Rufus would have made the flowers much better. Gordon’s eyes are both happy and sad. I can’t blame him for that.
But Axel’s smiling and he’s wearing a tux. I didn’t think I’d ever see him in a tux, and it does not disappoint.
After leading me up to the top of the platform, my dad pivots around and addresses the gathered crowd. “When my daughter asked me to get certified to officiate at her wedding, I thought she was crazy. I’ve been trained to speak, but not like this, not for happy occasions. I’m usually representing companies that want to tear other businesses apart and consume the entrails.”
The audience laughs.
“But today we’re here for something much happier. Today we’re here to celebrate that love can be found where you least expect it, if you will only give it a chance. A few months ago, when a massive, semi-hostile force invaded earth, my daughter was resolved to fight them to the end.” He smiles at Axel.
“An end I assumed would come quickly,” I whisper.
Everyone close enough to hear me laughs.
“Axel here bonded her against her will, but once he did, he never used that bond to force Liz to do anything she didn’t want to do.”
I tried, Axel says. I’ve never admitted this, but I couldn’t make her do anything she didn’t want to do, even from the beginning.
Dad’s mouth dangles open for a moment, and then he blinks. “Right from the start, their relationship was a strange one. But for anyone close enough to see, it was obvious that it was something special.”
The voices blathering in the background of my mind surge. I’m at my wedding, and I’m listening to my dad bless my union to Axel in front of our family, friends, and hundreds of foreign dignitaries, and I can’t even hear what’s being said because of the relentless begging voices.
Help me Jörð. I know you’re out there, and I’m sure?—
The thing is, I don’t really believe in much, but once I heard that dragons?—
I just need one little thing. My whole life, I’ve wanted to?—
“Make it stop!” I shout.
Axel tightens his hand on mine, and he frowns. Are you alright?
“Did you want to stop the wedding?” Dad raises both eyebrows.
I shake my head. “Jörð!” I shout. “You had all this magic, and you had all this knowledge, and you showed up and helped me all the time, and now, you’re just—you’ve ruined my life!” I look up at the sky, even though I know she’s not up there. She’s always drawn her power from the earth. “Come back here and take all this magic back. I don’t want it!”
Dad and Axel are exchanging a look.
It’s not encouraging.
“Jörð!” I shout. “You said you’d always come when I called, and my mom died, and today’s my wedding, and you’re ruining it.” I know she’s gone. I know she can’t show up, and maybe part of my tantrum is because I wanted her here. I wanted my mother here, and my other mother here, and both of them are dead, and I’m having the happiest day of my life without either of them and it sucks.
The crowd starts to murmur, clearly worried I’m bonkers.
Even the blessed are exchanging glances and whispering.
But there’s still no Jörð. Because I killed her. I know that. I mean, I’ve called her a million times over the past few weeks. I know she can’t come. I’m not an idiot. But I have to figure out how to?—
A massive crack opens up in the rock near the edge of the cliff, not two hundred yards away with a thunderous smack. The crack spreads toward us, moving fast.
“Shoot,” Dad says. “That’s not good.”
“Evacuate,” someone shouts.
And then everyone’s standing, shouting, and milling around.
Before anyone has time to leave, the crack widens just past the lines of seats and our raised platform, and liquid gold bubbles outward from it. Axel’s hand tightens so much on mine that I’m worried I’ll lose circulation to my fingers. What’s happening?
I shrug. “I’m not doing that.”
