by Viola Grace
“It is fine. It made me realize how I depended on your visits, our chats and the small kindnesses that I saw you give to those around you every day. I wanted your eyes focused on me, and that was when I knew I would cease looking for a mate on my own.”
That was news to her. “You were looking for a mate?”
“My mother was. You aren’t the only one who was subjected to family matchmaking. In my case, they had to be subtle and advertise me as I am. A male who runs a diner that caters to humans in a high-shifter area.”
“Wow, you must have been beating them off with a stick.”
He snorted and patted her butt. “I have what I need. My family will be notified.”
“That sounds ominous.”
“They will be delighted. They will be over the moon and a little confused when I tell them that you know what I am and what I can do, and you chose me anyway.”
She was laughing as they walked through the doors of the Open Heart.
Teebie looked them over. “Your balance ceremony is set for eleven tomorrow.”
She looked at Dromer, and he smiled.
Ida said, “Good.”
Dromer nodded. “Excellent. We will be ready.”
It sounded like a preparation for battle, but Ida realized that was what it was. Tomorrow, everything would change, and her life would turn upside down.
Chapter Nine
Ida looked down at the black and electric-blue gown that wrapped her tightly from breast to hips before draping downward in even folds to cover her toes.
She lifted her arms, and the swathing of chiffon covered in blue patterns moved with the flutter of a butterfly wing.
“It is an amazing gown, Teebie. Thank you.”
“It was my pleasure. I like a challenge.” Teebie grinned, and she adjusted a fold of the gown.
“I am sorry that my body posed a challenge.”
Teebie frowned. “It wasn’t your body; it was the wild-magic resistance that I had to put into the dress. Wild magic shapes things in unpredictable ways. I wanted to keep you clothed during the balancing.”
Ida blinked. “Well, I appreciate your efforts.”
“Teal has arrived to walk you to the ceremony. I am going to go and help Al get the reception ready, but I will be there for your big moment. Are you feeling good about it?”
Ida smiled slowly. “I get to spend the rest of my life with the only man I have ever wished for my future. I am fine.”
“All I needed to hear. I will see you at the ceremony.” Teebie gave her a careful hug and left her alone.
Ida looked at herself in the full-length mirror. Teebie had given her a gemstone headpiece that had long strands of glittering gems, which wove through her hair. Her skin was still the weird milk-white that she was used to seeing in the mirror. Her lips were startling red, and Teebie had a deft hand with the eyeshadow for a woman with such colour-specific skin.
Her eyes were huge and dark, and she stared at the creature in the mirror, definitely feeling like she was in the midst of a fairy tale.
The door opened, and she heard Teal’s gasp. “Ida. You look...”
Ida quirked her lips and looked at Teal. “Magical?”
“Exactly. Are you ready?”
“I am.”
“Good. Dromer is putting out so much nervous energy that he is warping the ground under his feet.” Teal came up to her, took her hands and carefully kissed her cheek. “You look amazing.”
“Thank you. How weird is it that this outfit feels surprisingly right?”
Teal chuckled. “Teebie knows her stuff. She has outdone herself. You will do the history of our people proud.”
Ida drew in a deep breath. “That sounds promising. I suppose if I am going to do it, I should get started.”
Teal led her out the door and through the hall, down the stairs and out into the bright sunlight.
“So, this whole thing takes place at the Meditation Centre?”
“Out back. A platform has been built that will help the mage balance your energy with Dromer’s. You stand on one side, he stands on the other and your magic meets in the middle, mingles and redistributes through you. That is usually where things get a little crazy. He isn’t used to your magic and you are not used to his. The first minutes are usually fascinating.”
“How will it be recorded?”
“There are witnesses, and we have a recording mechanism that we are testing out today. It is an orb or something. The mage guild has designed it.”
Ida got the feeling that she could ask any question she wanted and Teal would answer it in order to keep her moving.
“You don’t have to worry, Teal. I am going through with this. I hoped for something along these lines when I was young, and it haunted my fantasies when I was older. Today is the day I lock his butt down.” She winked and kept her head high, shoulders back and the gown fluttering with every step.
