by Unknown
It had all gone by so fast and now I sat at my little kitchen table, having my morning tea, on my wedding day. I stared at the massive box holding my wedding dress but my mind was elsewhere, in Faerie to be exact, with my infant sons. I was heading back there for a quick visit right after I finished my tea.
My men had restricted themselves to some empty bedrooms downstairs, all of them agreeing that we didn't want to press our luck by seeing each other before the ceremony. So I was alone for a few minutes. At least until Holly arrived with my mother and my bridesmaids. My bridesmaids being Samantha, Sommer, Krystal, and Persephone. Sommer and Krystal were human, so a couple of Intare were going to go and pick them up (trace them here from Hawaii) along with Tristan and Jackson, my other human guests.
I set my empty tea cup down and smiled in anticipation of seeing my sons. Then I asked my ring to take me back to Faerie, to the last moment I'd left, and I was pulled back through time and the realms to emerge right in front of Rian's crib. He was sleeping again. I had put them down for a nap the last time I'd left Faerie but I didn't want to let them sleep today. It was my wedding day after all and if my sons couldn't be there, I at least wanted to spend some time with them first.
“So it's today then?” Arach asked from behind me.
I turned, realizing that I was wearing my wedding underwear; bra, panties, garter belt, stockings, and little blue garter beneath my silk robe. I slid a hand over my legs self-consciously and gave him a small smile.
“Yeah,” I whispered. Arach hadn't taken the news of Re very well and now I felt a little awkward around him.
“You look beautiful already,” he slid forward and gave me a kiss. “I'd marry you just like this.”
“You're already married to me,” I laid my head on his chest in relief. It looked like he'd gotten over his anger. “And this outfit would be highly inappropriate for a wedding.”
“I'd marry you again,” he sighed. “In fact,” he pulled away and got down on one knee. “Vervain Lavine, mother of my children, Queen of Fire, will you be my wife?”
“Arach?” I frowned, completely confused.
“When you married me, you weren't yourself,” he explained. “You weren't yourself when I proposed either. I want to marry you, with your full understanding and agreement. I want you to experience our commitment as you should have.”
“Arach,” I smiled and got down on the soft carpet with him. “We may not have had the most traditional ceremony and perhaps I wasn't in full possession of my memories, but I was still me. I remember every second of it and it was beautiful. I will never forget the way you dropped to your knees and vowed that you had nothing else to live for but me and my love. You proved the truth of your vow in that horrible future, didn't you? You swore to be mine forever in front of all the monarchs of Faerie and I don't want to tarnish that memory by trying to replace it.”
“You don't?” He blinked in surprise.
“You tricked me,” I nodded. “It was a nasty move on your part, Dragon King. But that's our story and it has evolved and altered from deception into trust and from base carnality into love. Our marriage is real. There's no going back to change the path that has brought us here and I wouldn't if I could. Our story. Our way. Our love.”
“A Thaisce,” he whispered and pulled me into a hug. “You're right; our life is perfect the way it is.”
“But what if I'm not a good mother?” I said it to his chest, where I didn't have to see his face or his reaction to my words. It was a safe place for me, there against his heart. I knew I could say anything and Arach would make it alright.
“That's not possible,” his hand went to the top of my head and he started to stroke my hair soothingly.
“Of course it's possible,” I began to admit all of my doubts to him, doubts which Faerie's words had doubled. “I could make them too arrogant or too soft. Or I could make them too fierce. I did that to Vero,” I pulled back to look at Arach with wide eyes. “In that wrong future, I made Vero jaded. I made him almost bitter and too harsh. I don't want to do that to my children.”
“Then you won't, Vervain” he said gently. “You came back to change that future. That means nothing in it is certain. Vero doesn't have to be that way and neither do our sons. We'll raise them to be both strong and happy. To take every day as the gift it is. We can do that. We can give our children whatever we want them to have.”
