I dressed carefully and then put my top hat with Professor Cadaver on my head, my red hat, the one she’d made for me. I stared at myself in the mirror, my pink bedazzled suit with the plastic gems gleaming in a wild assortment of hues. I needed more color in the hat. Feathers. I carefully arranged them around Professor Cadaver and his cookie, the emerald green, glittering gold, and brilliant purple echoing the gems in my suit. Did I look bizarre enough for a Penny Lane tea party? I smiled at Professor and headed into the hall, invitation in my fingers.
As I walked, I noticed the way people looked at me then away, wondering what kind of mischief Penny Lane was up to today. It had been awhile since she made a public display of any kind. It would be momentous.
I was not wrong. Candles in teacups floated ahead of me, lining the path into the darkness of the field beyond. She’d used a lot of magic. I tucked my hands in my pockets and walked over the uneven field as though I went to tea parties every day. Once a week clearly wasn’t enough. I reached the end of the lights and stood for a moment in complete darkness until I took another step forward and the world exploded into color, madness, and music.
Penny Lane sat at a tea table in the center of the field buttering a scone while all around her floated musicians, dancers, and the contract. She’d folded all of the papers into intricate origami shapes which fluttered or bobbed depending on whether they were butterflies or boats. I should have put origami on my hat.
When she saw me, she stood, and revealed the most shocking outfit I’d ever seen on her. The white dress went down to her knees, but the simplicity of it was such a startling contrast to everything else, it was as though she were in her dream, in a simple nightgown with bare feet, her long hair a mess of glorious curls that she hadn’t tried to tame, and Señor Mort peering out from beneath her hair.
I walked towards her, barely noticing the other witches and mages around and above. When I reached her, I bowed.
She curtsied. “Welcome to my tea party.” Her voice was soft and sweet with a rough edge that made my mouth water.
“Are those crumpets? From a distance, I thought they were scones.”
She snapped her fingers and all the origami objects unfolded and swirled around me, nicking me with a hundred paper cuts before they settled into a neat stack in the center of the table.
She cocked her head while she stood there. “I don’t have a pen.”
“Allow me.” Signore’s voice was as low and grating as possible.
I blinked at the Darksider in his shocking outfit. He had on a pale pink top hat that matched the top of his suit, but the bottom looked like he’d been held by the neck and dipped into fresh blood. The coloration was ombre, so it began with pale pink at the top of his head and then progressed through other values of pink until it grew into the deepest reds, dripping down in watercolor-like swirls. It was such a contrast to his black hair and eyes, to the deadly expression in them. He looked strangely stunning. Was he trying to look good for her?
“Thank you. I feel like I’ve stepped into Penny’s dream. What are you doing here?”
He handed me a pen, no, a quill and ink bottle, red ink. Of course, to match the rest of the tea party and its shades of pink and red. “I’m a witness.”
I nodded and swallowed. If Signore was a witness, that meant he’d seen the contract and Penny was going to sign it. It was the only rational explanation, which made it the least likely, but Penny held out her hand, waiting for me to dip the quill in ink and hand it over, dripping red ink over the pale tablecloth and piles of assorted edibles.
Penny hesitated, cocking her head to study me before she scratched her name into paper. I could feel her signature as though she were digging the quill into my chest. I smiled as she made the final flourish and handed the quill back to me. I dipped the quill and added my signature to the page that seemed to soak up the ink as though it were hungry. I was hungry.
She put a macaron in my mouth then sat and folded her hands demurely on her lap.
I sat in the chair opposite her while my heart pounded unsteadily. I hadn’t slept or ate much since I’d given her the contract, but I still wasn’t hungry. No, I was starving, but it was for the witch across from me.
The party floated along, literally since the witches and the mages were suspended over and around us. Occasionally someone dropped a teacup they’d been juggling, but nothing fell directly on us. I went through the contract, signing all the changes she’d made, small things like the care of rabid animals and a few big things, like her insisting to be allowed to work with other mages on any project without interference. That was Zach.