The gathering was a little sparse. “Not what I had hoped for my wedding day.”
“It is only the ceremony to even your playing field. When you return to the human world, you will do the normal thing and arrange a human ceremony. It is easy.” Teal gave her hand a squeeze.
“Right. This is my mating day. How could I forget?” She smirked and passed the men and women who were waiting for her to step up and onto the platform.
Dromer was in place at his point on the three-armed stage. Ida stepped up carefully and went to the podium, settling her hands on the spaces set aside for her palms.
Her blood roared in her ears as she agreed to share all that she was and all that she would be with Dromer. She heard his voice calmly state that he would do the same for her.
The mage warned her of the impending change, and soon, she felt power course out of her and head toward the central spoke of the platform.
A crackle of power emerged from Dromer and crawled its way to the centre. It was like lightning come to life.
Ida clung to the platform and swayed as their power combined in a column of crackling magic. The mage raised her hands, and with a flourish, she split the blended power and sent it back down the other spokes of the platform.
She watched it rush toward her and let out a squeak as the wild magic crept up her legs and surrounded her. Ida sucked in a deep breath, and the power surged through her lungs.
Ida’s arms stiffened, and she thrust her fists down to her sides. She focused on the pain, shaped it, held it and let it change her.
When Dromer’s arms were around her, she came out of the haze of magic, pain and transformation.
He stroked her forehead and whispered to her, “Come back to me, Ida. Don’t let it take you.”
She looked up at him in a daze. “I am back. That was quite the trip.”
He chuckled and hugged her, pressing his lips to her temple. “You scared me.”
His wings wrapped around her, and she chuckled. “You got the wings.”
“You got the power. Your ears are lovely, though.”
“You are kidding.”
“Nope. If I didn’t know who you were, I would never guess that you were my Ida.”
She sighed and looked up at him. His features were still the pure ones she had fallen in love with. His eyes looked at her like he was seeing his whole world. She could get lost in those eyes.
“I am going to need a mirror.”
He grinned and kissed her softly. “Once I get you home. I don’t want you freaking out and bolting. I have no idea what the power did to you, but I would rather you learn what you can do at home.”
“If I have changed as much as you say, how will my parents deal with it?”
“We will put it about that you stumbled into a pocket of wild magic and it stuck. We will court while you learn how to manage your magic, and when a suitable amount of time has passed, we will marry in the town square. I do ask that you move in with me, for the sake of safety.”
“Your house on the hill? I thought that was a rumour.”
He smiled. “I own the hill and most of the town, actually. There is a bonus to being as old as dirt.”
She laughed. It was a question she had never asked and she would never care about the answer. His past was his. His future was all hers.
He cleared his throat. “I have one serious question for you.”
“Name it.”
“How do I pull the wings in?” His whisper made her laugh.
She explained how he needed to visualize his skeleton and turn the wings to liquid and pour them inside. It was that or he could ask his inner swan to pull itself inward.
Dromer shuddered in her arms, and his wings retracted at what had to be a painful pace.
“Does it always hurt?”
“Not after a while. It is similar to pulling off a Band-Aid. The faster you do it, the less it hurts. You know, the opposite of sex.”
He snorted, and they turned to the gathering. The grey faces of the fey that were present made her a little nervous.
“Why do they look like that?”
“There is one family of fey that controls wild magic. None of us have appeared in public in the last three hundred years. The signature of our energy is specific. You are currently sparking with enough energy to kill all of the assembled fey, and they know it. It is best if we get you to safety.”
She understood the problem in a moment. She would become deadly, but right now, she was vulnerable. Going home sounded good, even if she was just close to her family but not with them.
“Let’s be on our way then. I have a tremendous urge to be home.”
Dromer lifted her in his arms and jumped off the platform. With long strides, he walked through the crowd, and the fey backed away from them.
Ida could see the crackling energy around her limbs, and she tried to pull it in the same way she did with her feathers.
Teal and Tony stopped them and got them to sign the binding mating contract.
“Seriously? That is your full name? Yikes.” Ida grimaced at the signature on the contract.
