Chapter Five
Krys got the text and blinked. “Right. The happy couple wants to chat. I hope everything is fine on their end.”
Reynal caught up with her and grinned. “If they need assistance, I believe it is out of your purview.”
“Uh-huh. You would not believe the classes I have taken.”
They walked into the house, and she headed for the kitchen, where Vaia was sitting in Azreen’s lap, and she smiled as Krys came in.
“Hey, cuz. So, Azreen wants to book his birthday party and my birthday party next year, and a smaller tea for our anniversary. Can you do a tea at night?”
Krys chuckled. “You had fun.”
“It was amazing. More than I ever dreamed of when I thought of all the other weddings I have been to. It was perfect.”
Azreen kissed her softly.
“The charms on the doors worked perfectly, the folks that brought kids were so happy that they could share the night but not the space with them.”
“That is the goal. The adults have their memories of the event, and the kids have theirs. With older kids, we would set up a yard with play structures and play games and stuff. Well, the babysitters would.”
Azreen asked, “Can you do teas here as well? My mother was interested in hosting events when she’s here.”
“Oh, sure.” She smiled. “A tea house can cater it, or my company can.”
Azreen nodded. “Good. We will discuss it later. Thanks so much.”
Vaia smiled. “Would you like to have a dance class here? We have so much space, and that way, teen ballet wouldn’t be edging us out of the studio.”
Krys said, “Can I check the carriage house to see what you have for left over space? Having the incidental tables and chairs, or even thirty or forty of the large round tables? I mean, if you think this will be an active site.”
Vaia chuckled. “Check your email. I sent you a link to the Grunwald mansion site. We just needed to get some photos. Azreen’s guy had the images set up last night, and the site is ready this morning. If you can go in and tweak the text, it can go live.”
“Ah, okay.” The Grunwald mansion site flared up on the screen.
The house, the marble, the happy couple in a variety of fun poses on stairs, against the mantlepiece, and in a variety of places in the gardens and on the patios.
The photos of the dancing, dinner, snapshots of the food, the dessert table, and everything.
She blinked when she saw the pricing stated.
It was accurate. She smiled slightly. “This is awkward, but none of this pricing includes my services.”
Azreen cleared his throat. “That is why I would like to offer you the position as the exclusive event planner for the Grunwald mansion. Basic wage starts at one hundred fifty thousand, and bonuses will occur after twenty events. This one counts as the first one. If you have to participate in the events on the night, there will be bonuses as well.”
“But each event would have different complications. Some would be harder and some easier. Could we work on a credit system on me calculating my time for each event, and then if I overshoot it, can I continue to be paid?”
Vaia grinned. “The rush of ours caused issues?”
“About six thousand dollars of issues, running around, negotiating, outing myself to my clan so I could work out in the open... bunches of stuff.” She glanced at Reynal. “Being assigned to him to watch my financial acumen.”
Vaia chuckled. “Sorry, not sorry. It was amazing.”
Krys smiled. “I am glad. What the fuck?” She checked her email and saw something she wasn’t expecting.
Seventy-nine emails were in her catering company’s inbox. She thumbed through them and glanced up. “I get bonuses after twenty events? Not a problem. I have sixty people who want to come for information about the venue, and twenty for my catering company.”
Azreen grinned. “The contracts will be over to you today. Mark any changes you want, and we will work things out. As long as we break even, I am good.”
“Okay, I can’t be exclusive, I have to finish organizing the XIA ball for Thursday.”
Vaia smiled. “I made Amy a great gown for that one.”
“She mentioned it. Well, I am going to check out the space in the carriage house. The house is clean, and all rentals have been cleared away, so your home is yours again.”
Vaia chuckled. “I like people having fun here. It gave the entire property a lift that it desperately needed.”
“Sure. Just remember that when the goblin couple comes in and does their blood dances. There will be a bit of cleanup, which they gladly pay for.”
Vaia smiled. “If we ever don’t want to be here, we can go out or something. I am wondering how Azreen can handle a go-kart.”
Azreen chuckled. “I think I will do fine.”
With that comment, Krys decided to ease out of the room. The air had gotten intimate. “Right. I will be in touch about the contract.”
She turned and made her way out of the main building and over to the carriage house in the distance.
Reynal caught up to her and said, “You were out of there like a scalded cat.”
