Yield (25 page)

He made it better, but I would never get used to girls all over him like he’s a rock star.  I swear he felt me before I emerged from the corner I’d hid within.  It’s like he didn’t lose his abilities at all.

The day turned into night and before I knew it, the wedding day was here.  Now, I can
’t say this day was quite like I pictured, but what girl would.  Pretending to marry a guy so you can tell his (and mine) people that we weren’t right for each other, call off the wedding, hopefully marry another (maybe today), and help the other guy marry the girl he really wanted to marry that wasn’t me.  Oh, and admit I was a cursed witch, but now I’m not, and I want to be your queen if it means you’ll be nice and all work together.

But who
’s asking?

The dress was more elaborate than I would have chosen with frills all over the fluffed out skirt and tiny pearls lining the entire bodice.  It was strapless, but the arm sleeves went all the way to my armpits cutting off blood flow.  So much for being fitted perfect to me.

Walking out slow in the heels was a must.  I took in the large crowd and immediately starting searching for the faces I needed to be able to see.  The elders.  Caydon was gorgeous standing at the front of the lined white carpet covered in flower petals.  A silver suit, his blonde hair was brushed back and he looked sleek and sexy.  Lily is probably bursting with pride.  I can’t wait for the two of them to be happy together. 

I saw Katelyn and Wicker all dressed in their finest sitting together beside a squirming Trigger who kept pulling on his dress shirt that I know he very much didn
’t want tucked in.  All the guards were here. Everyone.  I eyed the first of the elders who helped me with my mom’s letters near the front of the crowd with Lily beside him.  I have met them on several occasions and have yet to be impressed with their living in the past philosophies.  I have my work cut out for me to IMPRESS them.  In their eyes, the books are never wrong.  Ames said he kissed me because his own realm’s records show me to be a long achieved leader.  It did it up true…so far.

I found the last elder and scanned back over to check my count when I saw Ames.  His arm was to his mouth like he was rubbing his chin when he looked my way.  The storms in his eyes were so clear to me, magic or not.  He was a combination of an awe I
’ve never felt except when he looks at me and something dark.  And he didn’t like that I wasn’t walking towards him. 

Standing to the side as support for his fellow ruler, Ames was seen as the one giving the girl up.  That
’s what he said to me anyway.  He didn’t like how that made me look.

I assured him I was a big girl and could stand up here and voice what I felt was a step in the right direction for changing the tides.  He agreed but when my heart sped up and my dread set in, I swear he almost could read my emotions again.  His face reacted so easily.

I made it about halfway to Caydon and knew it was now or never.  I stopped.  I was even with the first row making the elders just behind me.  Here goes nothing.

When she came out that door, I wasn
’t looking.  With no music I couldn’t know when she would enter.  I itched like a mad dog in the monkey suit and my face was feeling all the scratchiness of the material tight around every muscle.  And verdangit id they couldn’t make make something for a man to not have to adjust every ten minutes because of the way it cuts off your manhood.  A guy could be sterile before the wedding night ever comes.

With that thought I got angry.  I didn
’t want to do this when she concocted the idea, and I don’t want to do it now.

That
’s when I saw her.  Like the day I first saw her, felt her, in that horrible human school.  I was taken by her perfection.

She was beautiful.  Any man could see that.  But it was her smile.  Her eyes.  The way they said things.  When her lips tipped up and her eyes lit up, I was completely under her spell all over again.  Her hands fisted the dress at her waist as if she knew what I was warring over.  I didn
’t want to share, verdangit.

She was mine.

A few hundred eyes were the only thing that held me back. 

And I hated that dress. It wasn
’t for me.  When I ask her to marry me, I’d request less dress and more her.  Not tacky, just not so frilly.

She stopped, took her eyes off me, and moved her skirt behind her back as she faced the crowd.

I was ready for a war checking my daggers and knives, poisons and fellow comrades at the ready.

“
I don’t love this man.  I can’t marry him.”  She said loud.  A collective gasp swarmed over the crowd.

The oldest elder from my court laughed in the front row.  I still didn
’t know his name.  He’d always made me call him Elder.

“I understand that you are honorable people who want to follow the law and wish to stay under the advisement of our courageous kings before.  One of those kings was my father.  I wish like anything he could be here today to tell us what he thinks would be the right choice for our future.  However, he is not.  He lef
t me with a heavy burden to bear including a treaty that I now know was made in haste to a fear he had for his daughter.  I want you to know what that treaty says and what it means.”

“You need to do what is expected of you young lady and not go against what those who are wiser have chosen for you.”  One guy, the oldest in the crowd, stood and pointed to her chin.  He was in the second row, but his height made him get a little closer than I liked.

“You are right, Elder Ross.  I had a wise father who did what he had to do to make sure I was safe for the future.  Now if you will allow me, I want to read the treaty.”

