by Erin Johnson
My eyes slid to the side. "I've been busy."
"I heard you got banned from the bakery."
"So what if I did?" My eyes flashed.
"I just mean, it's clear you're upset. I wish you'd tell me how you feel," Hank pleaded with me. His brows lifted and his breath came in short pants.
Tears ran down my cheeks. "I love you, okay? And this is horrible." The dam had broken. The tears poured now and my words came out between sobs. "Francis told me in Wee Ferngroveshire about your father's power over you. I already knew; that's why I didn't say anything. I couldn't ask that of you."
He stepped closer. "Yes, you could."
I shook my head, my vision blurred by my tears. "No, I couldn't. Your magic is a part of who you are. So is being a prince. I couldn't ask you to give up who you are. Even if I really, really want to." I hung my head and my shoulders shook. "This is why I didn't want to talk about this, because I can't." I covered my eyes with one hand and wept. My chest ached and I felt like there was no end to the tears. It's why I'd tried to avoid them in the first place. Now that I'd started, I didn't know if I could ever stop crying.
Hank pulled me into another hug and I sagged against him. My whole body shook with my sobs as he stroked my back and held me tight. This sucked.
After a while, I stopped, and my breathing settled down with the occasional shuddering gulp. I pulled back and looked Hank in the face. His nose and eyes were red and I wiped a tear from his cheek with my fingertip.
I sighed. "Get married. We'll figure something out. I just don't think we're going to figure it out tonight."
Hank clasped my hand in his own and held it to his face. "If you can't make this situation work, then it won't work for me, either."
I sniffed but gave a tight nod. I wiped my snotty face on my shoulder. "We'll make it work. But I've got to get some sleep. You do, too. Big day tomorrow."
Hank kissed my forehead and whispered, "I love you." I breathed in the sweet, spicy smell of him one more time and then we parted ways. I walked away, willing my steps to be slow, and didn't look back. As soon as I'd rounded the corner I broke into a run.
"Whoa!" Iggy, still in the lantern in my hand, cried out. "You okay?"
I couldn't answer. I'd managed to stifle my sobs for long enough to get out of that hallway, but I couldn't hold them in anymore. I let out a deep moan and stumbled down dark hallway after hallway.
"Imogen? Where are we going?"
I ignored Iggy and cursed the mazelike palace. I just had to get out of it. I felt like I was suffocating. Finally, I found the empty bakery, dark except for the low glow from the snoozing oven fires. I dashed out the back door and into the cool night air of the alleyway. My throat burned with my rasping breaths and I leaned against the plaster wall behind me. I set Iggy carefully on the gravelly ground at my feet and buried my face in my trembling hands.
"Imogen?" Iggy's fire warmed my ankles as he peeked out of the lantern. "What can I do? You're not okay."
I shook my head. "Nothing. You can't do anything, no one can. It's just—" I sobbed. "It's just the way it is."
Iggy let me cry for a while, then suddenly the little flame spoke up. "Imogen? Hey, Imogen!"
I sniffed. "Whad?" My voice came out deep and stuffed up.
"Hey. Look over there."
I glanced down at Iggy. He leaned halfway out of his lantern, pointing with an orange arm of flame. I followed his gaze to a nearby archway made of blue plaster that had crumbled away in spots and exposed the tan brick underneath. Two golden eyes glowed from the shadows. I froze. Then, keeping my eyes on the shadows, I slowly reached to my right, feeling around for the doorknob back into the bakery. I breathed out a little sigh of relief when my hand closed around the knob, but the feeling was short-lived. I turned the knob and it stuck. I jiggled it and tugged.
"The door's locked, Iggy." I bit my lip.
"Not good…." Iggy flashed brighter.
A large, shaggy black dog that looked half wolf stepped forward from the shadows, its eyes glowing gold.
"Oh, hey doggy." I gave a weak smile.
"Sea snakes!" Iggy huffed. "You're gonna have to do better than that."