“Their brains were rapidly changing direction.”
He chuckled. “Was it psychic or scent?”
She grimaced. “Scent.”
“It was getting a little thick in there.” He laughed.
“Don’t tell Vaia. She would be mortified.”
“I don’t see how it would come up.”
She hauled on the doors to the coach house and nodded. “Yeah, we can totally keep stuff in here.”
“And the reason you don’t do the chairs?”
“Is because some folks want a specific chair shape for some reason, and others need to accommodate tails and wings.”
“Ah, yes. Your staff was very circumspect.”
She grinned. “They are good at that.”
“So, you really want to do this?”
She rubbed her forehead. “It is going to mean changing things with the XIA. If they want to keep me, I will be going casual.”
“Why?”
“Because this is taking off fast. When it slows, I can start a new business or change direction, but for now, it’s a newborn, and newborns need attention.”
He said softly, “Do you ever consider children?”
“At an event? All the time. In my personal life? Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want the humiliation that comes with following instincts. My aunts were brutal to my mother. Uncles, too. I don’t get along with the Depfords.”
“What about your father’s side?”
“Oh, that was a whole other thing. They are a power-based hierarchy. I could take them over in two minutes, and I think my uncle now knows it. I don’t like that kind of thing. So, too much judgment on either side.”
“What if no family had to be involved?”
“Well, that would be nice, but my mom and dad are great. I now have some cousins I trust.” She chuckled at his frustrated expression. “Sorry. Family is complicated.”
His expression softened. “Which is why you can plan this kind of event.”
“Yup. I watch for all familial issues in the hitches of voices and trembling hands of relatives. I put them where everyone can participate, and I give them no chance to disturb the event.”
He pulled her in close. “Peace is important to you.”
“Harmony. Harmony over peace. Peace is silence, but harmony is everything working together.”
“How many times have you seen me since you started checking in at the mayor’s mansion?”
“Seven, including the times we have talked.”
He caressed her cheek. “And you knew the whole time?”
“That lightning had licked up my spine? Yeah.”
“We will save that for our third date.” He leaned in and kissed her.
She gripped his shoulders and pulled herself tight to him.
* * * *
Vaia could see the coach house from the window, and it seemed that Krys was in deep conversation with her accountant. “Whew. They were putting out a ton of pheromones.”
Azreen hugged her and kissed her neck. “Don’t mention it to her. She thinks it was us.”
“Ah. How do you know Reynal again?”
“He’s my great nephew. My father had a bride four centuries ago. She had a daughter, which meant my father wasn’t sure it was his.”
“Right. The dragon boy thing.”
“Yup. Well, she didn’t shift, but she married a gargoyle, and their daughter married a djinn, and that is how Reynal came into the world.”
“So, his grandmother is your... sister?”
“Yes.”
Vaia laughed. “So, I am her cousin and her great aunt if she marries Reynal.”
Azreen chuckled. “I suppose. Why does that amuse you?”
“All my life fighting to feel like I belonged to someone who actually wanted me around, and now I have a bunch of cousins who are in similar situations to me. The Depfords are real buttheads. Well, except for my aunt Mirrin. She was put into a similar situation that I was, but at least I wasn’t the seventh child. I don’t know why she didn’t kill him.”
“It was in her contract. She had just to keep having son after son. It’s why Imara is so powerful. She inherited all that magic because of the lack of forethought as to what would happen if a girl were born in the coveted position.”
“So, are you wary of having a family?”
Vaia looked at him and smiled. “No. Not with you. You took action when you realized what I was doing, and you stayed when you could have just signed paperwork and made your way back to wherever you had been for the last fifteen years.”
“The coast, where father’s first family made their home.”
“Ah. When do you get wings?”
“Around the age of fifty or so.”
“Hm. I wonder what I will look like then?”
“Much the same as you are now. After last night, we are sharing energy. You won’t need to dance for your meals anymore. I can answer your call day or night.” He nuzzled her neck.
It tickled, and she giggled before watching Krys and Reylan still going at it. “Wow. They are still making out.”
He grumped. “Less voyeurism, more paying attention to your husband.”
Vaia laughed and kissed him. He picked her up and headed back to their wing of the mansion. It was more than they needed, and it would be years before their family grew to the point where they expanded beyond the eighteen rooms on the one side of the building.