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She looked around, but she didn’t see where he’d hidden after he’d hung out the door and yelled at her. Cress was charming some poor, innocent girl by the counter, trying to convince her to add six slices of pie to her coffee order. She could see Mor through the cracked-open kitchen door, whipping up a batch of gingerbread cookies like it was nobody’s business.

“Shayne?” she called. She turned all the way around once before she was grabbed and dragged into the narrow hallway by the door.

Shayne was biting his bottom lip over a smile as he nudged her against the wall and slinked his fingers into her hair without warning. “I have an idea!” he said in a loud whisper. He began twirling her hair around his fingers.

“Great.” Lily sighed. She took another sip of her coffee to hear him out, even though she knew in about two seconds she was probably going to have to try to talk him out of whatever his new idea was.

“Let’s host a pie eating contest at Cress’s wedding!” he said with so much excitement italmostrubbed off on her.

“That’s a terrible idea. He’ll kill you in front of everyone. Literally,” she said.

Shayne shook his head. “You’re wrong. I’m doing it.”

She wasn’t ready when he swooped in and pecked her on the mouth with a kiss. She stood there, frozen for a minute as he scurried off. Her hand rose and pressed against her thudding chest. Then she brushed her fingers along her lips where leftover traces of him warmed her skin. She snapped out of it a second later and wandered after him.

“Shayne! Let’s talk about the pie thing…” she called, but when she came out of the hall, she found him sitting at one of the bistro tables with Luc, Dranian, and Greyson.

“He’ll be in the kitchen for a while. Let’s hurry,” Mor said as he scooted into the chair beside Dranian. Cardstock paper covered the tabletop along with a handful of pens that looked like they either came from Mor’s cathedral or Shayne’s pockets.

“What are you doing?” Lily asked.

“We’re writing ‘best wishes’ letters to Cress for his wedding day,” Mor told her. “We read about it in one of the bridal magazines Cress has upstairs.”

“I don’t know what to write,” Greyson said. He tapped his pen on the table and turned to Luc who was already scribbling across his piece of paper. “What are you writing?”

“An ancient proverb,” Luc replied without missing a beat.

“Nice,” Greyson said with an odd face. “I don’t know any of those. Which one did you choose?”

Luc finished, picked up his tiny espresso mug and sipped it with his pinky in the air, then lifted his letter and read, “Cressica, you’re quite fast.”

Greyson waited, and when Luc didn’t explain, he nodded. “Cool—”

“Because intelligent thoughts have always chased you,” Luc went on. “But you were always faster.” Luc lowered his letter and sipped his drink again. His gaze shot right to Lily like he expected her to comment.

And she did. “Seriously?”

Luc set his espresso carefully on the table and said, “I’m not changing it.”

“Yes, you are. Write something else, Luc,” Mor said as he focused on his own letter.

Luc grumbled as Lily abandoned her coffee on the nearest table and folded her arms to watched them. She had to admit, it was pretty thoughtful that they came up with this on their own.

“What are you writing, Mor?” Greyson asked.

“It’s a secret. It’s only for Cress to know,” Mor returned. “It’s between brothers.”

Greyson tilted his head. “I’llactually beCress’s brother after the wedding,” he pointed out.

Luc yanked a newly scribbled letter into the air and began reading: “Cressica, it’s better to stay silent and have people wonder if you’re a fool than to open your mouth and have everyone know for sure.”

“Luc,” Mor warned dully. “That’s not true. Cress isn’t a fool when he speaks.”

“I’d agree with you, Trisencor, but then we’d both be wrong.” Luc folded his letter, stuck it in an envelope, and then sat back to sip on his coffee while the rest of them finished.

Shayne lifted his letter and read aloud, “To the Mighty Prince of the North: You are wise in everything regarding fairies. But when it comes to human-y things, unfortunately, it’s people like you that are the reason cleaning products have warning labels.”

Mor bit down on a smile.