“Well, when we wed in the human world, you are going to be Mrs. Merodar Webskinat.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Perhaps I will keep my name.”
“We will see. I am sure I can convince you to at least accept Dromer as a compromise for any children we have.”
“I will consider it.”
Teal watched their banter with an amused smirk and handed Dromer the contract.
Tony finished sending the other two copies off to the shifter and fey organizations watching the balancing program. When he returned to them, he grinned. “Now, take your places at the transport point, and we will send you home.”
Dromer kept hold of her hand when they were on the transport point.
Teal smiled and gave her a small salute. “It was nice meeting you, Ida. It is good to see that the bloodlines are still creating strong ladies who know when to run.”
“It was nice meeting you, Teal. If you are ever nearby, come over for a visit.”
“If I can find a way to leave, I will definitely come by for a visit.” Teal smiled sadly. “If you are ready.”
Dromer held her close, and with a flash of light, they left the Crossroads.
Epilogue
Ida watched her three little swans playing with their cousins. Mabel and the twins were growing fast. She had never imagined that life would have changed so much in five years.
The house on the hill was the perfect place for family gatherings, and the extensive grounds around the manor house were perfect for the little ones to play in.
Ida sat and pushed the bench swing with one foot. Dromer came by and sat next to her. “It is a very successful day.”
“My parents are happy with it.”
He lifted her hand to his lips. “You should be very proud. The cheddar that you created is on the way to winning awards.”
“I wished that I could have opened a shop or something.”
“Your family dairy will do a marvellous job of marketing your creations. Well, the cheese ones anyway.”
She snorted and watched Mabel hold her ten-year-old cousin above her head while the toddlers tried to catch him. “I have no idea where she gets her strength.”
“I have a very good idea. She takes after her mother.” He smiled and patted her swollen belly. “So, girl or boy?”
“Yes. Definitely one of those.” Ida smiled brightly.
The fourth of July party was fully underway. Dromer had someone covering the diner and the shifter half of the town was at their home for an afternoon picnic.
They had come a long way since those first days when both the fey and shifter community had eyed them with suspicion. Her own family had been so shocked by her transformation that it wasn’t until the wedding that they came to visit her as family should.
Her pregnancy had done a lot to thaw relations between her parents and Dromer. When perfect little Mabel made her appearance, she was named as a potential diner owner should be. No one could stand up against Mabel, even as an infant.
Her tiny ambassador had opened doors to the fey community, Dromer’s parents had come for a visit and Mabel had even met her one and only aunty.
After that first year, Ida was surprised to be pregnant again. The twins were cheerful, charming and looked up to their older sister. Ida was currently hoping for another girl to even up the numbers.
“Your parents look happy.” Dromer smiled.
“They have the best-looking grandchildren in the county. They are delighted.”
He chuckled. “I put that on you.”
He pushed off and the swing slowly rocked them both. Her balance was everywhere, so she leaned into her husband and watched over their people. Each and every one of them was under the protection of the wild magic embodied in Ida and Dromer. If they were lucky, their children would stick around and watch over the future.
She hoped that Mabel had an easier time finding a mate than she had. Watching and waiting had eventually paid off, but it had been the threat of matrimony that had finally done the trick. If she hadn’t run, Teal wouldn’t have sent her to the Crossroads and she would never have learned that the fey were no longer off limits. Dromer wouldn’t have come looking for her, and they would never have ended up together.
Ida hoped that if Mabel needed to, she knew she could run.
Author’s Note
Well, one day I hope to write Mabel’s story. She seemed like a fun way to end the book.
We are getting closer to the emergence of the water shifters and their matching fey. I should be able to start those in a few months.
Thanks for reading,
Zenina Masters
About the Author
Viola Grace (aka Zenina Masters) is a Canadian sci-fi/paranormal romance writer with ambitions to keep writing for the rest of her life. She specializes in short stories because the thrill of discovery, of all those firsts, is what keeps her writing.
An artist who enjoys a story that catches you up, whirls you around and sets you down with a smile on your face is all she endeavours to be. She prefers to leave the drama to those who are better suited to it, she always goes for the cheap laugh.
