Page 20

Chapter Twenty

C lover silently ticked off the list of things she would need right away, picturing the suitcase she’d left upstairs as her chocolate chip waffles popped up from the toaster.

She spread them with butter and poured maple syrup on top before taking her plate and fork to the kitchen table.

Mom and Dad already sat at the table, eating and chatting about something they saw on their newsfeeds. There was too much horror in the world at the moment, so Clover tuned out their conversation in favor of basking in the atmosphere.

Though excitement thrummed through her at the thought of this new chapter in her life, a twinge of sadness accompanied it. This was likely the last breakfast she would have with her family like this. She hadn’t expected it to be gone so suddenly.

Llew thumped down the stairs and entered the kitchen just as Clover was bringing her first bite of waffle to her mouth.

“Ooo! Chocolate chip waffles! I think I’ll have that, too,” he said, heading toward the freezer.

“There aren’t any left,” Clover informed him after swallowing.

He groaned with disappointment. Clover frowned down at her plate.

“You can have mine,” she offered her brother.

Llew froze, then leveled a squint at her. “Why…?”

Clover shrugged innocently. “Do I need a reason to be nice to my little brother?”

“Usually.”

She scowled. It wasn’t true to say she was never nice to him, but she acknowledged that sharing her food with him was a rarity.

“If you don’t want them?—”

“I never said that. I just want to know what they’ll cost.” He moved to the table and sat beside her.

She waited until after he’d already put the plate before him and taken a big, syrupy bite.

“Would you mind covering my shift today?”

Llew pursed his lips, and Clover half expected him to spit his mouthful out.

“Do you have plans?” Mom asked. “You didn’t say anything.”

Clover hesitated. She knew this was the right time to tell them everything—the only time really—but she still hadn’t figured out how to break it to them. “I didn’t know until last night,” she said, buying herself some time.

She stood from the table. “I think there are some blueberry waffles in the freezer.”

But when she turned away, a loud, insistent knock pounded on the front door.

“I’ll get it.” Clover’s voice croaked with panic. Surely, that’s not Whit already. It’s not even nine yet.

She hurried through the living room to the door. But the relief she felt at finding Ari there didn’t last more than a moment. Her friend’s eyes blazed, and her face was red with rage.

“I can’t believe you, Clover!” she yelled, storming into the house, stomping her feet the whole way. “How could you do this? And you didn’t even say anything, not even to me!”

Clover blinked, following Ari farther into the living room. “Wha?—”

Ari shoved her cellphone into Clover’s face, pointing at the photo Rania had taken of her and Whit the day before. Clover’s stomach dropped. Isn’t there priestess-client confidentiality or something?

“You got married?” Ari shouted. “You got married by Rhys’s sister, and you didn’t think to mention it? Hell, you asked me for her number. I thought we were friends.”

Ari’s voice broke on the last word, hurt seeping into the rage.

“What does she mean you got married?” Mom asked, confusion on her face as she, Dad, and Llew came into the room—no doubt called forth by Ari’s shouting.

“What are you talking about, Ariadne?” Mom turned to Ari, who handed her the phone.

Mom gasped, and Clover flinched at the sound.

“Clover, you didn’t ,” Mom whispered.

“No way!” Llew grabbed the phone. “Who’d marry you? Who’s this? I’ve never seen him.”

Clover’s mind whirled so much that she couldn’t even respond to that little brotherly dig.

“Oho! Who?” Ari yelled, getting louder with every word. “Who, you ask?” She shook her head in disgust. “I can’t say I’m surprised you kept this from me and even your own family.” Ari turned toward Clover’s dumbfounded family. “Clover married a winter sorcerer.”

Silence settled over them like the dust from a shell-blast.

There it was. The truth was out, and there was nothing left to do. Clover took a deep breath, raised her head, and squared her shoulders.

The shock and horror she found in the faces of her loved ones twisted her heart. Even Dad—always so stoic—wore his surprise plainly.

“Clover, is that true?” Dad asked gently.

“Yes,” Clover answered seriously. “Yes, it’s true. Yesterday, I married a winter sorcerer.”

“Fucking hell!” Llew exclaimed. “You mean, you married a corpse lover?”

Clover frowned. “Don’t call them that.”

Llew stepped forward. “You’re defending them now?”

Clover sighed in exasperation. “This feud is stupid anyway. Why shouldn’t I marry a winter sorcerer? Why shouldn’t I marry whoever I want? Are they so different from us? Mom, even you tell Llew and his friends to leave the winter faction alone. You’ve always discouraged the feud.”

Mom shook her head. She had that quiet anger—the ticking time-bomb that could go off at any moment. “Not picking a fight with the winter faction isn’t the same as marrying one of them. How could you do this? Even setting aside betraying your faction”—Clover flinched at the word betraying—“you got married in secret without even telling anyone. You know very well anything you have to do in secret probably shouldn’t be done. You didn’t tell us because you knew we would stop you! You knew we wouldn’t approve, and you did it anyway! If you truly thought this was the right decision, you wouldn’t have hidden it from us!”

“Yes, I knew you would try to stop me,” Clover argued. “I knew, and that’s why I didn’t tell you. But not because it wasn’t the right thing to do. I know with everything I am that it was the right thing to do. And if you’d get over your own prejudices, you would listen to my reasoning.”

A throat cleared from behind Clover, and she glanced over her shoulder to find Whit standing at the entrance to the living room.

He dipped his head self-consciously. “Your front door was open… I knocked…but…”

Llew surged toward Whit, his eyes blazing with fury. “Is this him? You winter fuck?—”

Clover stepped between the two men, forcing Llew to halt his progress across the room.

“That’s my husband you’re talking to,” she snapped.

Llew smirked darkly. “Not for long. You’re about to be a widow.” He moved to step around her, but she moved with him.

“If you think I’m not going to defend him, then you’re sorely mistaken. Don’t you dare.”

“If you think I’m going to hand you over to some winter bastard, you don’t know me very well,” Llew snarled down at her.

“It’s a good thing I’m a grown woman who can make her own decisions, then. I don’t need you to hand me over to anyone. I don’t need your permission, Llewellyn, or anyone’s.” Clover leveled her fiercest glare at her brother, then shared it with the rest of her family and Ari—emphasizing just how serious she was.

“Well,” Dad said calmly. “You’ve made your stance clear. There’s nothing else that needs to be said.”

“Oh, yes, there is!” Mom raged. “There’s plenty I have to say.”

“Perhaps it should wait until everyone has had a chance to calm down,” Dad suggested.

Mom bit her lips, looking very much like she did not want to reconvene at another time.

Clover backed down as well, turning to Whit—whose expression and demeanor were tense and tight. She tried to give him a reassuring smile. “My room is upstairs. I’ll show you the way.”