Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (34 page)

“Doesn’t happen.” He grinned. “I’m confident
in absolutely everything I do.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Gee, must be
hard being perfect.”

He shrugged. “Nah, it’s easy as.”

Arrogance
, thy name is
Brace.

“Okay, King Brace, I’m going to let the
girls know about the ceremony now.”

He nuzzled
into my neck. “No need to call me king,
princeps will do.”

“
How
about
asshat?” I shot back.

He captured
my lips as I opened my mouth with my next insult. My mind went
completely blank then
. He sure knew how
to distract me … wait, what was my name again?

The kiss went on for eternity, and yet ended
way too soon.

“Damn I’ve missed that.” The words tumbled
from my lips in a reckless manner.

“I want all of my memories back, Red.” Brace
kissed me again, just one gentle moment. “All I have are these
disjointed dreams. I want everything.”

I nodded. I wanted him to have them back
too. Memories were precious and it was wrong for the lalunas to
have stolen them from him. I’d never wanted that.

“
Okay, give
me a minute.” I threw out my tethers to the girls, concentrating on
not connecting to Delane. Time to see how good my control was. The
golden cord seemed a little more strained than
usual
. I guess it was spread across three
different worlds.

Abbs. What’s up?
Fury sounded
happy. She was often the first to respond.

Is everything okay?
Ria
asked.

I just wanted to let you all know that Lucy
is going to have her mating ceremony to Colt tonight. She wants you
all to be there. Can you make it back?

Talina gave
a little squeal.
Of course,
I’ll head back right now. Ladre and I found no trace of any energy
zones on the Sacred Isle. He’s off now searching the underwater
areas. I’ll come back to help him afterwards.

When she
paused
, Ria jumped in.
I’ll also leave now. Klea is
handling her role as temporary leader better than any could have
expected. She’s doing amazing. And we’ve had no trouble from the
fringe or any Walkers since I left.

I waited for Fury. She was usually the most
difficult, so there was surely some reason she couldn’t come back.
Plus she had a strange relationship with Lucy.

Dune and I have zeroed in on an area that the nomads are
holed up in. I feel some strange energy there, and the tribes
mention seeing some really odd comings and
goings
,
Fury started.
But I
don’t want to miss Luce’s big moment, so I’ll be back within the
hour.

Well, that was a surprise, although we all
knew Fury’s fire hid a pretty big heart.

Can’t wait to see you all
. Come find us when you get back in,
I said.

A chorus
of
‘byes’ echoed around when I
disconnected the tethers. My energy was fast now at severing the
ties, almost as if it had memory and knew how to do these things
without thought from me. Which was a hell of a lot better than what
I’d had to do in the past.

“
Are they
coming to the wedding
?” Brace asked as we
started moving toward the house.

I nodded.
“Yep, they haven’t had any dramas on their worlds
yet
, so we should see them
soon.”

“I let Lucas know about the ceremony, but he
said if Ria was coming he probably shouldn’t.” Brace furrowed his
brow. “Not that I don’t love the fact he’s stopped propositioning
you, but what’s the deal with Ria?”

“Lucy says they’re mates, and they both
mentioned dreams of each other from when they were young. But if
any mating would be complicated, it’s that one.”

“
You
said that you had dreams of me before we met.
Did I also dream of you?” Brace was always trying to piece together
our past.

“Yes.” I let my feelings fill that one
word.

He smiled.
“I like that. We should never have been away from each
other
. It should have been my role to
protect you until you were old enough for our bond.”

I screwed up
my nose. “That’s a little creepy
, don’t
you think?”

He laughed,
bopping me gently on my still-wrinkled nose. “You’re precious.
Imagine if something had happened to you on Earth
, and I had lost my one true mate.” He shook his head hard.
“That would not be acceptable.”

The command
in his tone had me on the edge of saluting him and shouting
‘sir, yes, sir’. I managed to
refrain.

We stepped in the front door and Lallielle
practically dived on me. “Okay, so I have everything set up down
the side of the house.” She spoke quickly, her words tumbling over
each other. “Arch, carpet, flowers, chairs, music, white birds,
rings.” Her pause was brief. “Have I forgotten anything?”

I smiled,
reaching forward to hug her hard. “Thank you. It’ll be perfect.”
Pulling back
, I released my mother. “Who
will speak at the ceremony?”

“Brace is Colton’s princeps, and Lucy will
join that Walker clan by default.” Lallielle smiled at Brace. “So
he’ll perform those duties.”

“
Not to
mention this best
-man business.” Brace
grinned, revealing his flawless teeth. “Going to be a busy
afternoon.”

“
You need to
head upstairs.” Lallielle started ushering me away. “Colton is with
Josian and Samuel in the media room
,” she
shouted back to Brace. “I’ve split the men from women as per
Earth’s tradition.”

I
laughed
. No point telling her that rule
was only for the bride and groom. I met Brace’s gaze and threw him
my best tortured look. He laughed as Lallielle practically dragged
me up the stairs. Dresses, hair and make-up. This was Lucy’s
heaven. And me … well, I could endure it for her.

I
hoped
, anyways.

Lallielle
had the ladies
’ area set up in one of the
spare rooms on the children’s floor. It was a pretty sparse room
generally, but now it had mirrors and comfy chairs scattered
around. Not to mention two women that I didn’t know. Lucy grabbed
me as soon as I walked through the door.

“
Oh
, my god, I love you, Abbs.”
She hugged me so tight. “Lalli told me that you made this all
possible. You guys are the best family ever.”

