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Kate Kole and the Wedding Day

The thing about Kate Kole was that there was a time she felt like she didn’t exist. She’d been a student who sat at the back of the class under a fake name, a struggling entrepreneur with debts to pay, and a mostly noiseless presence apart from those rare occasions when she saw something unfair happening and felt the need to intervene instead of minding her own business. The days before fairies had been slower, quieter, and frankly, easier in some respects. But she wouldn’t go back to that life if given the choice. She wouldn’t choose to return to the mundane feeling of nonexistence. Not after she’d learned what it felt like to be the centre of someone’s entire universe.

Well… sometimes, anyway. Cress was the centre of his own universe on a normal day, but there were moments where Kate knew he would have abandoned everything in a heartbeat if it would bring a smile to her face. The fae Prince who’d barged into her life ready to kill her in a revenge hunt had come a long way since the day he’d shown up in a stolen police uniform and pinned her back against the café wall with death in his trained assassin eyes.

The mirror in the back room of the church was so big it made Kate look like a giant. Her hair fell in soft, burgundy waves around her shoulders, making her feel like a full-fledged fairy queen. She and Cress had been at odds for the last three months about what colour her hair should be for the wedding. He’d finally won, claiming he would “tangle it into elf-locks the night before the wedding” if she didn’t comply with the ‘burgundy theme’ of his once-in-a-lifetime wedding. He hadn’t looked like he’d been joking either.

Frankly, Kate didn’t really care what colour her hair was. It had just been funny to see him argue about it so hard, and sometimes she was just curious about how far she could push him before he would snap out some ridiculous claim that actually had nothing to do with her or the wedding and she’d get to watch him binge-eat cookies for three days straight.

“You look awesome. Seriously, Cress will faint,” Lily said as she entered the back room with a grin. Her long burgundy bridesmaids’ dress fit her so well, Kate was sure she’d turn heads. Kate had chosen the sleeveless style for Lily to wear on purpose so everyone could see her tattoos.

“I hope not. He’ll be so mad if he misses his own wedding after all this planning.” Kate set her bouquet on an end table and swished her dress back and forth in front of the mirror. “This is pretty poofy. Should I change dresses at the last minute and give Cress a heart attack after he shopped for the perfect dress for like four months?”

Lily laughed. “Spare us all the next ten years we’ll have to listen to him complain about it,” she said. A moment later, she leaned and peeked out the door. “They’re ready for us. Greyson is waving us over.”

Kate took in a deep breath. She wasn’t nervous, really, it was more like excitement jitters. Even though her boyfriend was unconventional, Kate had always imagined she would get married one day, unlike Lily, who’d spent her young adult years claiming she’d stay independent—though Lily’s mind seemed to have been changing lately. Kate caught her staring at Shayne’s back all the time when he was turned around. The two were practically magnets that couldn’t stop being pulled together.

“Mom and Dad would have loved Cress, right?” Kate asked as Lily swung the door wide open so she could fit through. “I mean, Grandma Lewis did. Greyson does.”

“Totally,” Lily said. “He’s pretty solid in the ‘capable of protecting his wife’ department. And he works hard, he’s good at selling coffee, and he wants to be a dad. That’s a lot of wins.”

Kate chuckled as she slid out of the room, filling most of the hallway with her dress. “Yeah, we let him get away with too much though. Grandma Lewis would’ve let Cress have it for enslaving me, even though he saved my life. She would have kept Shayne in check now that he’s enslaved you, too.”

“Well, now we have Mor for that.” Lily reached over to adjust Kate’s skirt and hair as they reached the entrance to the sanctuary. Greyson jogged over in a dashing suit.

“You ready?” he asked Kate with an enormous smile.

“Cress wouldn’t let me leave even if I wasn’t,” Kate joked. “You two are going to have my back when I tell him I only want four kids maximum, right?”

“Sure,” Greyson said with a shrug. “I can’t wait to be an uncle.” He stuck out his arm, and Kate took it. “Oh… and before we go in, I should probably warn you…”

Kate found Greyson wincing when she glanced over. “What?” Her smile fizzled away. “What happened?”

“Well, Cress is just…” Greyson shook his head. “Never mind. Go on ahead, Lily. They’re playing the song.”

Lily flashed Kate one last smile before heading through the entrance and making her way down the long aisle scattered with burgundy rose petals. It was the first chance Kate got to peek into the sanctuary. She saw hundreds of people she knew filling the pews and the fae baristas standing in a row at the front. Shayne bit his lips over a closed-mouth smile when he saw Lily. Then he mouthed the word, “ Hot ” at her.

Lily blushed and shook her head as she headed to the opposite side of the stage. She stood alone over there as Kate’s sole bridesmaid, so it was pretty obvious who Shayne was ogling at when he leaned forward to see past Mor.

The Sisterhood of Assassins took up the front rows of the church, fashioning full-on knit dresses—all but Mycra who wore a bright green summer dress that matched her eyes. Behind them was Violet with her interns—Remi and Jase—and behind them were a few acquaintances Kate knew from high school and college. Luc sat at the end of a pew, holding tight to Dog-Shayne’s leash. Some of Grandma Lewis’s old friends had even made the trip, and a few of the neighbours of Fae Café had come, too. Greyson waved at Lincoln and Tegan in the back row.

The song increased in volume, and it was exactly the second Greyson tugged her through the entrance on his arm, the same second she felt the stares of all those hundreds of people upon her, that she noticed Cress.