"Like what?" I snatched Iggy up off the ground and hugged the lantern to me, my back pressed against the wall.
"Like magic! You're a witch, remember?"
My chest heaved. "Right, right… I can't think of any spells!"
The dog walked straight at us, slow and steady, and suddenly, in the blink of an eye, where the dog had been, Horace stood.
I sagged with relief. "Oh, thank goodness, I thought—"
Iggy cut me off with an ear-splitting scream. My eyes widened. He kept screaming. Some dogs nearby started barking.
"Iggy, sh! You're going to wake everyone up."
"Good!" He threw his head back and opened his round mouth as wide as it went and screamed some more.
"Iggy!" Panicked, I shut the shutter on the lantern, which muted him somewhat. I looked up at Horace. "I'm sorry. I'm sure he'll stop soon… ish."
Iggy stopped on a dime and I cautiously slid the shutter back open. He frowned. "Did you just apologize to him?" He blinked up at me.
My stomach dropped. Oh right. I hadn't told him about Horace. I took a deep breath and spoke slowly. "Iggy. I didn't tell you everything I did yesterday."
His jaw hung open and his eyes widened. "What are you saying?"
I let out a heavy breath. "I met up with Horace."
"You met up with Horace?!"
"You have to stop screaming," I hissed.
He glared at me.
"He is my brother, you know, I'm allowed to be curious about him, to want to get to know him."
"He's a wanted criminal." Iggy looked at me like I was crazy.
I sighed. "Yes. But he's also the one who saved me as a child and my only relative. He's not going to hurt me, or you." I looked up at Horace, suddenly less sure. "Right?"
"Correct." Horace stared at me with his half-lowered lids. "Can I approach, or will your pet lose its mind again?"
Iggy's jaw dropped and he huffed with indignation. He turned to address Horace. "First of all, I am not her pet. And secondly, I will scream whenever I feel threatened by international terrorists who can apparently turn into dogs." Iggy rounded on me. "Did you know he can turn into a dog?"
My lips quirked to the side. "I just found out. Apparently, I can too."
Iggy's eyes widened. "You think you know a person."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, hush. You know me." I lifted Iggy up. "Horace, Iggy. Iggy, Horace."
Iggy folded his flame arms and Horace lifted one lazy brow.
"Right. Warm and fuzzies all around." I sighed.
Horace nodded at Iggy. "I'm sorry to intrude." He looked at me and something besides his usual mask of boredom flashed across his eyes. "But you seemed to be in distress."
I chuckled and it ended as a sob. "You could say that."
"Are you hurt?" Horace stepped closer and Iggy started growling. I shot him a look and he stopped.
I shook my head. "No. I mean, yes, emotionally, not physically." I dipped my chin and pulled a hand through my bangs. "It just—I think it just really hit me, for the first time, that this wedding is really happening. I think a part of me, a big part, thought that Hank would back out or, more recently, that Shaday would turn out to have killed Bernhardt and the wedding would be called off, or something would stop it."
I swallowed, trying to push down that lump in my throat. Tears welled up in my eyes all over again. "But—but he's not going to, and Shaday's not the killer. In fact, she's even more wonderful than I thought, and I don't know what to do. I think Hank half wanted me to ask him to end it with Shaday, but that would mean losing his powers and everything—his family. I can't possibly want that or expect that—" I groaned and folded over, the sobs returning. "But I still do! I still want that, if I'm honest, and I feel terrible for it!" I couldn't speak, but Horace and Iggy let me cry.
Tears fell from my eyes to the sandy ground below. The blurry tips of Horace's shoes appeared on the ground in front of me and then he wrapped his arms around me in a hug. It was light and tentative at first, but I rested my head against him and his arms tightened around me.
"Look at you," I gulped out between tears. "Being all brotherly."
A deep chuckle rumbled in Horace's throat.