Finally, after I’d signed the last clause, a large lead box fell onto the tea table, crushing everything except for the contract which had taken flight as soon as I’d put my last initials on the margin, turning back into its origami objects.
The lead box reflected the candlelight dully while I stared at it and then Penny’s innocent face beyond.
“What is this?”
“An engagement present. You’re welcome.”
I nodded like that was expected, but I didn’t have anything for her. Maybe it would be something small, but it seemed like a bomb considering the size and the necessity of lead. It opened the old fashioned way, as in the top lid fitted to the bottom without any fastening, relying on the weight to secure it. I swallowed before I opened it, setting the lid aside and staring into the depths of pink and red tissue paper. I looked up at Penny’s sweet smile and my stomach twisted from nerves. She couldn’t look so sweet if it were really something that wouldn’t bite me, could she? She’d tied ribbons in my hair when I’d been unconscious, vulnerable to her. She had a surprisingly deep streak of sweet.
I plunged my hands into the paper boldly until my fingers found the object, the present. I pulled it out, holding it up for all to see. The mages and witches around had stopped their frolicking and the music had ceased while everyone focused on the object in my hands. It pulsed like a live thing with a heartbeat, the fabric warm and thick under my fingers. It felt like power, like my gem suit times a million, and it wanted to kill things very neatly.
I raised my eyebrow at Penny. “Death magic?”
She flashed her most inane smile at me. “It’s pretty great, right? Try it on.”
I hesitated before I stood and let Penny pull off my bedazzled suit jacket and put the new coat over my white button-up shirt. The fabric clung to me like a second skin, soft, supple, and weightless. I fingered the buttons. I could feel the energy to them. They were all incinerators. If Penny Lane wanted to go into tailoring for mages, she would make a killing. No, she’d undercharge.
I grabbed her hand, squeezing until she winced. “I am honored to be your fiancé as well as the perfect model for your exquisite creation. It’s incomprehensibly perfect. I can feel the restorative properties, but it’s stable, organic almost, as though you brought it to life.”
The rest of my body hummed and prickled while the suit’s energy filled me. It wasn’t only power, it was love. She’d somehow poured love into the suit coat so it felt like she was wrapped around me, holding me, adoring me.
She blushed and bit her bottom lip. “You like it?”
I swept her into my arms and kissed her.
After the tea party, I noticed Viney muttering on the edge with Oscar, collapsing the bubble that kept the tea party in and the rest of the world out, also helped suspend mages because a few fell ungracefully to the muddy ground.
“You haven’t visited Darkside recently.” Signore’s rough words matched his eyes, but not his suit.
I straightened his lapel just to be irritating. “Did you miss me?”
He bared his teeth at me. It took me a moment to realize it was a smile. “Every battle you’ve fought barring the ones where you’ve joined myself or the devil, have been for the sake of the deception sorcerer.”
I blinked at him. “What are you talking about? You specifically outlined which wars were to be fought.”
“I did. And you consistently fought on the wrong side of them. I’m particularly irritated at you for defeating the sorcerer on the edges of the Devil’s Domain. He’s provided some buffering between the encroaching mages that would otherwise sweep freely along the borders. Are you working with him now?”
I blinked at him. Was he talking about the battle where my father had given me the gems so that I could fight so brilliantly? It was so unlike my dad to get personally involved. Perhaps the sorcerer was influencing him. That shouldn’t be possible, but neither were Penny Lane or my new coat.
“All the battles I’ve fought have been for the sorcerer instead of against him? Really? That’s rather discouraging.”
He made a low growling sound before he turned and bowed low to Penny as she approached, still barefoot in spite of the icy mud beneath her feet.
“I must go. If you need me to witness or wear pink, you know how to contact me.” He smiled at her, a soft smile that she returned in earnest. She brought softness out in the strangest people. He left me with Penny, his words pushing past the blissful glow of Penny Lane signing my contract and gifting me with the most brilliant coat known to mage.
