“Then he’s my grandfather?”
“He most certainly is. He wasn’t about to leave you alone among strangers when you first arrived.”
“And he needed me to pull him out of the mud.”
“What?” Graceen asked, then smiled. “You’ll have to tell me. I love stories.”
“Me too,” Kaley said. “We can—”
Pointedly, the music got louder, meaning she needed to go. A glance at her father showed that his eyes were on his wife, who he hadn’t seen in years. Kaley looked ahead to Tanek and Mekos waiting for her at the end of the aisle. They had on Earth-style tuxedos and she’d never seen anything as beautiful as they were. On the other side was Aradella in one of her big, elaborate robes.
Kaley tightened her grip on her father’s arm and they started the slow walk down the aisle.
“Happy?” he asked.
“Completely. To my soul.”
Jeff laughed. “Spoken like a lover of fairy tales. We begged Jobi to let us see you but he said that if we got to you before you’d bonded with Tanek, you’d leave him and go with us.”
“And that would prevent the overtaking of Empyrea,” Kaley said. “I’m learning that everything leads up to that. Are you glad to see Mom?”
“To my soul.” They were at the arch. He kissed her forehead, then took his seat.
Tanek was looking at her in curious pleasure. Her dress, her veiled face, all of it was strange to him.
“Sorry I’m such a mess,” she said, “but I had something to do with my... with my mother.”
Tanek smiled. “They told me she was still alive and here. She was hiding when we were at the Museum of Earth. As for beauty, you look likemyKaley.”
From the back came Jobi. It looked like he was the officiant and he was ready to say the Earth words. But then, Tanek saw Kaley’s skirt. “Your dress is torn. What have you been doing?” His voice was alarmed.
She didnotwant to tell him about the naked women. She needed to deflect his attention. “I think you should ask your son what he did while we were at the Lair.”
Mekos, standing next to his father, gave a startled look. “What doIhave to do with your dress being torn?”
Jobi looked at Mekos. “On Earth, we’d say you just got thrown under the bus.”
Kaley kept looking at Mekos. “Why did you two bring that little dragon to me? Was that part of something you shouldn’t have been doing?”
Mekos looked ahead. “I have no idea what you mean.”
Suddenly, Kaley’s Truth Necklace got hot, then hotter. “Ow!”
Tanek jerked it off her neck. When it burned his hand, he dropped it to the floor. They watched as the little half round pendant burned a hole through the white rug. It lay on the stone floor, steam coming off the heat.
They looked at Mekos. “That was one powerful lie,” Kaley said.
Tanek narrowed his eyes at his son. “What have you done?”
Jobi, frowning so hard his eyebrows met in the middle, said, “Do you two want to get married or not?”
Mekos grimaced. “They’re only interested in the honeymoon,” he muttered.
“What does that mean?” Kaley asked, eyes wide.
It was Sojee and Frank, sitting behind them, who bellowed, “Get on with this!”
Kaley looked at Tanek. “They’re my two grandfathers.”
