Page 49 of When the Weaver Met the Gargoyle

I frown at the desserts. “Those pies are going to be too cold to eat by the time the ceremony is over.”

“Could you bespell them to remain warm?” Kaya asks.

“Yep.”

I can also make everyone who eats one feel just a little bit happier. No harm there. Plus, I only promised Laini I wouldn’t put a love potion in tea. This is completely different. Focusing on what I want the magic to do, I cast my power over the steaming apple, fig, and blueberry pies. They glitter like someone just dusted them in starlight. Hmm. I didn’t know that was going to happen.

“It’s a common problem,” a deep voice says behind me.

I turn to see a minotaur with broad horns, a large nose ring, light brown skin, and wavy hair. Iron bands circle his horns in two places each. On his left horn, a chain runs from one band to the other. He’s handsome, but what in the hell is he talking about?

“I’m sorry, but did you think I was asking for advice? What could a minotaur possibly know about magic?”

He simply shrugs and continues on his way, disappearing beyond the chandler’s shop.

Kaya joins me in staring. “Who is he?”

“No idea. Don’t care. Now, what else should we do before the happy couple arrives?” I force my gaze away from where the minotaur entered the market. I have much, much better things to do than bother with someone who thinks they know more than I do about magic. Ridiculous.

Before Kaya can say anything, though, Rom and Laini are walking up to us. They look destroyed with joy.

I lean close to Laini. “Did you get any sleep last night, or was it all fucking all the time?”

She gasps and huffs a laugh, slapping my arm. “Behave, Tully. This is a sacred event.”

“I bet last nightwas too.”

Shaking her head, she urges Rom toward the chapel door, and soon, the rest of the town is streaming down the streets toward the ceremony.

At the chapel’s threshold, the couple stops and faces one another. As Spark and his dragonfox girlfriend fly in circles overhead, Rom takes Laini’s face in his big hands and kisses her soundly.

We all clap with approval, and I glance toward the market just to make sure that asshat minotaur isn’t coming back to rain on our parade.

Once they finish the traditional snogging on the steps, they enter the chapel, and I prepare to do my part—promising to give them aid when they need it and to honor their mating bond.

I love our little town. There’s nowhere else like it.