“What were you talking about?”
I sighed as I took one of her pale, lovely hands. “I believe he doesn’t approve of the messes I’m making in Darkside. I’ll have to be more cautious about the wars I win. Apparently I have to personally investigate each one and be quite certain I’m fighting on the right side. In Darkside it’s hard to believe that there is a right side, but sometimes, apparently, there is. Tell me you love me.”
She inhaled sharply and moved close so her pale nightgown looking dress brushed the front of my coat, the one she’d made me. I could feel through it, as though it were bare skin, nothing more than a glamour directly connected to my nervous system.
“I love you. Can’t you feel it?”
I slid my hands around her back and pulled her closer to inhale the scent of her. “It’s in the contract. You have to tell me that you love me every day.”
She swayed against me. “I love you every day.”
I nodded soberly and brushed my nose against hers. “There is always more than one way to interpret a contract. I didn’t get you an engagement present.”
“You can give me something for the wedding.”
I smiled slowly. “Oh, I will.”
I walked her back to her room while her Chem witches and Viney took care of the tea party. Pete had been one of the dancers along with Ian and Oscar. Zach had not. Penny’s pet Darksider, Signore worried me. How stupid would it be to find that slippery sorcerer and confront him? Probably extremely stupid. I smiled at Penny.
“The magic surprised me. You’re not usually so blatant about it.”
Her smile flickered and her eyes darkened for a moment. “It was Viney’s idea.”
“Really? I had no idea you’d rubbed off on her so much.”
She blushed. “Not the juggling teacups part, the using magic part. I think that she’s trying to be supportive.”
“Why would she do that?” I watched Penny shift uncomfortably. Viney wanted hurters from the greatest maker.
She shrugged helplessly. “I guess she’s just trying to be a good friend. Do you think that her and Oscar will ever get together? They’d be so cute.”
“Most mages and witches aren’t quite as motivated by cuteness as us. Poor souls. If they have souls. I noticed that Zach didn’t come to the party. Is he still upset about Pitch?”
She glanced at me. “He doesn’t talk about it.” She grabbed my fingers. “This is all kind of anti-climactic.”
“Do you want fireworks? More magic? Maybe we should dance in the clouds together like your performers. I can’t fly, but I can levitate.”
She let go of my hand and sighed. “I’m not the best dancer on the ground. I certainly wouldn’t do well without it.”
This was anti-climactic? We were walking back towards the school. What else should I do? I should take her on a magic carpet ride, or at least a dragon one. She would like that. She would love it. I opened my mouth then closed it. That was a conversation for a different day.
I caught her hand and kissed her fingers. “I have a mouse eating a cookie in a top hat on my head. I don’t think my neck could take whatever topped that.”
She sighed and wrapped her arms around my waist as we walked side-by-side towards Rosewood, lit up like it was welcoming us home. “Drake, do you like the jacket?”
I pulled her tighter against me. “No. I love it. I adore it with the single-minded obsession I usually save for cufflinks. You’re going to have to be careful not to spoil me. I’m going to expect you to make me incomparable items sporadically.”
She sighed. “I feel bad about the sword.”
I shifted my shoulders. “Light yet unbreakable, strong yet fluid, I believe I know the one. Huntsmans have a lot of swords for you to transfigure into coats. I strongly believe that a mage can never have too many coats.”
She shivered and I realized what she was wearing, a nightgown and no shoes. It was February. I shook my head and swept her up in my arms. I wove a spell around her that would keep her warm. She was so stubborn about not using her magic. Odd for her to use it on floating teacups, but not on cold.
With every step towards school she clung to me tighter and tighter. She felt light in my arms, soft and sweet. We reached my bedroom with the black and glitter speckled couch.
She slipped out of my arms somehow even though I’d had no intention of letting her go. Ever. She took my face in her hands and kissed my nose. “I need to work on some things and then get ready for the tourney. I’m going to watch Viney. Hopefully she’s better this time.”
