Chapter 28
The piece of fabric in Fawn’s hand scraped against her palm, and she almost puked. “Not this one.”
She tossed the offending fabric into the “no” pile and picked up the scrapbook of pressed flowers. Flipping through a few pages, she stopped on a page filled with bright yellow petals. “These are pretty.”
Monroe leaned over. “They’re yellow.” His look implied she should understand his meaning.
She looked back at the lemon-yellow flower pressed in Monroe’s book. “What does that matter?”
Monroe tutted and flipped to another section of flowers. “Yellow will make you look like a corpse. Here.” He pointed to a light blue flower. “These suit you better.”
“I’m not going to wear them,” Fawn grumbled, tracing the crisp edges of the petals “But I do like this one.”
Naomi peeked over her shoulder. “Ooh that one’s pretty.”
Fawn had made the mistake of mentioning her and Dean’s upcoming wedding to her friends.
Naomi could have been reined in; Monroe, however, was an uncontrollable tornado.
He’d kept every wedding planning book he’d made from when he and Braddock married, and he waited all of three hours before showing up in Fawn and Dean’s rooms with Naomi in tow.
Dean had agreed to allow Fawn, Monroe, and Naomi use his study to plan, staring begrudgingly at the materials and books Monroe scattered across the floor. He and Braddock lounged in chairs in the corner, talking while Monroe jotted notes in a sketchpad.
Monroe set down his notebook and held up two swatches side by side. “How long will it take your grandparents to arrive?” He held them up to Fawn’s face and threw one to the side.
“When I traveled to the Mountain Kingdom at a normal pace—” Naomi glared at Dean. “—it took a week.”
Monroe fanned himself dramatically. “I cannot believe I am having to plan an entire wedding in a week.”
“It’s a small wedding,” Fawn stressed and motioned to everyone in the room. “It will just be us and a few others.”
“Even small weddings take time,” Monroe insisted. “We must see the modiste today to have a dress designed and made. The gardeners will need to be contacted about floral arrangements. Have you even looked at which room in the palace you want to have it in?”
Fawn glanced at Dean for help, but he just shrugged with a wink. The asshole. “Isn’t there a designated wedding room?”
“ Oh my gods ,” Monroe wailed. “This is more dire than I thought. Clear your schedules. Do you have any idea how many different banquet rooms there are?”
Naomi and Fawn stifled their laughter at their friend’s obvious distress. “I don’t care where I get married,” Fawn tried to placate him. “We could get married here in the study and I wouldn’t care.”
“I wouldn’t either, darling,” Dean concurred.
Monroe’s face was a picture of horror. “You are so lucky you met me.”
At that, Fawn and Naomi collapsed into giggles, but Monroe went silent, his eyes fixed on the open study door. Cali stood in the hallway with Cassandra at her side, staring at the scattered materials on the floor.
Was it a coincidence they were together, or had Cali befriended the serpent before Fawn arrived? Evidence suggested everyone had liked Cali very much. Did any of them wish she was marrying Dean instead?
Even from across the large room, Fawn saw the woman’s eyes shimmer. She looked frozen in time, as if the sight had turned her to stone. “Are those the wedding books we used?” Her voice cracked as her eyes lifted to Monroe.
Everyone stayed silent as Cali’s heart broke in front of them. Monroe stood elegantly and crossed to the door. “They are the same books I used for my wedding.” He gentled his voice. “You are not the first person I lent them to, and Fawn won’t be the last.”
Cali turned hurt eyes to Fawn. “You don’t deserve to use them.
You don’t know anything about him, do you?
Did you even know he loves radishes?” Her lower lip trembled.
“I haven’t seen any on his dinner plate since you arrived, but I always made sure he had them.
Now you’re using the same books I used to plan the start of our lives together.
” Tears salted her cheeks, leaving track marks on their way down.
“You don’t deserve him .” She ran off and Cassandra slithered after her.
“I need to check on her,” Monroe fretted. “I’ve never seen her that upset. Not even the day she met Fawn.”
It was a chore for Fawn to keep her face neutral when she felt like she’d broken up a happy home of friendship. Damn it. She refused to feel bad for the woman who had tried to humiliate her at every turn.
Refused .
And yet…
“Naomi and I will clean up here.” She shooed Monroe toward the door. “We can plan another day.”
Monroe apologized again, gathered Braddock, and swept after Cali in a whirlwind of skirts and guilt.
Dean approached and crouched beside Fawn. “I hate radishes.” He helped gather swatches of fabric and placed them into Monroe’s oversized book. “Do not feel guilty.”
“I don’t feel guilty,” she said slowly, shutting her mouth at his pointed look.
“Do not feel guilty,” he repeated. “Any hurt Cali feels is fate’s doing, and any notions she has of love are misguided.”
“And she’s been a bitch to you,” Naomi added. “I’m glad she cried.”
