about to break the doors down, he needed to know. I pounded on his door until he answered, bleary-eyed and yawning. I launched into the events that had transpired in the dream, talking so fast Khaba’s sleepy brain couldn’t keep up.
“Slow down, hon.” Khaba took me into his office and sat me in a chair. “When did you see Derrick? Was he on school grounds?”
I restarted, more slowly this time. Already fragments of the dream were starting to grow hazy on me. I clearly remembered animated origami the size of condors. I couldn’t recall why I didn’t think Derrick had made them. He had thought I was going to marry someone, but not Thatch.
I launched into what I could recall. “He doesn’t want me to get married. He said he’s going to put a stop to the wedding because he thinks Thatch has brainwashed me or something.”
This might be what Thatch had seen in his visions.
Khaba yawned. “Clarissa darling, I think Thatch has brainwashed you, but you don’t see me trying to ruin your happiness.”
“That’s because you’re my friend, and you trust my judgment.”
He shook his head at me. “No, it’s because I think you need to figure out on your own that you have poor judgment. Once you see Thatch isn’t what you want, you’ll complain about him and ask for my advice. Until then, you can see what it’s like being married to him.”
I glared at him. “That’s a horrible thing to tell a friend.”
“What can I say? It’s horrible to be woken up at four in the morning because a friend had a bad dream.”
“That wasn’t a bad dream. It was real. I have dream magic and can talk to people. I’ve done it with Derrick before. He is going to come here and do something bad, probably to Thatch.”
“And of course, you want me to stop him from hurting your betrothed.” He rolled his eyes as if this was too much to ask.
Now I wondered if I should have gone to Thatch first.
I tried to put this in a perspective he could understand. “If Derrick touches me, it’s going to release his curse, and then he’s going to bring me to the Raven Queen.”
Khaba perked up about that. “We don’t want that. Do you think Derrick would listen to me if I told him you aren’t in danger? If I told him Thatch hasn’t cast a spell on you?”
“I don’t know.” Derrick and Khaba had been friends and colleagues. Derrick had respected Khaba. “How would you even be able to contact him?”
Khaba shrugged. “I do have a few crystal balls and a magic mirror lying around. I’ll give them a shot. If that doesn’t work, I’ll ask a few of my . . . Fae connections.”
At five in the morning, I went to Thatch. I had a key to get into the dungeon, so I used it to unlock the door to his classroom and the office. I hesitated at the door to his private quarters, wondering if I should knock or just open it. I didn’t know which would be less intrusive.
I knocked first, then called out, “It’s me, Clarissa. It’s an emergency.”
He didn’t answer. I found the light on in his room. The covers were rumpled and his bed unmade. He always made his bed. Did that mean he’d been called away on an emergency? Had Derrick lured him away and killed him?
The bathroom door creaked open, a cloud of humidity escaping. Thatch stood there, already dressed, his hair damp and che
eks flushed from showering.
He smiled, not looking especially tired. “Clarissa, what are you doing here at this hour? You don’t usually rise this early.”
But he did? OMG! I was marrying a morning person. How was I going to survive?
“I need to talk to you,” I said.
He grimaced. “What now? Is it Vega? You wouldn’t have to put up with her bullying if you hadn’t made her your maid of honor, you know.”
I hated that he assumed my every worry was something trivial like Vega being pushy.
“Derrick thinks you’ve put a spell on me, and he’s coming here to stop me from getting married. He probably wants to kill you.”
Thatch groaned. “Just once, couldn’t someone not want to kill me?”
I swallowed, thinking about his prophecy. “Have you made any paintings lately? Do you know if you’re safe?”
“No. I haven’t had time,” he said quickly.
I thought about how secretive he’d been about his desk. Maybe he had something in there he didn’t want me to see that wasn’t a wedding present. What if it was a painting he’d made that showed his death, but he didn’t want to tell me? Maybe that was just my overactive imagination talking.
He sat down on his bed and patted the mattress. “Start at the beginning. I want to know how exactly Derrick conveyed this message to you.”
Over the next few days, I spent every spare moment worrying about Derrick. When I asked Khaba if he had managed to reach Derrick, he was evasive. I tried to sneak into Thatch’s desk, but it was now locked, which probably meant he had something bad in there he didn’t want me to find.
Josie tried to distract me by practicing various hairstyles on me, but I was too preoccupied to decide.
“You pick,” I said.
She magicked my hair pink, trimmed it, and painted my nails hot pink the day before the wedding. All the details were taken care of, but I felt underprepared for the potential evil that might strike.
My fairy godmother arrived on Saturday morning to help with preparations for the wedding that was to happen in the afternoon. Why she had to bring her ornery black cat, Lucifer, with her, I didn’t know. Her familiar got in the way, darting under our feet as we walked and making us trip. He eyed my wedding dress as though it was something he wanted to shred.
Or pee on. I remembered the joys of my childhood and all the toys he had destroyed.
Grandmother Bluehorse had made students in detentions clean the old cottage enough that I could get ready down there on the morning of the wedding. The advantage was that the cabin was closer to the grounds where she and Satyr Sam had sectioned off an area of the gardens for the ceremony. Hopefully that wasn’t going to give away the upcoming event to students. Pinky and Pro Ro were down there most of the day setting up wards. I knew they were both highly skilled at glamours and wards, but I still worried Derrick would strike Thatch down with lightning.
He could do it too. Now that Derrick possessed not just wind as an affinity but the Red affinity, he would be equal to Thatch in power. I could only hope he was no match for Thatch’s skill level. I regretted the thought afterward. I didn’t want Derrick to get hurt. I wasn’t like my biological mother. I didn’t want anyone to be killed.
Derrick was bent on attacking Thatch because he cared. I had to show him Thatch wasn’t a threat, but I didn’t know how.