“What if we give too much? What if we make them self-centered and demanding?” I knew I was getting ridiculous but I couldn't stop myself. There was this awful tingling going through my limbs, an instinct to run, but in this case I couldn't run. I could only sit there and panic.
“Vervain, stop,” he said as he took my upper arms in his hands. “We have each other, remember? You will be my mirror and I will be yours. If something goes badly with one of us, the other will reflect it and we'll be able to change. I promise you that.”
“No,” I put my hand to his chest. “I should be making that promise because it was I who broke it. I failed you. That's why the future went wrong. I will never fail you again.”
“I know you won't,” he smiled confidently. “But I will try my best to not need such action from you. I will limit my dreams for our family to the boundaries of our kingdom.”
“Thank you,” I slid back into our hug.
A little cry from Brevyn had us pulling apart to smile at each other. I gave Arach a quick kiss and then stood to check on my son. Brevyn rolled over and opened his eyes, looking up at me with Ull's beautiful stare, as Arach came up behind me and put his arms around my waist.
“He just went down,” Arach said. “I'm surprised he woke up already.”
“He knows I want to see him before I go back,” I leaned over and picked Brevyn up. “Don't you, Brevyn?”
My son laid his little palm on my cheek and stared at me solemnly. It felt significant, more than a casual touch, so I stared back just as intensely. A flash of light filled my mind and then it turned into the flames of a raging fire. I inhaled sharply as the fire consumed my vision and sent warmth surging through my limbs. Then the flames died down and an image appeared; two boys holding hands. One had red hair and Rian's green eyes while the other was dark haired with Brevyn's blue stare.
The children smiled at me and pointed off into the distance at something. I turned and saw Arach in dragon form, flying above the Weeping Woods in the Fire Kingdom. When I looked back, Rian had shifted into an emerald dragon and Brevyn was climbing on his back. I felt myself shifting into a dragon as well, and as Rian took them into the sky, I followed. My heart soared as we did, our family flying together through the fey sky.
A dread of dragons.
Then Rian roared, flames bursting from his mouth and trailing back over Brevyn. Instead of being burned, Brevyn laughed and trailed his fingers in the fire as if it tickled. He was immune to the flames!
Then the vision faded and I was left staring at the baby in my arms once more. I gave a happy sob and touched my forehead to my son's. Arach was tense behind me but this was a special moment between Brevyn and I, and I wanted to cherish it before I shared it with Arach.
“Thank you,” I whispered to Brevyn. How perfect, that my first wedding present should come from my son. Finally, I turned to look at Arach. “Faerie may not be able to see our sons' paths now but Brevyn can.”
“What do you mean by that?” Arach laid a concerned hand against Brevyn's cheek and stared down into the sleepy face.
“He has the gift of sight,” I smiled widely. “And he just gave me a glimpse into our future. Our boys will be fine. They don't need Faerie to look after them. They're going to look after each other.”
“Oh, Vervain,” Arach sighed and pulled us into a hug. “That's wonderful.”
“And Brevyn's fireproof, Arach,” I laughed. “All of our worry was for nothing.”
“How is that possible?” Arach trailed a finger over Brevyn's cheek.
“I don't know,” I shook my head. “It coul
d be a side effect of the separation. Perhaps Brevyn got a bit of Rian's fire. It's not unheard of for a god to be fireproof either. It could just be that Brevyn's magic centers around fire. Oh, and he'll have my dark hair when he gets older too.”
“If Brevyn got fire immunity, what did Rian get?” Arach turned to look at our other son.
Almost as if he sensed our attention, Rian stirred and started to grumble. I handed Brevyn off to his father so I could pick up my other son. I settled Rian into the crook of my arm and took him back to where Arach was settling into a chair with Brevyn. I sat in the rocker beside him and Rian shifted so he could lay his head on my chest. I stroked the soft crimson hair on his head and looked up at Arach.
“Whatever gifts he has,” I whispered. “I'm certain he'll use them well.”
“Yes,” Arach smiled serenely, “I believe you're right. But not to worry. If he doesn't, I'll show him the error of his ways.”
