“But you’ll try, right?”
“I’ll try,” he said. “And now I’m going to tell you a story. Once upon a time, a prince thought he understood how the world worked. He believed everything his father told him. Then this strange princess with multicolored hair barged into his life and threw everything off course. She showed him there was more to life than shiny objects and fast cars. Not that those things aren’t awesome—because they are—but she showed him that sometimes, all you need is someone who will sit with you, read books, and share their cookies and milk. Although she wasn’t very good at sharing cookies, but that’s a story for another time. The End.”
Epilogue
The sounds of the orchestral version of “The Wedding March” drifted down the hall. Bryn clutched her flowers. Was she ready for this? No. Not really. But it was time, and she couldn’t disappoint everyone who’d come to Sinclair Estate today.
Bryn prayed she wouldn’t somehow trip on the silk runner as she entered the ballroom. Her grandmother would never forgive her if that happened. Why was she so nervous about this? It wasn’t a big deal. She and Jaxon had practiced the evening before. Speaking of Jaxon, he stood waiting for her at the end of the aisle, looking amazing in his black tuxedo.
Taking slow, measured steps, she made her way toward him and then stood to his right, clutching her flowers and smiling like an idiot. There was no reason to be nervous.
The orchestra played the first notes of “Here Comes the Bride” and Miss Enid appeared in the doorway. Her dark skin looked lovely against her cream-colored wedding gown. Mr. Stanton looked rather handsome, if a bit pale in his black tuxedo next to Jaxon.
Bryn had been thrilled when the Directorate had declared that Mr. Stanton and Miss Enid could finally marry. The two had been faithful to each other for all these years, carrying on their relationship in secret. Now they could finally be together out in the open. Once news of this spread, maybe other couples would step forward and have the legal recognition of their relationship they’d always wanted.
Once the ceremony was over, and they’d congratulated the happy couple, Jaxon grabbed Bryn’s hand and pulled her out onto one of the terraces. “What you did here today, helping them marry after all this time was a good thing.”
“Thank you.”
“I guess we can add that to the list of things you’ve changed since you barged into my life.”
“Barged?” Bryn said. “You used that word once before, and I don’t think it’s a nice description.”
“Well you didn’t glide in like a graceful swan,” Jaxon told her.
She couldn’t argue that point so she changed the subject. “I’m just happy Miss Enid, or rather, Mrs. Stanton, made a full recovery.” The door down into the vaults had kept the librarian from feeling the effects of the blast but it had taken her a few days to recover from Janelle sucking out three quarters of her Quintessence. “Do they have any more leads on the crazy cult?”
“They found Janelle’s journal in her room,” Jaxon said. “Being part Green meant she made detailed notes about the dragon-pires, including the higher-up Silvers who restarted the movement and the feeders who fed on multiple students to make everyone mysteriously ill. She and Adden took out the higher-ups and sucked the feeders dry because they wanted all the power for themselves…”
“So they made everyone sick to shut down the campus so she and Adden could search for artifacts?”
Jaxon nodded. “I’ll miss my cuff links, but it might be for the best that they were destroyed. Janelle believed the artifacts could be combined to create some sort of super-weapon. No more cuff links equals no more super-weapon.”
“She was insane,” Bryn said. “And I had no clue.”
“She was brilliant and insane, so she outsmarted everyone.”
“Power hungry unstable super-geniuses are a scary discovery.”
“Speaking of scary discoveries,” Jaxon said. “We graduate from high school in less than a month and I have it on good authority that your grandmother has already scheduled half a dozen events for us to attend over the summer.”
She didn’t find that news as disturbing as he did. “As long as there’s food, I don’t think I’ll mind.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
She moved closer and reached up to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. “Maybe because I finally agree that we’re a good match.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. Leaning forward so their lips almost touched he stared deep into her eyes. Her heart rate sped up. Why wasn’t he kissing her?
“I have a question for you.”
“Now?”
“Yes.” He brushed his lips across hers in a feather soft kiss and then leaned away, keeping his arms around her waist. “We ended up in this relationship by default. To avoid any confusion, I thought maybe we should rewind the situation.”
Where was he going with this? She wasn’t sure. He wasn’t pushing her away, but he was making her nervous. Flames flickered in her gut. “Go on.”
“I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date. Not because we signed a contract, and not because your grandmother and my mother pushed us together, but because I like you for who you are…a temperamental hybrid with strange hair.”
She laughed. “You were doing so good up until that last part.”
“You didn’t answer the question.” He seemed a bit nervous.
Should she torture him? It was tempting, but this seemed like another pivotal moment. He’d taken a chance by asking her out so she went with her gut. “Even though you have a temper to match my own and annoyingly perfect hair, yes, I’d like to go on a date with you.”
“Good.” He kissed her and something about it felt different. Like the last piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. Maybe because now they’d chosen to be together rather than being together because of a contract. There were sure to be many challenges in the future, but they would face them together as true partners.
Did you love this Entangled Teen book? Check out more of our titles here!
Don’t miss another book by Chris Cannon. Sign up for the Entangled Teen newsletter here!