I took a shaky breath as I forced myself to stay where I was by my door, not drag her to my bed. The contract was signed, but we hadn’t quite reached touchdown. “Do you want me to help you?” I couldn’t help the leer in my voice.
She giggled and shook her head as she turned towards away, the white and moderately sheer gown swinging around her slender body. “Women don’t have valets.”
I grabbed her arm. “I’ll pick you up for the tourney at eleven-forty-five. If I must leave you, tell me that you love me.”
She cocked her head while she stared at me, her lips soft. “I love you more than any witch should ever love a mage.”
Chapter 13
Witch
I’d been in my room for ten minutes when Zach came in.
“How many hurters are you making?”
I scowled at him. “Haven’t you heard of knocking? A few. I was going to give them to my Chem girls and Viney. Do you want to help?”
He threw himself on my bed. “Keep it small. You don’t want to actually do battle worthy hurters for Viney. Be careful or you’ll be making her hurters for the rest of her life.”
I pushed my goggles up on my nose. “It’s fine. It’s something I can do. You should have seen the tea party. It was so magical, and Drake had Professor Cadaver on his hat brim. It was my hat, the one I made for the first tea party. I had no idea he kept it. He looked so good in the jacket. Serious, strange, otherworldly. It liked him.”
“The jacket liked him? I’m so glad they hit it off. It doesn’t actually have a personality, you know.”
“Of course it does. Don’t tell me that you don’t believe in the ghost in the machine.” I stopped talking while I blew some elastine balls.
“Penny, what’s with the bare feet and nightgown?”
I winced a little bit. “Setting up the tea party, I accidentally caught my dress on fire. Luckily I had this flame proof slip underneath. Ian insisted that it would be a perfect contrast to the magical tea party, like a dream sequence or something.” I shrugged and refocused. “I don’t do well with magic, I mean getting too close, it’s like cooking. Things kind of explode. Nothing happened while Drake was there, though, once the spells were all in place.”
“You actually got Drake to sign a
marriage contract with you? Congratulations. When’s the day?”
“Valentine’s.” I took a deep breath and had to focus on keeping my hands steady. It all seemed so impossible. I’d tried so hard to get married, then once I gave up bam, he finally gave me everything I came here for, plus pink. Unless he was just messing with me, but the contract was solid, and we’d both signed it.
I exhaled and shook my head. It really didn’t feel real. Being married to Drake? We would live together. The contract had made that very clear. Also that he didn’t care where we lived whether it was a silo or an oversize envelope, so long as we were together. Why did he want to be with me? At the tea party he’d looked at me like I was the magic. What would he do when he found out that I had no magic? Also Pitch.
“Good day to die. I mean get married.”
I rubbed the sphere between my rubber and lead gloved hands. “Do you think that he’ll be very angry?”
“You mean mad. Mages are always mad.”
I turned to frown at him. “Maybe he’ll never find out. Do married witches usually do spells with their husbands?”
He laughed and stretched his arms behind his head. “No. Most witches do a few specific things with their husbands, none of which involve magic. Your mother does a lot of magic with Revere, right? It’s not normal. No, the only thing Huntsman really needs a witch for has to do with the Huntsman nursery.”
I frowned at him before I refocused on the spheres. “Yeah, that was in the contract.” I placed them on their holders to harden and went to my enormous seventeenth century shipping trunk for the fillers. I threw back the lid and sorted around before I came up with a little black bag. I shook it until it jangled then tossed it to Zach. He barely caught it before it bashed him in the face.
“What’s this?” He raised his eyebrows and stared at me.
“You know, something I was saving for a hurter but thought you might like better. You can trade me in materials, also swear that you won’t stand in the way of my marriage.”
He gave me a hard look while he undid the tie and dumped the contents onto the coffee table. My first trophy gleamed beautifully amidst the pile of chunks of various alloys. Zach’s inhale sounded painful.
Blooming Black: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 4) Page 11