“Meaning you'll kick his ass?” I lifted a brow.
“Precisely,” Arach nodded and Rian gave a low whine.
Chapter Forty-Two
I returned home just as the intercom buzzed and Fallon's voice came through to tell me that the ladies were on their way up. I smiled and set out the coffee pot next to the pot of tea I'd made. I had some breakfast snacks for them too because I knew it was going to be a long morning. All of it was laid out on the glass top of one of my jewelry cases in the middle of my dressing room.
They had to come up in two groups because they wouldn't all fit into the cage elevator with all of their stuff. Each woman had her dress along with a box of make-up and accessories. But they all made it up quickly enough and soon we were giggling through dirty jokes while we did each other's hair and make-up.
“I'm so glad I got out of having a bachelorette party,” I announced. “You guys should have seen Holly's. It was both shocking and humbling. I never want to see Gello dance again.”
“Holly made Jello dance?” Krystal gaped at the Holy Spirit. “What did you do, put it on your head?”
“No, Gello is the name of a demon,” I chuckled.
“Shut up,” Sommer said in disbelief.
“That's her name,” Holly confirmed. “Gello with a G. And she kind of jiggles like gelatin too.”
“She does,” I said dryly. “And it makes you hate her so much.”
“But you're the one marrying four amazing men,” Samantha pointed out.
“Well, Jello tastes good but it doesn't exactly satisfy, now does it?” My mom said smugly.
“Mom!” I laughed.
“You're damned straight,” my human friend, Krystal fist bumped my mother.
Hours more of such talk ensued, interspersed with breaks for food and lots of cocktails. We quickly moved beyond the coffee and tea into mimosas and then straight champagne. It was a good thing my goddess healing abilities burned off alcohol so fast or I'd be stumbling down the aisle.
“Holy cow,” Persephone exclaimed as she tried to pull my wedding dress out of its box. “This thing must weigh sixty pounds.”
“I think it's like thirty-five, but yeah,” I went over to help her. “It's all the crystals. The veil is heavy too,” I waved a hand at the long box laid out on one of the tables.
“You're going to have to take the elevator down all by yourself,” Sam observed.
“Probably,” I grimaced.
“But you'll look amazing,” Sephy breathed as the dress was revealed.
Boy did it sparkle nice in the soft light of the dressing room. The radiating, spiked bands of crystal beads caught the light and cast rainbows all over the carpet. Tulle and silk chiffon shushed its way over to me with Persephone's help and it took three more women to get me into the thing.
“It's good that you'll have multiple men to get you out of this,” Krystal commented.
“I don't think getting her out of the dress will be a problem for them,” Sephy giggled.
“Okay, enough already,” I laughed as they fastened the heavy garment on me.
I ran my hands over the crystal covered waist and glided forward to look at myself in the full length mirror. Layered skirts tried to flare out beneath the weight of the thousands of crystals but they just couldn't manage it. So it wasn't Cinderella full but it was still an impressive amount of skirt. The color had been special ordered; a combination of colors really. It went from deep blue around my waist to peacock green, then honey gold, and finally, an opalescent diamond. The colors of my soon to be husbands' eyes. It made a glorious display, the deep blue making my waist seem smaller while the lighter colors gave fullness where it was best to be full. The radiating bands covered the long sleeves too, with sapphire around my elbows and the other colors expanding out from there.
My mother came up behind me and settled the veil over my hair. I'd gone with long trailing curls but there was a braid that swept back over both of my ears to attach the veil to. She smiled at my reflection as she settled the heavy drape, with its wider spaced lines of crystals, on my head. It formed a sort of cap, gathering at my nape before falling free, and it reminded me of veils from the 1920's. There was nothing to drape over my face and I kinda loved that. It felt symbolic, like I was walking into this marriage with open eyes, nothing to impede my vision.
“I'm sorry that more of the family couldn't be here,” she whispered. “But I'm so happy that I am.”
“Me too,” I took her hand and squeezed it a moment.
