Chapter 30
Iris
“I almost gave up my dreams of fame and fortune,” Monty said, throwing himself dramatically across her bed, his wing covering his eyes, “to go back to the ocean for you.”
“Yes, Monty,” Iris agreed, lips twitching. “I am very aware of the sacrifices you might have made for my heartbreak.”
“He almost wouldn’t let me bring the cat; did he tell you that?”
“To be fair, you keep trying to eat him.”
“I have finer taste than that,” he sniffed, even if she’d caught him that very morning standing over Checkers while he napped in a sunbeam.
“Why are we discussing ancient history?” Arden asked, looking up from his notebook full of potential centerpieces.
“Ancient history?” Selene asked, rolling her eyes. “It was literally two days ago.”
“Exactly. Ancient history.”
“This coming from an immortal,” Selene shot back.
“When you live forever, you learn quickly how pointless time is. The heartbreak is over. Let’s focus on the future now. And the future does not have votives sitting in sand inside a mason jar,” he said, ripping a page out of his binder.
“Hmm,” Iris, heart light with love, started to tease, “how about synchronized seahorses in fishbowls? They could perform slow-motion water ballets!”
Selene—seeing Arden’s disgust—piled on. “Oh, how about prophetic goldfish? They could interrupt bits of conversation to offer relationship advice.”
“Oh, we don’t need goldfish for that,” Willow said, bringing a tray of snacks over to the table. “I have a ficus that we could propagate that could do that without all the water.”
“Oh, or miniature shipwreck dioramas,” Selene suggested.
“Yes, because nothing says ‘romance’ like death and destruction,” Arden, tugging at his collar, grumbled.
“How about a pair of doves?” Selene said.
“Doves?” Arden asked, brows pinching. “How would you keep them on the tables?”
“Well, they’d be taxidermied, of course.”
“Right. Dead birds. That’s what everyone wants to look at while they’re eating.”
“It’s the symbolism.”
“Death is not the symbolism of a long and happy marriage.”
“Fine. Glass snow globes. But with sand instead of snow.”
“That’s … not horrible.”
“And inside each one is a tiny scroll,” Selene said, making Iris’s lips twitch.
“With a love poem on them?” Arden asked, hopeful.
“No. With a little prenuptial agreement.”
“You’re hopeless,” Arden said, laughing.
“Better hopeless than hopelessly cliché.” She leaned over his chair, flipping through his binder. “Candles? Potted plants? Yawn. I mean, you could just drop down a few really pretty copies of classic romance novels and call it a day.”
Arden’s head tilted, and his eyes went warm. “That might actually be charming. And I suppose you have someone in mind to make the suggestions for the books?”
“Well,” Selene said, trying to act nonchalant about the topic. “I mean, I do own a bookstore.”
“Right,” Arden said, wrapping an arm around her waist and dragging her down onto the chair next to him. “Purely professional recommendations. Has nothing at all to do with your secret stash of dark prince smut.”
“I do not … what is this?” Selene asked, pulling a shiny book out from under Arden’s binder.
“Don’t look at me,” Arden said as Selene looked at the comic book.
“I’m a cozy mystery kind of girl,” Willow said when gazes slid in her direction.
“It’s Finn’s,” Iris said, reaching for it. She couldn’t stop the smile that teased her lips as she took the glossy book and looked at the muscled group of men and women on the cover.
“I did not have him pegged as a comic book guy.”
“Henry did his best to hide this side of him,” Iris said. “The comic books and his sci-fi movies.”
They’d been watching those movies every night. Admittedly, Iris spent most of the run time watching Finn watch the movie, loving how his face lit up, how his words tumbled together when he was trying to explain some part of the plot to her. But she enjoyed every moment of it.
“Why?” Selene asked. “This interest would get him the nerd vote.”
“It makes him so much more real,” Willow agreed, taking the comic book. “My nephew eats these things up. I got him a digital comic book subscription for his last birthday.”
