Chapter Eighteen
Halle was starting to get a little nervous as she stepped into the large shower all alone the next morning. The night before, after a lovely dinner of delicious prime rib that they’d eaten snuggled up in bed, Viktor had spent hours making love to her until they’d finally drifted off to sleep exhausted. This morning, however, the Viktor she’d woken up next to was not the same man who’d held her all night. He was back to the distant warrior she’d first met, and it was freaking her out. She knew that he was worried about going in to see the Para Council today and for a male so capable to worry about it? Well, that, in turn, worried her even more, so when Dori magically popped into the bathroom as she was stepping out of the shower, Halle was relieved to see the fairy.
“Dori! I’m kind of freaking out here. How is this going to go today?” she asked, as she dried herself off. “Conrad is going to be there, isn’t he?”
Dori certainly wasn’t looking like her sassy, sarcastic self when Halle asked after Conrad, which only made the butterflies in her stomach ten times worse.
“As your Fairy Godmother, I am only allowed to show you the path to your Happy Ever After. The rest is supposed to be up to you. But I do have a message I can give you, Halle: don’t be afraid to fight for what is yours. You’re stronger than you think,” Dori said with a wink and stole a quick hug before she disappeared.
“Dori! Get back here. What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Halle yelled at the mirror.
The bathroom door burst open and Viktor rushed in ready for battle.
“Are you all right, Halle?” he growled, looking frantically around. “Who were you yelling at?”
“What? Oh, it was just a little pep talk to my reflection before we go,” she answered with a fake smile, hoping that her face wasn’t flaming red with embarrassment for being caught supposedly yelling at herself. “I’m almost ready.”
She saw him visibly relax when he confirmed that she was alone in the bathroom.
“Molly brought you some new clothes, love. I laid them out on the bed for you,” he said as he walked up and kissed her. “We need to go in forty minutes. I intend to leave as little a time gap as possible between our arrival and our appointment time for things to go wrong.”
“Okay, no problem,” she answered, trying to sound a lot braver than she was feeling.
“Molly has breakfast ready for us downstairs,” Viktor said before he took her hand. “I know you’re worried, Halle, but it will be okay. In a few hours, we’ll be back here and we can start planning our life together.”
“I know, I’ve just never had this much to lose before, and it’s scaring the hell out of me.” She stepped into his arms and snuggled close.
“I have no intention of losing you, now that I’ve found you, Halle. The universe couldn’t be so cruel.”
Halle just stood there in his arms, soaking up the warmth. She hoped that the universe wasn’t going to screw them over this morning. She hoped that she’d done enough to ensure Conrad wouldn’t get his way. But then again, she knew from experience that the world wasn’t a fair place.
She could barely eat as they sat at the table downstairs. She knew that Viktor had to be just as worried as she was when she saw Molly and Gerald join them for breakfast. In the week that she’d been there, not once had the other couple sat and eaten with them. When breakfast was over, Molly gathered her into a tight hug.
“I wish that we could go with you, love, but here, let me send a little bit of me own protection with ya,” the small woman said, as she placed an old amulet around Halle’s neck. Halle could feel the wild magic in it, and it sent a shiver through her.
Brownies were technically categorized as under-fae and had a magic that was much different from that of shifters and vampires. It was raw and wild, and they could manipulate it in many different ways. You never wanted to offend any of the under-fae species as they could become quite unpredictable and aggressive. But they were also fiercely protective once they’d taken a liking to you, and Halle felt blessed to have won over the sweet female.
“You both take care now. We’ll be making you a grand dinner tonight to celebrate your official mating. We will be seeing you soon,” Gerald added with a confident nod, as he put his arm around his wife’s small shoulders.
“Thank you, Gerald. That makes me feel better,” Viktor said, as he took Halle’s hand and led her out to the car.
“What was that all about?” Halle asked as they pulled out of the drive.
“Gerald’s great-grandmother was a full fae noblewoman. He has the gift of foresight passed down from her. He doesn’t see things all the time, but he has saved my ass on more than one occasion over the years. Although, brownies are a tricky lot, so hopefully that wasn’t just him trying to make us feel better about us driving off to our impending doom,” he said with a small smile.
“They’ve been with you a long time, haven’t they?”
“Over sixty years now. Molly’s family has worked for me for three generations, and brownies can live to be hundreds of years old. They’re the closest thing to family I’ve had since I was turned.”
“Well I hope they’re right about dinner then,” Halle said, as she took his hand in hers and wrapped the other around the necklace Molly had given her.