Silver
A week later.
“This is the worst day ever!” I exclaimed, pacing back and forth in our living room.
Wilston had the good grace to know he shouldn’t say anything right now.
Yes, I might have been overreacting a tiny bit, but it was our time to show everyone we were indeed bonded, but the clothes I’d had specially made for the occasion?
The light pink tight-fitting suit with silver vest, the one I had stood and modeled for, for hours so it would fit me perfectly? That had unfortunately met its doom.
“He didn’t do it on purpose,” Wilston said, finally daring to voice his opinion.
But it wasn’t him I was glaring daggers at, no those were firmly aimed at Mr. Fluffy Pants, aka our kitten.
My poor suit had been too tempting for his tiny claws, and when I’d showered and done some light makeup, I’d walked into a massacre.
To say my makeup had been ruined would be an understatement.
I would definitely need to redo everything.
I just had to figure out what the fuck to wear before that!
“I know he didn’t! But I also told you he wasn’t allowed in our bedroom. Look at my silk!” I held the ruined scraps up, daring him to say it was fine.
He stilled my hands. “Let me get the others and work something out. We can make you a new suit with our magic, it just has to be from materials we can make.”
“I’m not wearing cotton to our wedding!” I gasped, clutching my new light pink pearls that, sigh, went perfectly with my suit.
He rolled his eyes, like I was dramatic or something. “Go fix your makeup and then we’ll fix your outfit.” That was easy for him to say. His white suit with a light pink vest was in perfect condition, not one scratch on it. Lucky bastard.
Wilston left and I did my best to fix my now black streaked cheeks. I winced; it didn’t look pretty. But with some eye drops the redness in my eyes would disappear, and I could easily redo my makeup.
Ten minutes later, I was glowing with no sign of my earlier mascara-streaked cheeks. I had on my lace panties and a robe around me. I knew the others didn’t care about seeing me in my panties, but it seemed like the day of my and Wilston’s ceremony would be in bad taste to show my goods off.
They were all waiting, looking handsome in their outfits, and here I was in a fucking robe. At least it was pink.
“We know what to make you,” Wilston said as soon as I neared them.
“Oh.” I knew by now not to be surprised at how quickly we all worked together, but surely my outfit would take more planning than ten minutes?
“Trust us,” Niam said, tugging on my arm so I stood in the middle. “Close your eyes. We’ll add your clothes under your robe and remove it when your bits are covered.”
I just nodded and closed my eyes. It wasn’t like whatever they made would be as good as the suit that was currently decorating our bedroom floor like confetti. But I was still glad I wouldn’t have to wear something from my closet.
They worked around me, and the fabric quickly settled around my body, then they removed my robe and continued working.
I kept repeating inside my head that they were just helping and whatever I wore would be fine, no way was I rejecting their help.
Xari might know, though, since I still hadn’t figured out how to shield my emotions from him.
He was like a shark sniffing blood. Oh, why did I have to think about fucking sharks?
! I still had bloody nightmares about them. So not the time, Silver!
“Sharks?” Xari asked knowingly. I sighed.
“Done!” Altair exclaimed happily. Maybe a little too happily… was this a prank I’d willingly agreed to? Would they dare do that to me on the day of our ceremony?
“Open your eyes before your anxiety gets worse.” I could hear the eyeroll coming from Xari, but still I dared to open my eyes.
I looked down at myself and gasped. They’d made a light pink suit, not like my other in soft looking silk, no, theirs had a little darker colored roses stitched into the fabric.
The stitching was made with a pearlescent sheen so the roses shifted in the light, making it appear like the suit was glowing on me, the vest filled with the same color and sheen.
I hurried over to our full body mirror and gasped loudly again. It was beautiful! Even more so than my ruined suit (before it had been ruined). “This is… amazing!”
“Yeah?” Wilston asked, looking to Xari for the truth.
The bastard likely didn’t trust me. I could forgive him for that.
I was going to suck out all of his energy later, the least I could do was to go easy on him for the rest of the day.
Not tonight, though. Tonight, I planned on taking whatever was left and ridding him of that energy, leaving him satiated and happy in our bed.
“Do you like the fabric? I did some quick work figuring out what we could make with earth magic, and rayon was supposedly a close thing to silk,” Altair said, looking me over. “I want to do this myself from now on. It looks amazing! And fits you perfectly, too.”
I preened. The crisis was officially averted.
“But now we’re all running late,” Tino said, looking down at his watch.
“He’s right. We should hurry down there and inform them you’re on your way,” Xari said, taking Niam’s hand in his. They left with Altair and Tino behind them, leaving Wilston and I alone in our living room.
“No time for fun,” Wilston said, eliminating any thought I had about having a quickie. To be honest, I wasn’t about to get out of this outfit any time soon. But Wilston didn’t have to know that. So, I pouted and followed him out the door.
The castle loomed just at the edge of town, standing tall on a hill so the sun hit all those pretty multicolored windows.
I still couldn’t believe we were having our ceremony there.
In all my life I never pictured celebrating my love in such a beautiful place.
Of course, I’d never dared dream of having a ceremony after I’d learned about the high risk of me being shunned.
I did start to fantasize about a rich man falling for me on Sutiner, seeing me dance as I stripped and then proposing and marrying me somewhere fancy.
My reality now was so much better than any of my wandering fantasies growing up. Wilston exceeded all my wants and hopes. He was everything to me. Looking over at him and seeing him smile as the street trailed past the car windows, that was enough for my tears to threaten their return.
“No tears,” he quickly said, looking me over with worry. “You do like your new suit, right? Even Xarius said so.”
I laughed. My poor man was still worried about that. “I love my outfit. More so than the one left in ruins.”
He let out a relieved sigh. “You know, he didn’t mean to ruin it. Mr. Fluffy Pants loves you. I think it smelled like you and he just couldn’t help himself and had to play with it.”
“With his claws,” I muttered, still not completely over it.
He just let out a chuckle and resumed looking out the window. The drive would only take ten minutes, with the others arriving five minutes ahead of us.
Xari and Niam had their ceremony a week ago, and it had been perfect.
Today was finally our turn, and then next week would be Tino and Altair’s ceremony.
I tried not to dwell on the fact that Grandma wouldn’t be here.
I’d held her funeral after we’d said our goodbyes to Julie, but it still hadn’t fully settled in my mind.
I kept thinking about stuff like what she would wear today.
Would it be the burgundy two-piece suit she always wore at special occasions, or would she have gone out and bought an outfit just for this day alone?
Would she be waiting at the castle, or with us in the car right now?
My parents had come out of hiding for the funeral, showing their faces for the first time since they abandoned me.
They still didn’t want to be in my life, or I figured as much when they passed me and just smiled, then left without a single word spoken between us.
I’d been stunned, not that I wanted them in my life, they’d left me.
But then why had it felt like they’d left me all over again that day?
Nujik and Willow had been amazing when it came to planning the funeral, both of them helping me out with details and how to order different things I’d need.
Sometimes I wondered if my childhood would’ve been better with them, but then I wouldn’t have had those wonderful years with Grandma, and those were now some of my fondest memories.
The fondest of them all was still the day Wilston proposed though, and I firmly believed it would share the spot with today, if nothing else were to happen to sour my mood.
The car came to a stop and we quickly got out and walked on the gravel leading up to the castle.
The wildflowers on both sides of the trail were vibrant in color as we passed them.
It almost felt like they welcomed us as we approached the grand castle.
The beauty of it would never get old. Wilston’s hand squeezed mine, and I returned the motion. This was it.
Showtime.