43. Cress
It took us a week to convince the governing supernatural councils and covens of the world that Myuna was, in fact, dead and that Wren’s video wasn’t heavily doctored footage. But eventually, we were released from Cerris City and allowed to go back to normal life.
Whatever “normal” was.
A day after our return to New Salem, I was in a familiar office in the center of a semi-circle of five chairs facing the cupid woman behind the sandy wood desk. The other chairs were filled by my men and my sister. Dr. Aurina was flawless as ever, resplendent in a green dress that offset the candy pink of her flowing hair and the gleam of her rose gold wings.
“Rowena Ashbough sent me to represent A Little Wicked Coven in her place. She’s in the Crystal Court right now, recovering with her family,” I said as soon as small talk faded.
It was a bit of a white lie. Yes, Roe was in the Crystal Court, but she was preparing for her visit to the much more cutthroat Autumn Court with áine and Ambrose. She’d texted to tell me that the changeling was more than a little disgruntled. His undersea stay as Willow had included one test of magic he’d had to fib his way out of and two assassination attempts.
The real Willow was happily ensconced in my dorm room as my unofficial roommate. She’d soon have the room to herself. We planned to hide her comings and goings for now, until the attention on her identity as maybe-royalty faded.
For now, it was spring break, a real slap in the face after losing track of time for so long in an otherworldly situation.
“Of course. From what I hear, you’re quite the celebrity,” Aurina simpered. She opened a folder on her desk and shuffled paper. “But you are also a scholarship student who’s missed over two months of coursework.”
“Surely vanquishing an ancient eldritch goddess qualifies for an exception,” I replied.
When Aurina laughed, it sounded like the tinkling of bells, high and sweet. “Oh, it does! It is so exceptional, in fact, that I don’t know what to do with you and your friends except re-enroll you all for a summer semester. You will still have access to your dorm room and campus services if you need to speak with anyone about your ordeal.”
Through our mating circle, Phaeron made me aware of Aurina’s emotional magic slowly filtering into my mind. She was projecting sympathy and kindness, but now that I was aware of it, she simply seemed tired and a little bored. As important as this meeting was for us, it was just another Tuesday for the University President.
“Thank you,” I said, grateful for her generosity anyway.
Aurina nodded, picking up a pen. “Are any of your coven mates interested in changing their major? Now would be a good time to make it official.”
It was Ben who spoke up. “Yeah, I want to go into Criminal Justice.”
“A bold choice, Mr. Cross,” she replied, scribbling something down.
He flinched at hearing his old alias from his Garroway days. “And an opportunity to update my file would be great, too,” he added.
She hummed in agreement and continued writing as I listed the other change. I was going into Occult Studies with Wren, the two of us minoring in our witcheries now. It’d be fun, I thought. My former nemesis promised to give Ben and me access to all the notes and lectures from her celestial witch classes so we could continue practicing on the sly.
“There’s one more thing I was hoping you could do for my coven. This is my sister, Carly.”
I touched her ghostly white arm and she jumped. I gave her a little squeeze and she turned her head with uncanny slowness to look at me. It’d taken five bottles of magical hair dye, but the bleached color of her hair was transformed into a shiny teal with only a few white highlights showing. We’d fit her with contacts to make her eyes appear blue, but she forgot to blink them still. Under the guise of scratching my cheek, I tapped the side of my lips.
Mechanically, she smiled. Ah, god, we needed to work on this. On the bad days, it seemed like she’d forgotten how to be a person.
“You may know that one of my coven mates died during the slaughter used to summon Myuna to Earth. His name was Heath Storm,” I continued, turning back to Aurina with one last pat of Carly’s arm. “We would like to keep his spot open, to honor his death. We didn’t get the opportunity to do that for Lanie Graygazer, so you would understand that it would mean a lot to us.”
Aurina’s pen halted for a moment. “Of course. Unfortunately, your coven leader will still receive applications for that spot until it’s filled. And given your fame, the application pile will only grow.”
I lifted a shoulder, thinking Roe could handle it. “Carly will be coming to NSU in the fall. We plan on holding the spot for her.”
There was a whole intricate plan for her, in fact, including forging high school graduation information for her and Lucas so they could both live on campus starting next school year. She was always a person around Lucas, who was still trying to mend the damage done to her soul despite not having the best understanding of his own magic.
Unlike everyone else twisted by Myuna’s control, Carly was still an unnatural, her soul and body stained by death and corruption. Though Lucas and Phaeron had saved her from a fate worse than death by pulling the seed of entropy from her soul and destroying it, she had a long, hard road of recovery ahead.
“I don’t see any problem with that.” Aurina spared Carly a smile before glancing away in discomfort. Though she wouldn’t know why, she’d find my sister unsettling.
I met Phaeron’s eye and nodded, turning the floor over to him. “About the matter of my employment,” he said. He’d barely spoken, finding Aurina’s presence barely tolerable. If I weren’t happily mated to him, I’d have bristled by the way his smooth voice had her beautiful feathers rustling.
