“Please don’t,” Victoria said, but she was laughing.
“Too late, I’ve already started a file.” Cyrene pulled back, studying Victoria’s face with frank delight. “You were the last to marry but the quickest to fall. What was it, three days?”
“The emotional data collection was simply more efficient,” Victoria said, her researcher voice arriving fully formed. “Accelerated exposure to relevant variables produced faster results.”
“She’s been practicing that explanation,” I said.
Victoria’s elbow found my ribs.
Cyrene’s husband Kieran joined us, the vampire’s movements carrying a quiet authority that made most people step back without knowing why. He nodded to me with the particular respect of someone who’d sized you up and decided you’d passed. Cyrene’s drake companion sent a small jet of flame toward the garden hedge and Kieran redirected it without looking.
“He’s adding ambience,” Cyrene said.
“That’s one word for it,” Kieran said.
Adele and Raoul appeared next, Adele already holding scrolls and talking before she’d fully arrived, her basset houndwaddling at her heels. She and Victoria immediately fell into a conversation about magical flow patterns that I followed for approximately ten seconds before exchanging a look with Raoul that said everything. Sasha and Dominic found us shortly after, the fae king watching his wife the way I watched mine, like he still couldn’t quite believe his luck.
Victoria looked at all of them, something quiet moving across her face. “Each of us found such different matches. Joy witch and vampire. Weather witch and dragon shifter. Strategy witch and fae. Researcher witch and wolf shifter.”
Elizabeth called out, urging us to join her where she stood on a small platform, prepared to make a speech.
“Family,” she said after we’d joined the other guests. “Alliance. Love. These are the strongest magics of all.” She paused, looking at each couple in turn. “I guided you, yes. But I didn’t force. Each of you chose your own path to happiness. That’s what makes this work so well. May you all have many happy years together.”
Victoria’s hand found mine and squeezed.
Elizabeth stepped down off the platform and urged everyone to fill plates and pour drinks.
The gathering continued, and we ate and talked and celebrated. After we’d finished eating, Victoria caught my eye and smiled. Understanding passed between us, one that didn’t need words. We’d done our duty here. It was time to slip away. We rose and started edging away from the group.
“You’re leaving your own reception again?” Sasha called out.
“We seem to make a habit of it, don’t we?” Victoria said with a grin, her hand tight in mine.
“We have important research to conduct,” I said, keeping my expression serious.
Adele snorted. “That’s not a weather pattern you’re studying.”
Elizabeth waved us away with one hand.
Acorn appeared on a nearby branch with his friend, and Victoria relayed his message.The wolf and witch who slip away have earned the right to spend the day, in ways that make old squirrels blush, and speak in rhymes that make me hush.
Victoria’s face went red, but she laughed as we escaped into the deeper section of Elizabeth’s gardens.
The noise of the party faded behind us. We found a secluded spot beneath an ancient tree with a carved bench that looked like it had been waiting for us.
“We’re terrible at receptions,” Victoria said.
I pulled her down onto my lap. “We’re excellent at knowing what we want.”
She leaned into my chest, and we looked back toward where the party continued without us.
Four couples who’d started as arranged marriages and chosen to make them real. Elizabeth’s matchmaking had worked better than anyone could have predicted.
I thought about how close I’d come to losing this by staying isolated. I’d tried to hold everything together alone instead of accepting help.
“I nearly missed you,” I said. “If Elizabeth hadn’t arranged it, I would’ve kept running my territory on my own until everything broke.”
“I would’ve kept myself buried in research and called it enough.” Victoria wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “We would’ve missed each other.”