Cress was bawling too hard to keep his eyes open. It was so dramatic, Kate almost stopped walking.

“Keep moving,” Greyson said through his teeth behind a plastered smile.

Cress sniffed, took in a deep breath and composed himself for about a second. Then he opened his eyes, saw Kate, and released a loud wail before starting to cry all over again. This time, Greyson pressed a fist over his mouth and snorted a quiet laugh.

From the pews, Kate heard Luc mumble, “What a loser.”

“Sorry,” Greyson whispered to Kate. “I can’t stop laughing. It’s like he’s doing this to himself.”

“Has he been like this all day?” Kate asked quietly.

Greyson scratched the back of his head. “You don’t wanna know.”

Kate watched her strong, handsome fae Prince make a complete fool of himself in front of everyone, and a slow grin spread across her face. If she was being honest, Kate would have preferred to ditch the wedding, grab Cress, and run away with him for a while. If nothing else, his antics would keep her amused for the rest of her life.

Greyson let her go when they reached the front of the sanctuary, and Kate almost didn’t have time to pass her bouquet to Lily before Cress leapt forward and clutched Kate’s hands tightly in his.

“This is the best day of my faeborn life!” he announced. “You’re everything I ever wanted, Katherine.” He loudly sniffed—for a long time, too. Mor was fighting to stay straight-faced behind him. The pastor opened his mouth to begin the ceremony, but Cress cut him off and went on, “Katherine Lewis, you’re so simple.”

Kate’s face changed. “What?”

“Everything about you is simple! And so plain,” Cress loudly declared. “You don’t have it in you to form cunning, manipulative, tricky thoughts. Even your thoughts are simple.” He put a finger against his pursed lips and shook his head.

Kate released a strange laugh and pushed her hair behind her ear as she murmured, “Uh… I don’t think you realize what it means to call someone simple in this realm, Cress—”

“You’re just so ordinary and simple!” He practically shouted it. “It’s perfect for me. I’m like a glowing star. There can’t be two glowing stars in a relationship—it would never work!”

Shayne leaned back and whispered to Dranian, “I should have brought popcorn.”

Somewhere past that handsome face of his, Kate was sure Cress actually thought he was flattering her. And with the way he held both of her hands, facing her before the church… Kate’s eyes widened.

“Are these your vows?” she asked in horror. She glanced over at the pastor who didn’t seem to know what to do at this point.

“Absolutely not!” Cress stated. “My vows are exceptional. Just wait until you hear them.” He dropped one of her hands to reach into his suit pocket, and he drew out a paper. He took one look at it, then burst out crying again. He shoved the paper behind him and mumbled something along the lines of, “I can’t. I can’t do it, Mor. You must read it for me as the Best of the Men.”

Mor sighed and took the paper, and everyone in the sanctuary relaxed a little. Dranian didn’t have much of an expression, but Shayne was grinning ear-to-ear.

Mor raised the paper to read Cress’s vows before the whole church. He cleared his throat, and read, “Kate, you’re so simple…” He paused. Mor’s eyes scanned the rest of the vows on the page, and after a moment, he seemed to think better about reading them. He folded the paper and tucked it into his own suit jacket pocket. Then he looked up at Kate and said, “He loves you, Kate. That’s all.”

“I love you, Katherine!” Cress growled it for the entire human realm to hear, and people shrieked and threw their hands over their ears as the pews rattled and a large crack formed across one of the stained-glass windows.

Kate’s jaw dropped, and her hand flew to her forehead as she took in the ruined glass. “ Unreal , Cress!” she said, but her mouth tugged at the corners. Then, against her better judgement, she burst out laughing, because she only had herself to blame for thinking this day might actually happen normally. She grabbed her stomach and lost her balance as her laughs filled the stage, and Cress almost didn’t catch her before she would have hit the floor.

“What’s wrong with her?” Cress demanded. He set Kate down on the dais stair, stood, turned, and glared at everyone in the pews with menacing, cold eyes. Clouds formed in the sky outside, blotting out the sun and blanketing the church in darkness. “Who fed her enchanted laughing weeds?” he growled. Then, he pointed through the crowd, right at Luc. “Was it you, Fox?” he asked. “You look awfully suspicious!”

Luc lazily raised both hands. “Wasn’t me,” he promised in a bored voice.

“Cress…” Mor warned. “You’re turning your wedding into a trial.”

“Great! Is the wedding over then? Is it time for presents yet?” Shayne asked. He reached past Mor and poked Cress in the back of his shoulder. “I brought lots of pie as your gift. You’re going to love what I have planned,” he said.

Kate sighed as Cress reached down and lifted her, draping her over his arms without difficulty, even with the extra weight of her dress, like he planned to march her right out of the church. His jaw was set when he looked into her eyes, but even though he was scowling, Kate smiled and planted a deep kiss on his mouth in front of all their friends. A few whistles and cheers lifted from the nervous guests.

The hardness melted from Cress’s face. After a second, he dropped her legs and pulled her tight against him, molding into the kiss like it was suddenly the only thing that mattered in the universe.

When he drew away, he gazed at Kate. She flashed him one more smile for good measure, and she said, “I love you too, Cress. Happy wedding day.”

Cress burst out crying.

“This is the greatest day, ever!” he shouted. “Let’s go eat Shayne’s pie!”

The Happy Faeborn End of Everything