Emma read it.  Every eager ear in the whole garden leaned on the edge of their seat.  Their ears seemed far from open because the same elder stood again and told her she wasn
’t allowed to share that with anyone.

Shouldn
’t he have mentioned that before she read it if it was so important to him?  I knew this law, but no one said anything before and no one complained but him.

“
I don’t know what other books are hidden in your libraries or what secrets they hold, but hiding it only hurts our future and what could be prevented.  I am like my mother.  You know my father was the goblin king and my mother was human.  But she wasn’t just human.”

Uh oh!  This wasn
’t part of the plan.

“My mother was also a witch.”

The crowd all stood in unison.  Yells and taunts rang out.  Caydon and I made our unwanted look of preparedness had it come to this and set our weapons at the ready.  We weren’t enemies until this made us to be.  We knew it going in.  I just didn’t think Emma would finalize it so fast. 

Her hands went out like they did when her magic was in force, but nothing became of it.  Her face showed it too.  At her own surprise, she lowered her hands and looked to me. 

“Enough!” I yelled.  The front section heard me well enough to shut up immediately.  I yelled it again and the crowd fanned back the message to shut their pie holes.

“Listen to what she has to say.  She is King Warren
’s daughter and she deserves your respect.”

She smiled appreciatively and faced them.  “I was like my mother.  I was a witch, but...” she had to talk loud to cover the mouthy audience, “BUT I am not one anymore.  I had it removed.  Due to a family curse that is a long story anyone can ask me later about, every female in the history of my family married the goblin king and died young.  They originally thought it was that I could not marry a member of the Cahn family, but I know different.  If that were the case, my mother would not have died. She didn
’t marry a member of the Cahn family.” 

Emma took a breath and started back up after they realized she was right about her mom not marrying a Cahn and nulls and voids the curse.  “With that said, I am not cursed, I am not a witch, and my father
’s treaty does not hold.  I know it may not say it explicitly, but it is the reason it was written in the first place. To save their cursed daughter.”

“What proof do you have?”  Old man Ross shouted.

This was a problem.

Emma looked at me for help.  “
I don’t.”

“
But we do.”  Two older female voices said behind the crowd.

The grandmothers.

I wasn’t a crier.  But seeing the two living members of both our families here at a place they both seemed, uninvited, was spectacular.  I forgot for a second what I was doing just seeing them here.  Together.

And it hurt to know they
’ve known each other all their lives and we were just a notch in their lifeline.  Witch Coven business or not, family is still family.

“
I am Emma’s human/witch grandmother.”

“
And I am Ames’ human/witch grandmother.”

Uh, oh!  This wasn
’t in my plan.

Suddenly, the crowd forgot all about me.  All they heard was that Ames was related to a witch.

All that had sat were standing again and looking more and more like an angry mob. Even his own realm was in an uproar.

“STOP!” I yelled.

Nothing changed.

I yelled it again.

Nothing.

“BE STILL!” yelled Grandma Clark.  And wouldn
’t you know it, everyone stood stark still.

Pin drop silence followed until Grandma Ryman leaned in and whispered to Grandma Clark.  I felt like I was in a scene of Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler and Kathy Najimy. 

Grandma Clark spoke loud enough for all to hear, “I think you owe it to this courageous young woman to hear what she has to say.  Her wisdom is profound for such an age and you would do well to hear her out.”

One of the elders from Ames
’ realm started to raise his hand out and before I knew it, the guy was seated and looked as if he were being held down to his seat. 

No.  This wasn
’t going to end well at all.

The grandma
’s motioned to me encouragingly.  Great!  It’s impossible to hate them now.

Summoning the “
courage” they claimed I had, I asked a question.  I tried to sound strong and authoritative.

“Why can
’t our realms be a joint effort like a democracy?  We are different in our own ways no matter what kind we surface from.  When my mother was human, you hated her, then accepted it because the king did.  You had no idea my mother was a witch  and yet you revered her in death.  Do you really want to continue the mindset that any one man can decide your fate even if you are the innocent that got wrongly accused?” I looked to Ames feeling bad for my implications, but he understood my reasoning.

“Let us make a new treaty that says talent lies in us all and where one can make a single decision, many can make a realm worthy of fairness, loyalty, respect, and unity.  My times living in the human world taught me this.  When everyone is seen as each single unit and never work together in one accord to accomplish greatness, everyone loses without knowing what battles they were fighting for in the first place. All you
’re left with is single-mindedness, loneliness, and sadness.  And no one wins.”

I don’
t know if anyone in the entire garden area has remembered I even exist.  It seems I’m not the only one bewitched by her words, pardoning the irony.

The people were in awe and didn
’t hesitate to follow her lead with her next words.

“And I have proof.  I was mistaken before.  I have my mother
’s journals that tell much of what I said and letters that tell the rest.”

