Nora smiled.
Watching Soraya stay fiercely true to herself and her beliefs was inspiring. She had changed, but it was following her own conscience, never acting out of anger or bitterness toward the people who had manipulated her. She had kept it, as she had expanded herself.
Their guest of honor was Alexandra, who had just been discharged from the hospital and was already sitting at the head of one of the tables, with Madison to her left.
So many items had been donated for the silent auction that would happen after the feast, a fundraiser to help women in their area who had been victims of domestic violence. In honor of Alexandra.
They had already decided that Lady’s Mantle would have this event every year, for the Alexandra Stone Fund. Which Alexandra was more than capable of organizing and overseeing, as the queen of committees. When someone in their community found themselves pushed out of their lives, found themselves in the same position that any of them had been in, where they were forced to remake each other, relearn what living meant, there would be a whole network of people waiting for them. A coven, waiting to help them unlock their magic. To unlock their joy.
Because sometimes the end was only a beginning.
That was the real lesson of the Death card, after all, loath though Nora was to admit it, since she had been bitter about that reading of hers for weeks.
It hadn’t only been about the ending. It had been about the new beginning. What better time to celebrate that?
There were quilts and baked goods, ceramics and crystals. A hand-drawn tarot deck, and so many other beautiful baked goods, crafts, handknits, and paintings in the auction, made by hand by the women in the community who raised an extraordinary amount of money for the cause.
It would help Angela, who was their first resident at the Lady’s Mantle Sanctuary. Well, the second. Soraya had been the first.
Now Soraya had a whole new life.
Nora looked around at all the women gathered together, and then at her two best friends. The friends who had walked her through the darkness right into this new light. Who had walked her into her magic.
She’d been doing finishing touches on her mural, and there was something that wasn’t quite right about it yet.
She suddenly knew just what it was.
It needed the three of them.
The mural was about community, after all.
They were her community. Her support.
Her coven.
The dinner was bright and glorious, and the spectacle of it being in the park brought other people to come and watch. Men and women who hadn’t heard about it before. Children. And yes, there were some who looked at it and decided it was evil. But most everybody could see the magic, all its beauty.
“Where’s Aggie?” Soraya said, looking around about midway through dinner, not seeing their mentor anywhere.
But Aggie did everything on her own time and on her own terms, so Nora couldn’t say she was alarmed.
The three of them left while there were still some diners lingering—the city had agreed to let them leave the tables out on the lawn for the night. Madison and Amberly had been sitting together talking about polycules. Amberly had broken off her engagement with Jonathan a few weeks ago.
“I need to get home. Zach has the kids tonight. Not that I’m worried but ...”
“You just want to go jump him,” Nora said.
“Maybe.” Daisy smiled, touching the ring on her finger.
It was fast. But Nora understood. When it was right, it was right.
Right now, their lives were more than right. They were magical.
What Nora really wanted to do was go home and kiss Sam. Tell him everything. About how well the evening had gone and how much money they had raised.
“I’m staying with Declan tonight,” said Soraya. “The boys are having some big Xbox thing at our house, and they’re going to be up all night drinking Mountain Dew and generally being menaces. Anyway, I’m two minutes away if they need anything. But they won’t.” Soraya paused for a moment. “I think I’m in love with him. Likereallyin love with him. That doesn’t seem ... Does it seem weird, that we all found love again so quickly?”
Daisy looked thoughtful. “What’s the point of being magic if you can’t have everything?”