"Hurt her, and I'll burn you where you stand," Iggy hissed, still dangling from my hand.
Horace ignored him and spoke in his deep, laconic voice. "Come with me."
I stiffened.
"For as long as you like. I'll show you around the Badlands, it's beautiful."
I sniffed. "Your home?"
He cleared his throat. "I have no home."
"Imogen…." Iggy's voice rose at the end, a warning.
"You need to get away from here, it's a toxic situation, toxic people—look what they're doing to you with their elitist rules of who can marry who, the king's need to control everything, even his own children. You need to get away from it all."
It was tempting. An island, a break, a chance to connect with my brother. But I imagined telling Maple and my stomach twisted. I wasn't sure I was ready to leave her and all my friends behind.
"I—I have to think about it." I leaned back and looked up at his shadowed eyes.
He blinked. "I'm leaving tomorrow, during the wedding. Meet me at the base of the volcano if you decide to join me."
The wedding. I didn't think I could bear it. And yet, leaving my friends to join Horace, even for a short time…I wasn't sure if they'd accept that decision.
I sniffed. "Thank you, for the offer. I really will think about it."
"Do."
Horace backed away and disappeared into the shadows.
Iggy rounded on me. "You can't be seriously considering this." When I didn't answer, he gasped. "Imogen!"
"This is killing me, Iggy. Working Hank's wedding, knowing nothing is ever going to be the same again." I shook my head. "I think I just need a break."
"A break is going rainbow sliding in the Air Kingdom. What you're talking about is practically treason!"
I rolled my eyes. "You're exaggerating." I swallowed. "And also, is rainbow sliding a real thing? Because that sounds amazing."
I started off with him around the side of the palace. Since the bakery door was locked, we'd probably have to go all the way around and head in the front entrance.
"You're missing the point. I'm worried about you. People aren't going to understand why you're consorting with the leader of the Badlands Army."
I licked my lips. "I know, some won't. Maybe no one will understand. But he's my brother and I feel safe with him. I need to understand him and know him better. And going with him to the Badlands would be a way to do that and give myself some time to accept Hank and Shaday being married. Because I don't know if I can go back to Bijou Mer next week and wake up in the morning to bake them their favorite muffins for breakfast in bed." The thought made me feel more depressed than I could express.
"Hmph. Well, I'll tell you that I don't understand why you have to go with Horace." Iggy sniffed. "But I'm still going with you if you do."
"What?" I held the lantern up to my face.
Iggy glared. "I'm not letting you walk into monster island all alone with the world's most wanted criminal."
My lip trembled. "Iggy…."
"Nuh-uh." He shook his head. "No more tears, you're cried out for tonight. Any more and you're going to shrivel up from dehydration and they'll just find your wrinkled skin tomorrow morning all stiff like beef jerky."
I chuckled. "Quite the imagery, thank you for that." I sighed. "Thank you, Iggy. I don't know if I'll go with him or not, but I appreciate you having my back, no matter what."
"You bet I do. Your shriveled, dehydrated jerky back."
16
Love Triangle
It was the next afternoon, the day of the wedding, and we had nearly finished with the cake. My friends and I worked alongside the Fire Kingdom bakers to assemble the seven-tiered giant beauty. A few of their bakers and Yann worked a spell that lowered the temperature in the bakery to keep the buttercream frosting from melting.
I even kept Iggy in his lantern on the tiled countertop, away from our workstation, to keep the air near the cakes cool. No fires were needed anymore. All the cakes had already been baked and frosted.
And now came the assembly and final decorations. I bit my nail. I always found this the most nerve-wracking part.
Maple and Wool directed Annie and a baker from Fire as they spelled the cakes together, the biggest circle on bottom, then the next biggest and next, until they finally placed the smallest tier, only as big around as a salad plate, on top. We all let out a collective sigh of relief and I joined the others in clapping my hands.
Wiley squeezed Annie's shoulder. "Well done, didn't know you still had the hand-eye coordination at your age."