As a whole, Willow—for obvious reasons—tried to avoid paper products when she could. While not all trees were dryads, all dryads felt very connected to the trees.
“That’s what I told Finn,” Iris agreed. “People like being able to connect with their civil servants. He’s done a million interviews, and I don’t think I ever heard him claim to like a hobby that wasn’t exercise-related.”
“Well, we can all agree that we appreciate his dedication to exercise,” Arden said, smirking. “I know it was a bad night for you, but those images of him on that dock where the moon cast all those stomach muscles in shadow? The whole of Manhattan swooned.”
“If you want to compliment him, tell him his calves look good,” Iris said, her smile soft. “He worked hard on those.”
“Noted,” Arden agreed. “No, absolutely not,” he said when Selene pointed to something in his binder.
“Why not?” the witch asked.
“Because those are for Halloween parties, not weddings.”
“We’re getting nowhere with these plans,” Selene grumbled, reaching for Iris’s copy of one of Caprica Coraline’s books.
“Oh, speaking of. Did I tell you she RSVP’d?” Arden asked.
“Who did?” Iris asked, but she was half distracted by Finn’s comic book. She’d been trying to read some of them in her free time so they could talk about them.
“Caprica.”
“Wait, she RSVP’d? Caprica? Who never does public appearances? Not even for book releases?” Selene asked. “Even when asked very nicely,” she added, her tone sulky.
“She even sent a little personal note,” Arden said.
He flipped through his notebook, looking for the note.
“She said she’s been watching your story since you first came to the surface.
And that you have … oh, what was it?” he asked, finding the note.
“Right. She said you have ‘greatly inspired the plot for her next book.’”
“What?” Selene snatched the book out of Arden’s hand. Her eyes went round. “This is an actual handwritten note from Caprica Coraline? The Caprica Coraline?”
“It is.” Arden was watching Selene with a warm light in his eyes.
“You have her contact information?”
“Oh, sweetheart, I have everyone’s contact.”
Iris felt a similar thrill of excitement, but it was quickly overwhelmed by an entirely different sensation as Finn came sweeping into the penthouse. He was already tugging at his tie, eager to shrug off The Suit.
It seemed that once he fully became aware of how much the persona of a politician had overtaken him, he’d been working hard to separate that from who he really was.
He made a beeline toward the table, his gaze moving around everyone gathered, then the items on the surface of the table.
But before he even bothered to greet them, he stepped behind Iris’s chair, reaching around her to grab her chin and tilt her head backward.
His lips were on hers then, kissing her hard and deep and entirely too briefly. She could never seem to get enough of him.
“Hey, guys,” he greeted the table. “How is the planning going?”
“Slowly,” Arden said with a pointed look toward Selene.
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted my input,” Selene said, quietly tucking the note from Caprica into her purse.
Iris was fairly sure Arden didn’t actually want Selene’s help, just her company.
“Don’t worry,” Arden said, looking back at Finn. “Everything will be planned and perfect for your big day.”
The day was closing in.
Just a few weeks away.
Instead of feeling trapped by the deadline like she had been, all Iris felt was excitement, a bone-deep sort of rightness.
A lifetime with Finn—good, kind, selfless, attentive, smart, gorgeous, generous, and slightly nerdy Finn—was all she could think about these days.
Pretty soon, it was going to be her reality.
“Shouldn’t you be getting dressed?” Finn asked, making Iris’s eyes go round.
“Oh! Whoops. I lost track of time.” She popped up out of her chair to rush toward the bedroom to grab her outfit.
“She does that,” Selene agreed.
“She showed up at my yoga class ten minutes short of it being over,” Willow piled on.
“In my defense, I knew I would be terrible at it,” Iris called from the bedroom.
“She knocked over a row of advanced yogi women like dominoes,” Willow explained. “And a snake plant that actually hissed about the disruption.”