Fawn’s head snapped up to look at her best friend. “That’s a terrible thing to say.”
She shrugged. “And trying to make you feel bad for being half human is worse.”
Her logic was sound, but it still felt cruel to bask in Cali’s misery. Seeing her shamed for being awful? Fawn would love that. But seeing her cry because the man she loved was planning his wedding to someone else with the same books she’d once used? No, Fawn didn’t like that at all.
“We’ll clean this up and go to the stables early,” Dean said, gathering papers haphazardly and trying to put them in some semblance of order. “You can put your new skills to use.”
The wicked grin spreading across his face made her entire body go up in flames.
The next afternoon, Dean held Fawn loosely at the waist with one hand and the reins with the other. Fawn still radiated tension in the saddle, but at least she no longer screamed at every misstep.
Today he took them on a longer ride through a more secluded stretch of the palace grounds.
The Garden Kingdom was by far the most beautiful of the five, with its full trees, riot of colorful flowers, and rolling hills of pink grass hills.
Their trail wound through the woods and over stone bridges spanning bubbling brooks.
Picturesque didn’t begin to cover it. “Is the entire kingdom like this?” Fawn tilted her head back to look at him.
“Some areas have lakes that stretch for miles,” he told her. “In some places the pink grassy knolls are endless; in others it’s nothing but dense forest. Here, it’s a mix of everything.”
“I’d like to see the big lakes,” she said as their horse picked its way over a narrow bridge. “I’ve seen lakes, but none as big as that.”
“It will be our first stop on our wedding celebration trip,” he promised. “Have you ever seen an oasis in the Desert Kingdom?”
Fawn shook her head. “I’ve never been.”
“I haven’t either, but I’ve heard they’re beautiful.” He squeezed her close. “My first trip out of my kingdom was to Rennick’s coronation.”
She beamed at him. “I like the idea of us seeing it together for the first time.”
“I like the idea of having you to myself for a few months.” He brushed his lips over hers, the fullness in his chest nearly overwhelming him.
She tried to twist to see him better. “A few months?”
Dean hiked a shoulder. “Depending on how many places you want to see. Half the time will be travel.”
Fawn turned forward and drummed her fingers against the saddle horn. “I’ll have to bring Tickles with us.” The teasing lilt in her tone was the only thing keeping Dean from fainting on the spot. Days on end in a carriage with that monster?
While he didn’t think she’d subject him to that knowing how he felt, he wasn’t taking chances. “I already made arrangements.”
The drumming stopped, and she peered up at him through narrowed eyes. “I’m not setting him free. He’s domesticated.”
He decided not to point out that she’d not known Tickles long enough to make that assessment. “There is a local woman who used to run an animal sanctuary.”
Her eyes narrowed more. “You’re not asking for help adopting another tarantula, are you?”
His hand twitched at her sardonic tone, needing to redden her ass. “I had Braddock speak with her about Tickles. She’s very knowledgeable about most animals, including tarantulas.”
She grabbed Dean’s rein hand and tugged gently until Art, the small fae shire paint they rode, halted. “We’re not giving him away.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said, affronted. “I hired her to oversee the construction of his own section of the garden to make sure it has everything he’ll need. She will tend to him if we’re ever gone.”
Fawn’s eyes sparkled and affection hit Dean in the chest. “Thank you. I’m sorry I thought you’d give him away. I should have known better.”
Dean picked up the reins with one hand, his other still firmly around Fawn’s middle, and spurred Art into motion. “You’re forgiven. Have you changed your mind about fucking me while we ride?”
She sputtered out a laugh. “I’m doing everything in my power to not think about falling off, and you want me to concentrate on riding your cock too?”
He slipped the hand on her stomach down to cup her pussy, and she jolted with a sharp breath. “You concentrate on staying upright,” he murmured against her ear. “I’ll worry about making you come.”
Dean tugged at the strips of her skirt until he slid beneath the fabric, groaning when his fingers met still more fabric.
She threw her head back and laughed. “Did you think I’d sit in a saddle with nothing but bare skin and silk?
” Moving her skirt aside, she pointed at the footless, cotton tights adorning her legs.
“I’d rather not have to eat heaps of yogurt and bathe in garlic for days just to combat my stupidity. ”
Dean’s face twisted. “What do those have to do with anything?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
And he would do nothing but worry about it.
Samuel hurled his brandy against the wall, shards of glass flying in every direction. The king was set to marry the Whitman girl in one week.
General Craven hadn’t checked in last night or this morning, and when Samuel sent a guard to retrieve him, the man reported no one was home. It wasn’t like the general to vanish without notice, and Samuel suspected he’d have to use his backup plan.
Cali would be queen. His family deserved the royal designation, and he would do whatever he must to secure it. Even bloody his own daughter’s hands if he had to.