“Boom,” Tiggy said, offering my dad a fist bump, which he gladly accepted.
“You guys suck,” I muttered. “I’m a wizard. You don’t get to—”
“Apprentice,” Gary coughed.
I grinned smugly at him. “Not anymore, dude, so bite me.”
Gary screeched to a halt. “Say what?”
“No longer can you interject apprentice into conversation with a ridiculous pseudocough. I am full-on hard-core wizard now.”
“Whoa,” Tiggy said. “For true?”
“For true, my height-advantaged friend.”
Gary was immediately in my space again, nostrils flaring as he pressed his nose against mine. I went a little cross-eyed trying to focus on him. “Hi,” he panted heavily.
“Um. Hi?”
“You’re not an apprentice anymore?”
“Nope.”
“Big-time wizard.”
“Yep.”
“Not Sam of Wilds?”
“Nope.”
“Sam of….”
“Dragons.”
“Huh. That’s sexy.”
“Thank you.”
“I might be attracted to you.”
“Uh.”
“You might want to keep checking your mail.”
“For….”
His mouth pressed against my chin. “For your invitation to the grand reopening celebration of my bakery.”
I shoved his face away as he cackled. “I will not go to your grand reopening celebration, you foul beast.”
“Where is my invitation?” Kevin asked.
“Got lost,” Gary said breezily. “How sad. Moving on.”
“What? Damn mailman. I shall see him between my teeth.”
“Well, you should have thought of that before you chased this hot piece of ass into the forest. Speaking of, Sam. Have I ever told you that I can open my mouth really, really wide? It’s almost like I can unhinge my jaw. And I don’t have a gag reflex.”
“He doesn’t,” Kevin said sadly, wings drooping. “It’s one of the things I like about him. Other than his heart.”
“Don’t you dare try and make me swoon, Kevin. Shit list. You are covered in it.”
“Worst reunion ever,” I muttered.
THERE WAS yet another gathering at the gates, and I wondered if these people had nothing better to do all day than gawk. It didn’t help that I was unsure how Ryan and Justin would react. I told myself to be ready in case they walked up to the gates hand in hand, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, laughing at inside jokes only they got. I’d be the spurned wife left holding a child on each hip, looking at Ryan and Justin in all their happiness. My heart would shrivel in bitterness, and I would begin to spiral into madness. The children would be taken away from me, and Ryan and Justin would raise them. Eventually, six years down the road, I would be caught up in a spiderweb of lies and deceit, standing over Justin’s body after he’d been poisoned eating pumpkin soup, sobbing and asking if Ryan was happy now, that he made me do this, he made me kill my best friend 5eva and—
“Whoa,” I whispered. “I’m slightly psychotic. That’s not a revelation I expected at this juncture.”
“What was that?” Gary asked.
“Oh nothing. Just making plans to make sure Ryan loves me forever.”
“Creepy,” Tiggy whispered.
“That’s what happens when you become a wizard,” Gary explained patiently. “Sam is no longer adorable. He has bushy eyebrows and—”
“I forgot to pluck!” I wailed, covering my face. “How could you let me out into public looking like this?”
“I thought we were just ignoring it in hopes that it went away.”
“Okay,” I said. “New idea. I run, and Ryan and Justin live happily ever after with my babies—”
“Nice try,” Gary said, pushing my back with his head, forcing me through the crowd. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to witness this?”
“Don’t you dare say eleven—”
“Eleven months. You won’t deprive me of drama when it is so readily available. It has been absolutely dreadful without your carriage wreck of a life. Who do you think feeds my need for the dramatics? Tiggy?”
“I ain’t no cheap trick,” Tiggy said, much to my consternation.
“I taught him that,” Gary said proudly.
“Great,” I said. “Fantastic. Glad to be of help.”
“You shut your bitch mouth,” Gary snarled. Then he blinked. “Yikes. Sorry about that. Apparently I’m still slightly angry with you. Strange how that works, you do something without me and then come back like it was nothing.”
“You don’t need to—” But then Gary pushed me into someone. Before I could apologize for Gary’s ridiculous behavior, I saw who I’d stumbled against.
She turned to scowl at me, holding her head high. “Of course it was you.”
“Lady Tina,” I said. “How unfortunate that you didn’t pass beyond the veil overnight. I expected more from you.”
“Sorry to disappoint,” she said primly, the Foxy Lady Brigade standing at attention behind her, facing the gates. “I was too busy protecting what remains of the proud country of Verania.”
“Yesssss,” Gary hissed. “This is what I’ve missed. Cut each other with semi-thought-out barbs. Fight to the death!”
We stared at him.
He didn’t even have the decency to look chagrined. I loved him even more for it.
I didn’t know what that said about me.
“Why are you even here?” I asked.
She stiffened. “In case you missed it yesterday, I am in charge here under Knight Commander Foxheart and Prince Justin. While they were absent, Camp HaveHeart was left in my capable hands.”
“Uh-oh,” Gary whispered.
“Well, that will be something that will need to be addressed once they return. In fact, I do believe you shall be banished. In fact, why don’t you go pack up your belongings now so we don’t have to delay the inevitable?”
The crowd began to whisper furiously around me.
Lady Tina’s eyes narrowed. “I think you’ll find yourself outvoted in that regard. I have more than proven myself to those that matter.”
“Oh, girl,” Gary whispered. “You should not have said that, girl.”
“Really,” I said coldly. “You tried to turn the people of Verania against me. You played a part in the death of Morgan of Shadows. You nearly got Ryan Foxheart killed. Randall is missing. I was forced into the Dark Woods to seek out a way to finish this once and for all. Tell me, how exactly have you proven yourself to those that matter when I wasn’t here?”
For a moment she looked slightly fearful, and I thought I’d won. But somehow she found the strength to shore herself up against my vindictiveness. She stood tall, and if she were anyone else, I might have been impressed.
“I accept my actions for what they were,” she said, voice even. “I made mistakes. But like before, you place blame on others without accepting any for yourself. What about your actions, Sam? What about everything you did which led to where we stand now?”
I was giving serious consideration to turning her whole body into so much running pus, but before I could, something in me shifted, a void in my head and heart filling like it hadn’t in a long time. My magic began to sing, and I had to close my eyes against the onslaught of it all. It was more than I remembered, but then, I was a different person now.
And I knew what it meant.
Lady Tina was forgotten. Gary and Tiggy and Kevin were forgotten. My parents were forgotten.
The crowd around us, undoubtedly already spreading rumors, didn’t seem to matter anymore.
All I cared about was that my cornerstone was near.
Even when we were children and he was a teenage douchebag I had turned to stone, there had been a connection between us. I truly believed it was because of him my magic manifested the way it had. Randall had once said we were woven together more tightly than even he expected, and I didn’t know if I’d ever heard him speak more of the truth.
I remembered the way his hand had felt in mine when we’d danced that night at the ball the King had thrown when he’d promoted Ryan to Knight Commander. The way Ryan had looked at me as we danced those three waltzes—like I was the only person in the world—had made my skin itch and heart hurt.