Until recently.
Her new fiancé’s gorgeous, rich, strong, powerful, magical, and he looks at her like she’s made of stardust or something. I’m happy for her, but it feels like someone like him might have actually understood me. It’s a waste to put someone broody and powerful and half-evil, to hear the others talk, with Miss Sunshine and Yellow Daisies.
“Why are you so sour?” Izzy asks.
I consider telling her it’s because I think she’s a bad fit for her boyfriend and she should hand him over to me, but I’m pretty sure they’d both think that joke was made in bad form. “No reason.”
“When should we get married?” Izzy asks.
I roll my eyes.
“How about the winter?” Leonid says. “All that white—whatever colors you choose will really stand out.”
Izzy blinks. “Is that some kind of joke? I would freeze, and so would all my family and friends.”
“Fire, remember?” He holds up his hand, and the entire car heats up ten degrees. “We’ll all stay warm.”
Must be nice.
“No magic,” Izzy snaps.
He sighs.
“Okay, how about the colors?” Izzy’s flipping through a bridal magazine, which I thought hadn’t existed for a decade or more. I can’t help wondering how on earth she got one of those in sleepy little Manila, Utah. “This is nice—ooh, wait. We could do Christmas colors. Red, white, green, and gold.”
“So we’d get married. . .in five weeks?” he asks.
“That’s way too soon,” she says.
“So. . .a year?” He looks sick.
“How about powder blue and white,” I say. “Do a winter queen theme.” I can’t help my smile. “You could wear black, and everyone else could look like fairies.”
“Black?” Izzy looks horrified. “Is it my wedding or a funeral?” She’s frowning.
Until she looks back at me.
“Okay, you got me.” She laughs.
I don’t tell her I wasn’t kidding, but I can’t help thinking of how great the crown would look in all black, with large onyx stones. I’d want a scepter with daggers and glinting black stones, too. It would be sick, especially in the snow.
After another hour and a half of Izzy asking questions, and then being horrified at my answers, I sink into a quiet funk. I decide to go over my meditation techniques in the back.
“Hey, are you melting the snow?” Izzy sounds like some kind of schoolteacher, I swear. “We said no magic!”
“It’s not my fault,” Leonid says. “You wanted to stay longer, and then that blizzard hit.”
Utah weather in the fall is seriously whack.
“It was so pretty, and kind of cozy, being stuck at home with all that snow falling.” Izzy’s looking at him with that disturbingly dreamy look in her eyes.
“Yeah, Dad and Mom thought it was super cozy,” I say. “I remember them walking past my room about one hundred times that night, making sure Izzy was still in there.”
Leonid’s eyes were burning in a very inappropriate way, and I was wishing I hadn’t been stuck in that room. Being her chaperone when she’s already engaged was. . .awkward.
“Alright,” I say. “Let’s talk about what decisions you two disgusting lovebirds made.”
“February wedding,” Izzy says. “Valentine’s Day. Pink and red colors that’ll be super vibrant in front of the backdrop of snow.”