Elder Ross stood yet again.  “And why would you have her journals when we knew nothing about them?” he challenged her.  He gets an A+ for effort in the ass department.

“I can answer that.”  Caydon walked all the way over to her so I followed and cut him off before he could touch her.   “I gave them to her.  They belong to her mother, so I left them in her armoire and let Jem read them.”

“What gave you that right?” 

Man, I can tell the elders are a stingy, grouchy crew in every realm.

Caydon was hesitant till this point, but he was very driven by his next statement.  “What gives the elders the right to hide the law books, but you do?”

Elder Ross fumed, but said nothing else.

“And I have the rest.  It was me the queen was writing too.”  Mrs. Ryman spoke aloud for the first time.

“Who are you?” Another one of her realm’s elders prodded.

“I am Queen Alyssa
’s mother.”

The sweeping repetitive gasp made like a wave over the group.  Duh.  Didn
’t she just announce she was the grandmother?

“Are you a witch?” a naysayer screamed out.

“No.  I am not.  I was skipped.  I regret that I am one of the few who have seen past my twenty-fifth birthday.  I vowed to change that fate for my granddaughter when I begged my daughter to make it a law in her world, your world.  She had King Warren write as so that Jem could not marry into the Cahn family as I knew what they were as well as goblin.  And now I know...I was wrong.  Not just on messing with destiny, but with it being the young man you see before you.  It wasn’t the Cahn’s, it was us.  But my very brave granddaughter gave up her inherited gift of magic to keep Mr. Cahn, not break a curse.  He is very unique and I went straight to her after my daughter died announcing my deceit.  I’d have never let Emma take her magic if I’d known, but she did it for love.  She did this one act for one man, where I could not even see past my own selfishness.”

She didn
’t make sense.  She did do all this for her daughter and granddaughter.  How am I suddenly
unique
? And she never spoke to Emma.

Mrs. Ryman turned to Emma.  “I haven
’t been completely honest.  I have the gift of being a seer.  I saw Ames’ long before anyone could. With selfish intent, I knew if you married a goblin king like my Alyssa, you would leave me too.  I made up the whole curse thing to make your mother create the treaty that would keep you from marrying him.  When the war seemed inevitable and I was to lose you, I went in there to find you, take you.” Her eyes closed.  She was crying.  “I was too late.  For a year, I thought you were dead too.  And then my coven mother found me and told me you were safe.   I had a second chance.  And for that, Virginia saved me.  She made it so I could see you.  If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t know you were alive.”

Webs were weaved less than this tangled mess of lives. 

Emma was no doubt in information overload, but my girl has a way about her.  Everyone stands at attention when she speaks.

“There
’s more.”  Mrs. Ryman continued, “I once had an actual vision.  It foretold who would lead the goblin court the generation after Ames’ father.  It wasn’t Ames I saw.”  Her eyes went to Emma.  “It was   you.  I couldn’t lose you to them too.”

Mrs. Clark stepped out from behind someone, “I can give her back what was taken.  I knew it would come.”  Elder Ross looked sideways at the woman, then back to me without a single question or scream match about what she meant.  I was just about to ask why she needed saving if she already did with the magic removal, but Emma interrupted my thoughts.

“I can’t know what is to come, but I am willing to help us get there. I honor all those of our past who have led the way.  I would like to honor you by leading a new way now.  Our old ways paving the way with the new can make us stronger.  Ames, Caydon, and I are better working together, not against each other.  You set the terms of peace, but my father left out the need for trust.  I trust Caydon to lead.  I trust Ames to lead.  I will follow either of them anywhere they lead us to go.”

With her ease of breath, the silence sat for less than a second when one small girl stood on the front row and starting clapping. 

Lily!

Elders shook their
heads released from Emma’s spell, and started spinning their hands into a clapping motion.  When they did, others followed.  Emma was a queen in her own right.

As the crowd died down, Caydon stepped in front of her. Emma reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. 

“If I may?” 

Caydon looked like a scared rabbit. 

“Caydon was so willing to follow what you asked of him, he would have married today for the sake of a piece of paper that told him too.  But he doesn’t love me, nor do I him.  He is in love with someone else.  She has been very patient and nothing but kind to me.  A girl who would have taken her very reason to live away from her.  I admire and look up to her more than she knows.  I honor you today with a wedding you will never forget.  If you will, please welcome Caydon and Lily in their happy union.”

Nothing like the reactions before bellowed out, but smiles beamed around the room.  Seems they all knew.

That kind of made me angrier.  But if it meant I would have this glorious woman speaking beside me as my own bride, I could keep my trap shut on the mishaps of others.

This day will go down in our history as the day a half goblin/half witch changed the course of a realm, or two, from destroying themselves.  The people didn
’t have much of a chance to protest.  She was in charge even when she wasn’t.

She even managed to still pull off a wedding regardless.

Emma held my hand as we watched two friends find what they truly deserved.  Happiness.