Chapter 71
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Zoe Elena Haziz-Grange, beloved daughter of Guild Director Sara Haziz and Weapons-maker Deacon Grange, who both walk beyond the veil, and Izar, beloved son of Andromeda, Archivist of Angels and Naasir of the Seven.
—An Invitation
On a stunning spring day three years after she’d spoken her first memory aloud, Elena drew a deep breath as she readied herself for the honor of walking Zoe down the aisle to her wedding to Izar, the event hosted at Illium’s Refuge stronghold.
Sara’s daughter had asked her to wear her formal Guild uniform in honor of Sara and Deacon, and Elena did so with pride.
A sleek black suit that hugged a hunter’s form, the uniform bore a gold G on the left breast and was made of lightweight armor.
Black boots and a ceremonial blade strapped to the left forearm completed the uniform.
While it looked sharp, it was also designed to function just fine as hunting gear should there be a need.
Zoe herself was in a stunning wedding dress that left the slope of her shoulders and her arms bare. Fitted at the top, it fell away into a sweeping and layered skirt below.
Elena had been through the entire selection and fitting process with her, cried plenty of tears at the beauty of her goddaughter as a bride.
The fabric was a liquid satin with enough form to it that it maintained an A-line silhouette without appearing stiff, perfectly suiting Zoe’s height and lithe frame.
No embellishments or embroidery, as that wasn’t Zoe. Just pure elegance.
On her wrists were the bracelets of hammered metal that had been a gift from her parents—the touch of edginess suited Zoe. Adding to that edginess was the temporary holo-tattoo on her left shoulder of a prowling white tiger that appeared to move, its eyes a familiar tawny gold.
She wore Deacon’s Guild ring on her right thumb as her “something borrowed,” while her dress was the new, and the tanzanite earrings and necklace that Elena and Raphael had gifted her, the something blue.
As for the old…it was Sara’s veil, which mother and daughter had talked to a specialist in fabrics about how to preserve over the long term.
It had required certain ambient conditions—which Elena had provided for centuries in a specially designed room of the Enclave house. She’d been ready to do it forever, but had always hoped Zoe would find someone with whom to walk through eternity.
“Your baby girl couldn’t have chosen better, Sara,” she told her friend an hour before the ceremony, brushing her fingers over the veil that would finally be worn by Sara’s cherished daughter. “He loves her with all his wild heart—she is his mountains and his sky, his freedom in a person.”
Elena had glimpsed Izar earlier in the garden where the wedding was to take place; he was dressed in a suit so flawless that you’d have been mistaken for thinking he’d never committed a feral act in his life.
Naasir had been in the process of fixing his son’s dark gray jacket so it sat precisely, their own tiger creature in as crisp a suit, his hair combed to model perfection.
Izar’s two brothers were his groomsmen, while on Zoe’s side would stand an angel and a vampire, one in a jumpsuit, the other in a dress, both outfits in the same dusky shade of tawny gold.
Zoe had met her friends soon after her Making, one an angel of barely a hundred, the other a vampire who’d been Made the year before Zoe.
“We grew up together, Auntie Ellie,” Zoe said today.
“Like me and Sara,” Elena said as she battled tears while putting on Zoe’s veil. “Your mom met them?”
“Yes. She told me I’d be an idiot to ever let them go.”
“That sounds like Sara.”
Shared wet laughter that ended up with Holly—their makeup artist for the day—telling them both off as she made emergency repairs. But she was sniffling, too.
However, after the tears came the sunshine of joy, Zoe beaming as she walked to her destiny on Elena’s arm, and Izar—sweet, wild boy—looking at her as if he’d won at life. In Zoe’s hands was a bouquet created of blooms picked from all over the mountains by Izar himself, a sweet gift to his bride.
Nixie, their ringbearer, had walked up the aisle with focused concentration, while little Aanisa had been a pretty sprite of a flower girl by his side. Because Zoe was friends with Hannah now, too, all their circles colliding in that year that Hannah and Elena had spent in the Refuge.
The rings themselves were as unique as the couple involved—of titanium with amber embedded within, they’d been made by Zoe, and suited both her half-chimera future husband and her weapons-maker self.
There were plenty more tears after the vows were done, and the couple ran down the aisle to a shower of sweet-smelling petals.
Andromeda gripped Elena’s hand, her face awash.
“I’m so happy for Izar. She’s just what I would’ve wanted for him—she looks at him as he looks at her.
” A hard swallow. “My boys love just like their dad. All in. I worried about their hearts—but I can stop worrying about Izar now. Because Zoe loves him the same way.”
Hugging Andi close, Elena kissed her curls. “She only ever wanted to be with someone if it could be like it was with Deacon and Sara—a forever love, loyal and true.”
That just made Andi cry harder, which had Elena’s own eyes burning.
* * *
Later, during the party section of the event—after the little angels had been tucked into bed—Elena walked across the light-bedecked inner courtyard to find Illium scowling at Naasir. “Damn it, Naasir! Your cub stole my weapons-master! Do you know how hard she’s going to be to replace?”
Grinning, Naasir slapped Illium on the shoulder. “You always knew she was a weapons-maker at heart—and so does Izar. That’s why he wooed her with a custom workshop that he built with his own hands.” The smug pride of a father in his voice.
Leaning into Naasir, her arm around his waist and his around her shoulders, Elena joined in. “But—and this is very important—he also offered to move to your territory if that was what would make Zoe happy.”
Illium threw back his drink. “Ugh, true love,” he said, just in time for Aodhan to overhear.
Opening his wing so it slid over Illium’s, he said, “Ah, I see the honeymoon phase is over.”
More laughter, more conversation, but at the center of it all was Sara’s daughter with the love of her eternal life.
“A good match,” Raphael said to Elena, the two of them watching the lights sparkle over the couple as they slow-danced in the center of the courtyard. “I think, Elena-mine, this love story will endure. They resonate with one another, two strong and unique personalities who fit together perfectly.”
“Yes, they’re it for each other,” she said, just as two shooting stars streaked across the midnight of the skies above.