The cottage was like a studio apartment, one room that served as a bedroom, living room, and kitchen with an adjoining bathroom. Mom and Josie lavished attention on me during the morning, giving me a facial, manicure, pedicure, and pampering me. Usually I would have found the experience relaxing, but I was afraid to close my eyes, lest Fae or Derrick burst in on us.
Occasionally I heard outbursts outside, and each time, I tensed. I relaxed when I heard Vega’s snotty tone directing wards or decorations.
After coming out of the bathroom, I caught Josie whispering to my mom at the kitchen table. “Vega found him dead this morning.”
“Found who dead?” I asked.
“Oh dear!” Mom said. She nudged Josie when she realized I’d heard. “Don’t worry about it, dear. It’s no one you know.”
Lucifer rubbed up against Mom’s leg.
I looked to Josie. I knew she couldn’t keep a secret. “Who died?”
“The minister.” Guiltily Josie glanced at my mom.
“Did someone kill him?” I asked.
“No, he was just old. He was almost two hundred,” Josie said. “It had nothing to do with you. And don’t worry, Vega found a replacement. A captain of the royal navy.”
My blood pressure started to rise. “Which royal navy?”
“Not the Raven Court,” Josie said. “Relax.”
Mom handed me a green smoothie with a straw, and I sucked it down, hoping it would make me complacent and relaxed. I knew she could do potion magic with food like nobody’s business, but this had little effect on me.
Every once in a while, I heard Vega outside the cottage yelling at someone. I kept waiting for a thousand cranes to rain down inside the cottage. Derrick had said the cranes weren’t from him. Had the Raven Queen conjured them to tempt me to seek him out? She must have. Now that I’d spoken with him, the origami surprises had stopped. The longer I went without finding one, the more I feared the severity of the bomb that would drop when it finally did.
Half an hour before the ceremony was about to start, my nerves started to set in. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get married. But if I went through with this, I feared it would be a beacon calling Derrick. I was afraid I would be the reason my future husband might die.
Outside I heard Thatch and Vega arguing. Thatch’s voice grew louder. He was getting closer to the cottage.
“You were not invited to this wedding for a reason,” Thatch said. “I will not have you hurt Clarissa in the process of spiting me.”
I jumped up from where my mom was placing pearls fastened to bobby pins in my hair. I expected lightning to flash outside the window. None came.
She patted the chair. “Come sit down, Clarissa.”
I tried to peek out the window to see whom Thatch was speaking to, but the window was so old and crusted with peeling paint, I couldn’t get it open.
Mom stared at me with worried eyes. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Josie’s smile grew strained. “Why don’t I go check on everything out there?”
Vega’s voice came muffled from outside. “If either of you go in there and ruin everything I’ve done to make this a perfect day, I will make you both suffer long and painful deaths.”
That didn’t sound like nothing. I prayed it wasn’t Derrick. Or the Raven Queen.
I reached outside of myself, sensing concern and anger. There was too much distracting me to form a clear picture, but I was certain I didn’t pick up on the evil vibe.
Josie slipped out the door, revealing a sliver of the scene beyond. Thatch stood a few feet away, his back turned to me, nearly succeeding in blocking Elric from view. They were making a fuss about Elric being here? He was the least of my worries!
Josie closed the door behind her. She said something quietly, the poison in her voice a warning to someone.
I listened at the door, trying to make out their words. Lucifer wove through my legs, probably trying to make me trip.
“Get back over here,” Mom said. “Let Vega handle this. We don’t want Felix to see you. It’s supposed to be bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress.”
“That’s just a superstition.” Even so, I worried she would jinx me. I didn’t need to think of bad luck at a time like this.
Elric spoke over the other voices, that strange mixture of Welsh and British setting his voice apart from the others. “Is Clarissa not grown-up enough that she can’t make a decision without you two? Or are you going to boss her around her entire life and treat her like a child? Let’s ask her if she will allow me admittance. If she says no,
I’ll respect that. May I at least do that?”
A knock rapped against the wood a few inches from my face. “It is I, Prince of the Silver Court, requesting to seek audience with Miss Clarissa Lawrence.”
The silliness of the haughty formality melted the stress from my frazzled nerves.
“Say no,” Mom whispered.
She would say that when it concerned anyone Fae. I opened the door a crack. “Hi, Elric.”
He smiled jovially as though nothing was amiss and he hadn’t been arguing with anyone moments before. “Hello, Clarissa.”
He’d dressed more formally than usual, his attire like an eighteenth-century poppycock with a gold brocade suit and mismatching layers underneath, as if he couldn’t decide what color combination to stick to. He must have felt the need for formalities because he wore a diamond-encrusted circlet on his head. His long silver hair flowed down his back, giving him a Legolas-like appearance. Even in his own court I’d never seen him wear a crown.
The color of his eyes shifted from green to amber. “Since I’m not allowed to attend the wedding, I came to pay my respects to the bride before the wedding.” He cast a dirty look over his shoulder at Thatch. “Will you permit me a word with you for a moment?”
Thatch and Vega crowded behind him. Neither of them looked happy. An uninvited Fae at our wedding was exactly what Thatch hadn’t wanted. But this was Elric. He wasn’t going to try to sell me out to the Raven Court or curse me because Thatch had vetoed me inviting him.
He leaned in closer. “Don’t make me pull out the lord and vassal card. I would rather be granted permission than have to demand admittance with my authority.”
That’s right. I was technically under his rule since I had allied with his court. I would never be free of that one.
“Are you going to try to get me to change my mind about marrying Thatch?” I asked.
He crossed his arms, expression indignant. “No, I came to wish you happiness and good fortune.”
“We’re on a time line,” Vega said.
He broke out the puppy-dog eyes, and I was a goner. “Please. I will only be a moment.”