She glared and yanked the kitchen towel off of her shoulder and snapped it at him. He jumped away, but it got his thigh.
"Ow!"
Annie chuckled.
Next, I helped a few other bakers pipe gold beads between the seams of the cake tiers, while others followed behind us, magically dusted the frosting with shimmering gold dust that sparkled and glowed. Maple trailed behind me, gilding the beads I made.
She lowered her voice. "I'm dying here."
I lifted my brows, then rolled my eyes. "Geez. I'm so sorry, I forgot to ask." I'd been pretty busy with wallowing in self-pity since last night, and my stomach churned as my decision about joining Horace loomed closer. I glanced at the big clock on the wall, the second hand ticking away. The wedding started in just over an hour. I shook myself and glanced at Maple. "Tell me how your date went?"
She gave me shy smile. "It was perfect. We went to this charming place for dinner, they treated him like family." She shook her head. "I swear, everyone loves him. The food was delicious. I had lamb with rice pilaf and this creamy hummus—"
I grinned. "Stop, you're making my stomach growl."
She shook her head and a blonde tendril fell out of her ponytail. "Then we went to the bakery he mentioned and they gave us a private lesson in making baklava by candlelight."
"Wow. Sounds romantic."
She nodded. "It was. So romantic. And he was such a gentleman, and funny and easy to talk to." She shook her head and her face fell. "He's perfect."
I frowned and smiled, at the same time. "So… what's the problem?"
She huffed, then dropped her voice when a few eyes slid our way. "That's the problem. He's absolutely perfect and yet I can't stop thinking about Wiley who, in comparison—"
"Looks like a half-formed man-child?"
She giggled, but nodded. "What is wrong with me?"
I grinned. "You're in love. It makes us all idiots."
She paled. "You think?" She pressed her eyes closed and whimpered. "Oh no. You're right. I've been trying to fight it but—hmph!" She balled her small hands into fists. "I love Wiley." Her shoulders slumped. "I'm doomed."
I laughed. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?" I nudged her shoulder. "Tell him how you feel."
She peered around the side of the cake. Wiley and Wool stood a few feet away on the other side of the table where they worked together to place the beautiful, enchanted frosting flowers on top of the cake. They were so tall, they didn't need to stand on stools like the rest of us would have.
"He's not into me anymore."
I scoffed. "Please."
"He isn't." She shook her head. "He told me to go out with Wool. I think he's more into him now than he was ever into me."
I peered around the other side of the cake and caught Wiley leaning back with his arms wrapped around Wool's middle, steadying him as Wool rose on tiptoe to place the last flowers on top. "Okay. You may have a point there." We finished the beaded seam and stepped back. All the other bakers did the same within a few moments, and
we marveled at our creation. With so many of us working together, it'd gone smoother and faster than I would have imagined. Tiers of midnight blue cakes dotted and laced with glowing gold frosting stood before us. Edible flowers, magically blooming and blowing in an imaginary breeze tumbled from the top down the sides.
Wiley held up a few bottles of champagne. "I snagged these from the bar—figured we should celebrate."
We broke into cheers, and soon everyone had a cup or mug of champagne and we stood around, chatting and celebrating our accomplishment before hundreds of hungry guests devoured it.
Annie sighed. "I just wish they could last longer." She took a gulp of champagne and batted her eyes at the cake. "It's just so lovely."
I threw an arm over her shoulders and gave her a hug. "It is." I lifted my coffee mug and clinked it against her blown-glass cup. I headed toward Wool to thank him for being such a lovely host, when Maple beat me to the punch. She swayed slightly. Uh-oh. I'd forgotten what a lightweight she was with alcohol, even champagne.
"I had a great time on our date last night." She put a hand on Wool's arm. "Thank you, again." Her eyes slid to Wiley.
He flushed a little redder at the collar, but kept a grin on his face.