“You are welcome in Moongrove Library in your old position, of course. If there is any professor turnover at the end of the semester, you’d have no trouble getting promoted, Prince Sudair.” Her pink brows jumped with a purr of his old title.
“Darkmore,” he corrected.
“Pardon?”
He raised his left hand. On his ring finger glittered a black band with a stripe of shimmery gray crystal. “Prince Phaeron Darkmore et Sudair. Did we fail to inform you of our mating circle?” He smirked, enjoying the way her mouth popped open as the rest of us flashed our rings, gifts courtesy of the Crystal Court.
Geo’s was heaviest, a platinum band inset with a shiny crystal that matched the multicolored glimmer of his quartz. It was made to flex for his shifts into gargoyle form. Ben wore a gold ring, his crystal yellow with veins of red and orange. And mine was a traditional style for the core of a mating circle, a single gold band with a triangle-cut diamond at its center and three smaller crystals along each edge, their colors matching with what my men wore.
“Well…wow…congratulations,” Aurina said grudgingly.
He nodded. If she’d understood dimensional culture, she’d have realized he was mated earlier into the conversation. He’d finally gotten his hair cut and accepted adornment, acknowledging that he was finally at peace. I mourned the loss of long hair, but loved running my hands over the silky black feathers that framed his horns and sharp ears.
As for his makeup, I’d dusted his eyelids and cheekbones with shimmery black, an understated modern style that wouldn’t get him second glances. Though I was still learning the markings that should decorate his horns, I’d convinced him to let me paint them in yellow edged with gold. They popped against his usual monochromatic outfits.
“Many thanks. So…my position. I would like it back once we return.” This, he said with the same level of reluctance as she’d displayed. He’d give it five years, long enough to get Carly through college and comb through the library’s resources for any mention of gargoyle creation. Though we had the help of Geo and now Madigan and her mates, who called her a silent hero for what she’d done, there was much we didn’t know about the process. Especially since Braza was a split soul housed in a questionable vessel.
It’d put Phaeron at ease to put both halves together on the shelf of a stasis room in Moongrove Library, where she would sleep without pain until we figured out what to do to bring her back properly.
Geo put in, “We will all start our lives again after our honeymoon.” He still had the tickets in hand, fanning them with an excited half-smile.
I don’t think I imagined the jealousy that flashed in the cupid demigoddess’s eyes as she read the name of the supernatural-friendly cruise company. They were another incredible gift that’d arrived today and hadn’t left Geo’s grip since. Generously paid for by the Ashbough, Evenstar, and Graygazer families…our honeymoon. Two blissful months, just the four of us, with no expectations other than to have fun and solidify our mating circle properly.
Everything else was taken care of, for now. I’d be placing Carly’s hand in Lucas’s after this meeting was finished. They’d live in the Crystal Court for now, under the watchful eye of Madigan and Mom, who’d officially become an Ashbough Protective Services medic complete with an apartment in the peaceful court. She was within walking distance of her maybe-boyfriend, if she would ever admit whether or not she actually liked the fae male who followed her like a forlorn puppy.
Pushing to my feet, I waved to Aurina and held my arms out to help Carly to her feet. “If you’ll excuse us,” I said with a brilliant smile. “We do have a plane to catch.”
“Wishing you all the happiness in marital bliss,” Aurina replied. She watched us leave and jotted one last note down on a new file marked with Carly’s name.
We passed by a moderately full waiting room, pausing as Lucas glanced up from his phone and scrambled to join us. He looked like any ordinary kid now, dressed in a hoody with his hair shaved on the sides and permed on top. “How’d it go?” he asked Carly, taking her hand.
She blinked slowly, before lighting up. “Good, I think. I’m joining Cress’s coven in the fall. Hey, do you want to get something to eat? I’m starving…” We descended the stairs ahead of them, in a hurry where they were not.
“Now kiss,” Ben murmured. He made no secret of how he thought they looked good together.
Phaeron rolled his eyes, slipping on a pair of sunglasses that’d been pinned to his collar. “Give them a few years to mature, Little B.”
Geo echoed the gesture. “Not everyone needs to be shipped,” he said in agreement.
“On the contrary, G Man.” Ben held up a finger. “It is the law that two people who help one another heal should get together.”
The gargoyle attempted to stare at him stonily, but he was also fighting a smile at the new nickname he’d finally approved of. We’d vetoed Hard G, Gigantic G, and It’s Just Geo until Ben had finally come up with something that the big man liked.
“You’re going to be a terrible policeman if you keep making up laws,” he rumbled.
As they continued their back and forth, Phaeron offered his arm and I took it. The sunglasses were doing a world of good for his eyesight, but I already missed his otherworldly smolder. “Let us be off to experience this…plane,” he said, still highly suspicious of modern air travel.
“We’re flying first class. You might have some knee room,” I said, lifting to my tiptoes to kiss him. The moment we were finished, I turned to see Ben and Geo lined up for their kisses. My heart swelled for all three of them and the uninterrupted time we were about to have.
I kissed them too, then we walked out into the sunlight to go enjoy our new life together.
I hope you have enjoyed Cress and her men’s story! Thank you for reading.
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