“I have gifts from your fiances,” Holly came up beside us, holding a large, blue velvet box.
She opened it to reveal a collection of jewelry done in the same colors as my dress. Diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds were all set in twenty-four carat gold. There was a tiara, a trailing necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings. Holly lifted the tiara out of the box and handed it to my mother.
“The tiara is from Azrael,” Holly smiled as her eyes went misty.
“Thank you,” I touched my mom's hand before she could put the tiara on. “Why don't you let Holly do that?”
Mom smiled and nodded, handing the tiara back to Holly while she took the box. Holly gave me a huge grin and came forward. She laid the tiara right at the edge of my veil, setting the cap of it firmly into place. A tear trickled out of her eye and I leaned forward to give her a hug.
“Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this,” she whispered to me.
“Of course,” I whispered back. “We're going to be family.”
“I'll finally have a daughter,” she smiled and swiped at her eyes. “I'm so proud of Azrael, he made a good choice.”
“Thank you, Holly,” I smiled but then went stern. “But don't you dare make me cry and ruin this make-up.”
We all laughed and the rest of the jewelry was put on without any waterworks. The earrings from Odin, the bracelet from Kirill, and finally, the necklace from Trevor. I slid on my silk heels and took a deep breath.
“Let's do this.”
Chapter Forty-Three
I stood at the end of the drawbridge/veranda with a racing heart, watching Zariel cast white rose petals on the path before me. She looked darling in a fluffy pale blue dress with multicolored crystals sprinkled over it. To either side of the aisle she pranced down, gods and shifters stood; so many of them that they stretched out past the boundary of the tent. A sea of glamorous people from all ethnicities. Some wore modern clothes and some wore more traditional costumes. Some were quite tall and some, quite muscular, while some had wings rising above their shoulders. But they were all smiling as they watched Zariel pass by, her dark curls bouncing around her happy face.
I looked to the sloping rise at the front of the tent, where Zariel's mother; Samantha, was urging her daughter towards her and the waiting bridesmaids. Across from the bridesmaids stood the groomsmen, only one for each groom. Trevor had chosen Hades, Kirill had Fallon, Azrael had Cid, and Odin had Thor. It was odd to have my ex-boyfriend standing as groomsman to my future husband (who also happened to be his father) but Odin's
other sons were already walking me down the aisle.
“Are you ready, Mom?” Vali asked.
Vidar, who was known as The Silent One, stayed true to his name and simply watched me, waiting for me to give him a sign. It just so happened that I was more than ready and with perfect timing too, because that's when Roar began to play the Wedding March. All eyes turned to me as my sons escorted me down the stairs and along the god-bordered aisle.
I set my stare on the smiling faces of my men, waiting between the bridesmaids and groomsmen. They were stunning and my stomach clenched, wondering why they were mine and how I'd managed to get to this moment, where they stood before a host of gods, waiting to tell everyone how much we loved each other. I may have been a traditional girl at heart and I may still believe that marriage should be between two people only, but I was so thankful that for me, it wasn't. There, walking towards my men, I admitted that I wanted this. I wanted all of them and I wouldn't have changed a second of my life if it meant giving them up.
We walked up the slope onto the dais and Luke came forward to ask who gave me into marriage. As outdated as the question was, it still touched my heart to have Vidar and Vali say together, “We and her mother.” They kissed my cheek and stepped back to take the seats reserved for them in the front row, between my mom and Azrael's. They carefully avoided my long train, which flowed down the ramp behind me.
Sitting beside my mother was Re, looking magnificent in an elegant black suit and gold tie. He gave me a wicked wink and I gave him a sweet smile in return. It should have felt strange to have him there, sitting beside my mother as I married four men but all I felt was joy. He wasn't alone in his palace, heartbroken and bitter. He was there, supporting me as I committed myself to other men. And I found that humbling instead of strange. I turned around and passed my large bouquet of jasmine and roses to Samantha before I stepped forward to stand with four of the greatest loves of my life.