Bits of pixie dust and tears flew around as
her emotions overflowed.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything but put the idea
into our chief organizer’s head.” I jerked my head toward
Lallielle. “Mom’s the miracle worker.”

“
Oh
, yeah, you’re doubly the best,
Lalli.” Lucy flew over and kissed her cheek.

“
So,” I
plastered a smile on my face
; she
deserved my enthusiasm, “show me this dress.”

There was a rack of clothes sitting against
the far wall. I could see half of the dresses were white, and the
other half colored.

“I need you to help me choose.” Lucy
fluttered off again.

“How long until this ceremony?” I lifted my
brows.

Lucy was going to be hours.

“It will be just on dusk.” Lallielle smiled.
“So you girls have three hours.”

I’d need
thirty minutes
. Lucy on the other hand …
three hours was going to be cutting it close.

“
The other
half-Walkers
are heading back now too,” I
told Lallielle. “If you run into them, send them up to find
dresses.”

“
Oh
, gosh, I better go.” Lallielle
ducked away. “I have heaps to organize, see you soon,” she called
as the door shut behind her.

Lucy had
reached the rack and was starting to paw through it. Her hands
moved rapidly, although occasionally she paused for longer and then
really fast past the dresses which were a definite
‘no’. I’d go to her in a moment. First I’d meet
these two females. Lallielle must have been in a massive hurry to
forget to introduce them.

“
Hi, I’m
Abby
,” I said to the woman who was
standing near the largest mirror.

She was
around my height, with long chestnut
-colored hair. It had the slightest wave and hung to mid
back. Her dark gray eyes were shining as she gave me a
nod.

“
I’m Glenda,
and that is Cherine, my daughter.” She pointed toward the
girl
, who had similar hair and eyes to
hers. She looked about fourteen years old. “We’re here to help you
with hair and make-up.”

“Thank you.” I returned her smile. “I better
go and assist the crazy bride-to-be.”

Lucy was
muttering to herself. “No … no … no … god
, no … maybe.” She was about halfway through the rack now.
“Pick out a dress, Abigail, and I’ll tell you if it’s acceptable,”
Bridezilla ordered me.

I
coughed to hide my laughter as I moved to the
opposite end of the rack.

“
And no
black
,” she demanded as my hand hovered
over a slinky black dress.

With a
sigh
, I pushed the black to the side,
along with a bright pink, a color not many redheads could pull off.
Nothing was catching my eye. I shoved past a short baby blue with a
tulle skirt, a yellow which reminded me of puke, something brown
that looked like a fluffy bear. I sighed, already bored. I was
never going to find anything.

I continued shoving through and then
suddenly I paused. The dress in my hands was made of lace and silk
in an emerald green. It was very close to the color of my eyes. It
was a simple design. The thin straps had a delicate lace beading
over the top, a sweetheart neckline which cupped under the breasts
and then fell in a silky straight line. But what made it extra
spectacular was the longer train of lace that sent shimmers of
light across the fabric. It was perfect.

“
Oh
, my god, Abbs, that’s the
dress. It’s beautiful. Perfect.” Lucy reiterated my thoughts. “Now
help me.”

I draped my dress over one of the chairs,
and when I turned back Lucy was holding two fluffy bundles in front
of her. The first was pretty, with a short-waist strapless bodice
and a full tulle skirt. But I was thinking that style might make
Lucy look kind of … short. I turned to the second, and had to let
out a sigh.

“That one.” I pointed.

It was
delicate
, strapless like the other but
fitted all the way until the bottom, where it flared like a mermaid
tail. The back was cut low; her wings would have plenty of room. It
was white, but the lace and jewel overlay had a slight shimmer of
green, which would match Lucy’s new pixie coloring.

“I’m pretty sure that was made for you,
Luce.”

She smiled
and hugged it toward her. “It’s perfect. I really want to show
Colt.” Shaking her head
, she re-hung the
other dress. “It’s funny that the one person’s opinion I want is
the one who can’t see my dress until the ceremony. What Earth moron
came up with that?” She snorted.

“
I guess
you’re supposed to know your man well enough to choose something
he’d love.” I offered the other side
, but
I definitely saw her point.

She snorted again, trailing into laughter.
“I could wear a sack and Colt would love it. That Walker wears
blinkers when it comes to my appearance.”

The door opened then and in trooped Talina,
Ria and Fury. And with a squeal Lucy was off, ordering them around,
finding them dresses, and generally being a pain in the butt.
Eventually I grabbed her and shoved her into one of the chairs.

“
Calm
down
. You need to get your hair and
make-up done.” We were running out of time.

Glenda
stepped forward
. In her hands she held a
small scanning device. It was First World technology that helped in
the application of make-up. I sat in another chair and Cherine
hurried to me.

“
Close your
eyes
, please.” She had a sweet, innocent
voice.

With a sigh
my lids shut down, blocking out the sight of Fury falling down in
laughter after finding a horrid floral dress on the rack. Gods knew
what those three were going to decide to wear. I wondered where
Delane was and if she’d bother coming to the ceremony. We should
have invited her up here, but I knew I wasn’t getting
warrior
-Walker into a dress.

Thirty
minutes (or what felt like hours) later
,
I was allowed to open my eyes. I caught my reflection in the
mirror, and had to admit Cherine had done a great job.

My hair was
in loose curls that fell in a red mass to my waist.
White and green flowers had been woven high
across the crown of my head. My make-up was flawless, but subtle.
Just touches here and there to accentuate my features.

I wrinkled
my nose
. I always found it weird how huge
my eyes looked when I wore any kohl or shadow. I’d had enough time
staring at my reflection, so I pushed myself up from the chair, and
Talina took my place.