Chapter Three #3
He walked with her to the dance floor and pulled her into his arms. His wings were in tight, and he kept a hand at the base of her spine with the other lightly holding her hand. He spoke from a distance away while her blood rushed in her ears. He paused. “Krys?”
“Yes?”
“You seem a little stunned.”
“You could say that.”
They moved effortlessly through the other dancers, passed Matthias and a smirking Leo, the bride and groom, Neekil and Hannah, and on the third time around, her mother and father.
The music changed, and she moved to step away from him, but Reynal pulled her in close. “We didn’t get a full song, so the dance starts now.”
The singer was crooning soft and slow, and Krys glared at him. He winked.
More couples swarmed the dance floor, and Krys fought a smirk.
“What was that smile?”
She looked up at him. “It’s the sign of a good party that nothing bursts into a fistfight, and the dance floor is full with almost all the food gone. No waste and a good party.”
He smiled. “I admire all of your logistical skills, but you need to charge for that service.”
She slumped. “I know. But I see the hope in their faces, their excitement for the event, and I hate to throw more expenses on that fire.”
“Ah, how much is a normal overage for a planner’s skills?”
“About twenty percent for the kind of thing that I do.”
He nodded. “Add it to the venue fees. The sticker shock will be up front, but then they can plan their food and décor. I had Dia take beauty shots of the venue, by the way, and the videographer did some clips. There is a website designer waiting for the images to arrive. I even got your people to do some plated meals to demonstrate the appearance of your food in a formal situation, as well as the very well-appointed buffets. The food was amazing.”
She smiled. “My parents have stressed the importance of good food at weddings.”
“What was your favourite tonight?”
“Oh, I eat when it’s over. I had a sandwich this afternoon. Either leftovers or tacos.” She smiled.
He looked at her in shock. “But you have a rapid metabolism.”
“Yes, but I get by for occasional things like this. If I get woozy, I have snack bars in the kitchen.”
They were still swaying together when he murmured, “You need a keeper.”
She blinked. “No, I am fine.”
Normic and Keel were dancing, and she looked away.
“Is it the restriction about the Frostfire clan?”
“Yup. They never give anyone the go-ahead to even date me.”
“I will not have an issue.” He smiled, and his fingers stroked her back.
“Why not?”
“First, I have your parents on my side if my eyes did not deceive me. Second, I am on all the councils they need for their business licenses.” His smile was a definite smirk.
She smiled. “Oh. But why...”
“You are an excellent analyst, and I hope to nudge you to that degree eventually.”
“What?”
“I want everything that flits through your head to become a reality.”
She muttered, “I am already an analyst. Business management course.”
He grinned brightly. “Well, then, you are officially the perfect woman. And the wings, lord, your wings are glorious.”
She blushed. “They arrived after the wave.”
“They are spectacular. Your dress seems to be cut to account for them.”
Krys shook her head. “I am still on duty.”
“Ah, yes. I have heard at least four couples murmuring about having a wedding here, so you are going to be busy. I will have to figure out ways to divert you from work.”
She blushed. “Right. Um, I think you are pretty, too.”
He laughed and spun her slowly.
There was a tapping on the microphone, and Vaia and Azreen were up on the stage. Krys blinked. This wasn’t on her schedule.
Azreen was standing with his arm around Vaia, and he spoke with a bright smile.
“Hello, to all who have stayed this long. Vaia and I are delighted that you have all been here to share this day. Yes, it is a renewal, but it is a fresh start with none of the strangeness and pressure of our first union. This time, we are both legal adults for one.”
There was some laughter in the audience.
Vaia thanked the new cousins who had brought things together for her, her friend Amy, her assistant Min, and her newly discovered cousin Imara, and of course, Krys.
“You have been seeing her sprinting around the event all night, and she pulled this event off and got everyone the drinks they needed to survive this style of event.”
There was more laughter, but the tone had changed, and Krys heard the change and looked at the screen that was showing a lot of images that Krys hadn’t seen because she was in them.