“She’s making it sound worse than it was,” Iris insisted. She yanked on a vintage T-shirt from some obscure comic book that featured a mermaid-vampire hybrid that she had never read but thought would be perfect for the day’s event.
There was a time she would have wanted to wear a shirt to embarrass him. Now, all she wanted to do was match him and make him proud.
“Okay. How’s this?” she asked as she emerged.
“Where did you find that?” Finn asked, eyes bright.
“In the same store where we found your wedding present,” Selene announced.
“It’s perfect,” Finn told her, heading past her in the hall.
“Where are you going?”
“To get changed.”
“I thought we had to leave at eleven.”
Finn’s smile was sheepish as he turned to look at her. “Yes, I did say that.”
“You gave me a fake time?” she asked, pretending to be shocked.
What could she say?
She knew she was always late.
And that Finn was really excited about this outing.
“A necessary evil,” he said, shooting her a smirk before slipping into the bedroom.
By the time he came out, Arden, Selene, and Willow had seen themselves out. So there was no one there to admire his casual outfit of black shorts and a T-shirt featuring a ton of different comic book covers with the words I’ve Got Issues printed above.
It was the most casual she’d seen him dress for anything that involved leaving their home.
“I love it,” she declared, beaming at him.
“Are you ready for this?”
Given what she’d seen about these giant comic book events online, no, she was not.
“Absolutely,” she agreed, taking his hand.
It was a short ride to the venue, and they made it out front just as the doors opened.
“You’re actually on time?” Juna asked, mouth falling open as Iris and Finn approached.
“Finn lied to me,” Iris admitted.
“Smart man,” Shelly, standing beside Juna, declared with a nod.
Iris wasn’t sure what had gotten into the queen to allow all three of the Marivelle sisters to be on land at the same time, but she was over the moon to be able to spend some time with her siblings.
“I still can’t get used to seeing you guys with legs,” Iris admitted.
“I still can’t get used to having them,” Juna admitted.
“My feet hurt all the time,” Shelly said.
“That’s where fiancés come in handy,” Iris said, leaning her head into Finn’s shoulder.
As if on cue, Osiren came bounding over, his legs as enormous as the rest of his body, handing each of them their lanyard badges.
“Ugh, no thanks,” Shelly said, lip curling.
“Remind me to introduce you to my friend Selene,” Iris said, shooting her baby sister a smile as Finn slipped her badge over her head.
“Ready?” he asked, practically bouncing on his feet.
Iris watched her sisters disappear into the building. “Abso—”
“Mr. Westrock!” a voice called, making Iris fight to keep a smile on her lips. She knew a paparazzo trying to get Finn’s attention when she heard one.
“Richard,” Finn said, his professional voice and posture taking over.
Iris felt her belly tighten.
But then Finn’s arm slipped around her lower back, pulling her close.
“Right now, I’m off the clock and spending time with someone special,” he said, giving Iris a small smile.
“But I’ll be happy to answer your questions at the press conference tomorrow night.
Or you can send them to my office for a statement.
” Richard looked disappointed, but Finn’s next words made it hard for him to press.
“I really appreciate you giving us a little space.”
With that, he turned and led Iris into the building.
Her heart was a balloon in her chest, pumped up to full volume, making her feel like she was floating.
Sure, he’d already made it clear to Henry that he wouldn’t tolerate any more interference in his personal life, that there were some matters in which he didn’t want his campaign manager’s input.
But this felt different.
He’d set the boundary with an outsider.
He’d prioritized her and them.
“No way,” Finn said, stopping dead and staring up at something hanging from the high ceiling.
Iris followed his gaze, finding a two-story poster for a new action and mystery movie.
Featuring none other than Montague Featherington, wings flared, tuxedo flapping. And just beneath, the dramatic tagline: JUSTICE TAKES FLIGHT!
Iris’s smile spread until her cheeks hurt.
“He always said he was going to be a star,” she said.
“Looks like he got his wish.”
Iris leaned into Finn.
Yes, he had.
But so had she.