“Between your training with Hot Wekun and Beat Yo Ass Granny, Getta. The building of Sentinel City…”
I laugh just like I always do when someone mentions the name of the home base city the Sentinels have been working on. I still can’t believe everyone agreed to just call it Sentinel City. I mean, yeah, I guess it is self-explanatory which is a good thing, and yes, that’s what we called Tierit before we knew it was Tierit. I just really thought Suryn would choose something more flowery or regal sounding. But nope, now we have Tierit and anofficialSentinel City.
Go figure.
Mave shakes her head at me, giving me a look that tells me she knows exactly where my mind just went.
“With the start of your Superhero Services and brokering deals with the other supes in the area, you aren’t making time for your Bonding Ceremony,” Mave scolds.
I huff and try not to roll my eyes.
“Mave, the guys and I decided it wasn’t necessary. It’s a caster tradition that connects mates in a way we’realreadyconnected. And don’t worry, we do plenty ofbondingevery day. Like sooooo much bonding,” I tease.
She snorts and slaps my leg. “God, I’m so jealous,” she grumbles and stands up so she can pace and talk with her hands in a way that’s all Mave. “Okay fine, you guys are all in loooove and the ceremony is redundant, but you all deserve a moment to just celebrate.Wedeserve a moment to just celebrate,” she adds, circling a finger around her own head. “You’ve all been through so much; don’t you just want to have a day to dance and laugh and enjoy what you all have together?” she asks me.
I smile as I watch her move around the room, and throw my head back in defeat.
“Okay fine,” I relent. “I’ll talk to the guys about it tonight. I can’t promise anything, but if it will get you and the sisters off my back about this ceremony, then I’ll try at least,” I tell her with a playful glare.
The door opens, and in flit the sisters. Confusion streaks through me, and I look from them to Mave, trying to figure out what the hell is going on. Mave claps excitedly, and her voice goes all high-pitched.
“I was hoping you’d say that, Vin, because we already talked to your guys...welcome to your Bonding Ceremony!” she exclaims, and I look around the small empty cabin, even more confused.
“Here?” I ask, perplexed.
Mave rolls her eyes. “No, not here, silly. We’re just getting you ready here. The party has been set up just inside the trees.”
“Wait,” I tell them, shooting out of my chair. “You planned a Bonding Ceremony, and you’re just going to spring it on me like that?” I ask, looking at Mave, Lila, Adelaide and Birdie in turn.
“Pretty much,” Mave confirms, and I snort out an incredulous laugh.
“Mave’s right, my love, you all deserve a day to just celebrate what you have,” Birdie tells me.
“And the guys are all cool with this?” I ask.
“They helped set everything up,” Adelaide reassures me.
“So that’s what they’ve been up to,” I mumble, and the sisters giggle.
I laugh and shake my head. “Fine. Fuck it, let’s do it,” I tell them with a shrug.
Mave whoops and the sisters clap. Lila darts out of the cabin and comes back minutes later as Birdie and Adelaide are fussing over me in the chair. Mave already has a curling iron in my hair, and I’m still trying to figure out where it came from. Lila hangs a dress bag on the curtain rod above the front window, but Mave repositions my head to keep me from staring at it. The question of what’s in the bag is gnawing on me despite everyone’s efforts to chat and keep me distracted.
I never got to theso what do we wearpart of the Bond Ceremony conversations. Is there a wedding dress, some kind of gown or robe that casters specifically wear? I have no fucking clue. I sit silently as they titter all around me, exuberant energy coating everything in the room. Mave parts my hair down the middle, and soft curls fall around my face and shoulders. She takes some of them and pins it back into a half-back, half-down style, while leaving pieces down to frame my face.
The sisters apply a little makeup, and the next thing I know, we’re all staring at the dress bag, and I’m being asked if I’m ready. I shrug because I don’t fucking know. Mave laughs at my response as Adelaide reaches up and slowly unzips the long bag hanging from the curtain rod.
My heart speeds up to a gallop as I stare at what is most definitely a wedding dress. It’s a strapless dress covered in different patterns of intricate lace. The snow white lace lies over a nude underlay that just takes the dress to a whole other level of beautiful. It’s exquisite, and I feel like I could sit here all night and just stare at the patterns. The room is oddly quiet as I take a step toward it and lift a hand to run my fingers over a familiar symbol.
“We had your Chosen runes hidden in the design of the lace,” Birdie tells me, her voice reverent and loving.
“In caster tradition, the females in your family all sew blessings into the patterns of the lace,” Lila explains, running a finger over small words that are hidden amidst a floral pattern.
I spot the wordloveand thenlaughterwrapped around the lace petals of a flower.Homeandfamilypeek out from some delicate leaves. There are sentences about always finding my way and trusting my bonds sewn into a line of lace that looks like beads. The more I look at the dress, the more I see messages of love and acceptance. I’m touching the hopes and dreams they have for me and my Chosen, and it’s all woven into the very fabric of not only me but now this dress too. I blink back my emotions as I take it all in.
“I don’t even know what to say,” I tell them in a hushed tone filled with awe and appreciation.
I run my fingers over the wordtreasured.It’s hidden in a pattern of lace that dips in aVdown from my bust to my waist. It breaks up the floral patterns on the dress and is accentuated by the beaded patterns thatVand crisscross in different places.
