CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Alad
The simple ceremony is performed in a small church near Mayfair.
Only Lady Mary and Lord Peterson are there to witness our joining.
Sir Gilead has left the country. And our witnesses seem to have found in each other what I’ve found with Charlotte, judging by the solicitous way the viscount hovers over Mary.
I suspect we’ll be returning to London for another ceremony soon.
But all I care to look at right now is Charlotte. She’s beautiful in her long white dress made of the finest lace.
“Shoes?” she asks after I move my foot and wince. I wear my human form so as not to offend the clergyman, but even so, the form pinches almost as much as my black suit and damnable shoes.
Bloody things. I can’t wait to be rid of them.
“Soon,” Charlotte whispers, smiling at me like I’ve hung the planets.
“Soon,” I agree.
After the vows, we celebrate with a late breakfast at a nearby restaurant. I’m so filled with emotion that I can’t stop the way my forms flicker from one to another. Happily, the corner in which we’ve been seated is dark, and I’m sitting in the deepest shadows.
I’m certain the food is good; I just don’t taste it. Knowing Charlotte is officially mine, that our lives are about to start, together, is all I can focus on.
As we are set to leave, Lady Mary draws Charlotte into a hug. “I’ll miss you. Write soon and often?”
“You’ll receive so many letters from me, you’ll wonder what to do with all the paper.” Charlotte laughs before stepping back to my side. “Besides,” she adds, casting a glance at Lord Peterson as he sidles up to Mary, “I think I’ll be seeing you soon enough.”
“Never soon enough. I’m only forgiving you for abandoning me because your husband is too fierce and sweet for me to risk sowing discord.”
“I prefer to think of it less as abandonment and more as freeing space for you to move on with your life.”
“A capital idea,” Lord Peterson agrees. He thinks he’s being secretive, but it’s obvious to everyone when the edge of his shoe buts against Mary’s.
The carriage ride seems endless, though it’s only a small span of hours. With Charlotte practically sitting upon my lap, there are compensations, though the well-sprung seat doesn’t offer much comfort.
“Work has already started on the house,” I tell her in strained tones.
My i?arum lies heavy and wanting, but I’ll ignore it for her sake.
I want a wedding night, a proper one, where I use my lips, tail, and wings to stroke her to orgasm, over and over again, until she cries and pleads with me to stop.
“I hope they do our bedrooms first.” The minx sways with the conveyance, her delightful buttocks rubbing intemperance into my i?arum.
“One bedroom. I don’t care about the fashion of these times. You’re sleeping with me.”
She purrs. I swear she purrs before she locks her lips to mine.
Fine. A shedu can only take so much. I flip her onto the opposite seat, fall to my knees on the carriage floor, and delve beneath her beautiful dress. Since she’s left off her knickers, my tongue finds the center of her pleasure with ease.
I count five climaxes before I help her shaking legs descend before the Fox and Hound Inn. “Charlotte, I present Baimstree-on-Bath. What do you think?”
“I think it looks too normal for the gossip to be true.”
“It’s much like every English village, but if you look closer, you’ll spot vampires, orcs, demons, grimms, a few categories of dragons, and even a phoenix family.
And there are still others I haven’t met.
In a world without magick, a world that fears the different, most choose disguises.
Some are glamours. There, for instance.”
She gazes at a woman with gray hair and a stout figure. “Is she a witch?”
“A medusa. Under that bonnet, snakes writhe. If you look from the side of your eyes…” When Charlotte exclaims and grabs my arm, her mouth widening in wonder, I laugh.
“People expect to see the expected. Those who can’t manage to disguise their forms wear heavy cloaks with hoods and long gloves.
But at night, the true diversity of species lies revealed in hidden markets, taverns, dance halls, and public meeting rooms.”
We stand on the sidewalk, exchanging pleasant greetings with those who move by us at a much slower speed to that found in London. I like it. It feels more like home.
“And where is our house to be?” Charlotte asks eventually.
“Come. Walk with me.”
She takes my arm. An easy five minutes’ stroll to the end of a street that turns from the central hub of the town lies the foundation that’s recently been laid.
“I chose to build small, with tall ceilings, large doorframes, and spacious rooms to accommodate my First and Second Forms. Only four bedrooms…”
She squeezes my arm, her smile warm upon me. “It will be perfect.”
“Even though three bedrooms will stand wasted?” I’m not above hammering in my point. I don’t want her sleeping down the hall. I can’t protect her that way.
“Maybe not for long.” Her hand grazes her stomach. She must see the wonder settling on my face because she quickly shakes her head. “Not yet, at least, I don’t think so, but I have a feeling it will happen soon.”
“Since I can’t keep my paws off you?”
She giggles, leaning against me. “Exactly. And speaking of, we should return to our room at the Inn, if for no other reason than I can have my shedu back. You did mention something about wings?”
And there goes my i?arum, transforming into my shedu i?arum inside pants that have grown even tighter. I hold my human form only with a great deal of difficulty. “I love you, Charlotte.”
“I love you, too.” She reaches up and drags down my head, kissing me wildly in front of all the workers going about their business.
I don’t care about their howls or propriety or anything but her. Time, space, and duty all fall away as I shut out the world around me and focus on her. My Charlotte. My fated love. My gift from the gods.
A shedu might have hoped to seduce her, but she’s most definitely seduced the shedu.
THE END