“Oh, boy.”
She watched a bunch of images and videos that had no business existing. “Who took all of that?”
Reynal murmured, “The private detective that I hired is an excellent photographer.”
She looked up at him in shock. “What?”
“I had to know if you were as cute and bouncy with a devastating intellect as it seemed. You are, so your beauty didn’t blur my judgment.”
“You just like the wings.”
He grinned and kept an arm around her waist. “I really do.”
They watched images from the florist, from the butcher shop choosing meat cuts with Azreen, to the pastry shop for samples of cake. Taking Vaia and Azreen to the club to meet Korman-ehl, the goblin who fronted the band.
They listened and watched the variety of dancers on the floor. When the singer was on a break, Krys went and negotiated with him.
“How did you get him to agree to it?”
Korman-ehl looked at them and said in a voice that carried, “She told my grandfather on me, and he told me it was in my best interest to cooperate with the lovely lady.”
Krys beamed. “He was very cooperative once I called his grandpa.”
There was a laugh from Dem-rah, and he said, “It was worth the favour.”
There was an image of her and Korman-ehl high-fiving.
Vaia said, “So, we obviously already had the venue; she had the staff and the connections for food and drink. Nice call on the troll bartenders.”
The huge bartenders raised their hands.
“So, if Leonora hadn’t sent you to us, today wouldn’t have happened. You have been my real frost fairy godmother, cousin. Thank you for putting this all together, for a price.”
Krys blushed as the images of her snarling on a go-kart, looking pensive while on her phone eating a taco, and walking through the hospital with her wand out, in the ICU with folks smiling, in the children’s ward with sparkly shoes everywhere and finally, being escorted by Reynal to her car and driving home with a gargoyle flying low over her roof rack.
The screen returned to her twirling with the wand and crown.
Vaia grinned. “Now, Krys, I think you need to say a few words.”
Krys was gently shoved toward the stage, so she sprouted her wings and flew over the crowd. She took the mic and said, “Well, thank you to the happy couple. I hope your day was everything you hoped it would be.”
She turned toward the crowd. “The Grunwald mansion has a rather nasty and brutal history, as several folks here can attest.” Neekil and Hannah stood close together.
Sable nodded from the rear of the crowd.
“Lives have been lost here, but that is in the past. The entity involved was struck by lightning and smashed flat. Now, Mayor Matthias had a huge mansion on the city’s hands and minimal interest in a building this expensive to heat.
Fortunately, he found a couple who was interested in the place, and the husband brings his own fire. ”
The crowd laughed, and Azreen snorted fire out of his nostrils. Azreen’s father and mother grinned.
“Well, now that we have proved we can have a wedding here at the mansion with only one or two minor casualties, I hereby declare this family-occupied wedding and event venue open for business. If you want to impress dignitaries, we are getting a website up. If you want to have a super secret XIA adult bouncy castle event, make an appointment.”
The minotaur and his partners laughed. She looked. “Except you, Jennor, you have to wear tennis balls on those things.”
Laughter rippled out again.
“Well, I believe we can declare this event a success, and for those of you who brought children, don’t forget to collect them on the way out.
There are wedding favours on the table; they are one hundred percent edible, including the wrapper if you want to go that far.
One per person, except for the last dozen of you, you get to take all you like.
Thank you, and please wish the happy couple all the joy.
The night buffet is coming out, and I have to start cleaning up.
” She handed the mic back to the singer and fluttered off toward the kitchens.
The night buffet was set out, and she folded her wings in to check on the cleanup. The food was in take-home packs in the chiller. Her buddy said, “You were dead on. We have less than two percent, but it is two percent across the board.”
“How did Sable do?”
“She’s great, and she can lift an entire table without issue.”
Sable had the favour table on the pathway out. The chocolates, cookies, and edible thank-you cards were all in little gelatin cellophane bags. As some folks trickled out, they got one with a bright smile from the solid ghost.
“I think she is going to take to this really well.” Krys grinned. “Tonight, an event coordinator is born.”