Crimson Echo (36 page)

“Okay, what do you think?” She asked appearing like an angel
bathed in bright lights from behind the two large cedar doors.

“Oh, Sabrina, it’s perfect.” I gushed
. Her dress was a beautiful crème color, with a corset shaped bodice covered in Chantilly lace tulle, with cap sleeves and a train the length of a football field.

“You
really like it or are you just being nice?” She gave a spin—fishing for another compliment. I never thought someone as gorgeous as Sabrina would ever need to fish for compliments. Wasn’t looking in the mirror every day enough?

“No, you’re hideous. I’m repulsed.” I laughed, grabbing my stomach like I was about to hurl.

“Don’t make me turn you into a frog, because I’ll do it.” She planted her hands on her hips.

“Can you really do that?”
I asked curiously.

“Hmm…I don’t know
I’ve never tried. I can’t have a frog for a bride’s maid though, so I’d better not.”

“I don’t think Kane would be too happy about it either.” I reminded her.

“Speaking of my dear brother, how are you two getting along?” She asked, taking a seat at her vanity mirror.

“He’s very…careful with me. It’s frustrating.”

“But he’s treating you right? No more
flames
of passion?” She pulled the curlers from her hair. I slid off the bed and proceeded to remove the rest. I pulled a little harder then I should have, but I was annoyed at the intrusion into my personal life. She didn’t even notice.

“
He’s a perfect gentleman.” I hoped that answer would suffice.

“Thank you for doing this, I know it can’t be easy for you. You’re the only human that’s been in this house and you’
ve taking to all of this ‘witch’ stuff so well.”

“Initially I was freaked out, it’s not every day you meet a family of witches. Heck, I didn’t even know witches were real. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the whole idea.”

“And you’re doing great.  It is a lot to comprehend and no one blames you if you have difficulty.”

“It’s not that, I just worry that I’ll wake up from this amazing dream and you all will be gone. Like you were all just a figment of my imagination, then what will I do? Go back to my normal, boring life?”

“Tristan, I can assure you none of us are going anywhere and you’re welcome here as long as you’d like.”

           
Then it hit me. What will life be like in fifty years time? Kane and I sitting, hand in hand on a porch swing? In my head I pictured looking over at the man I could spend the rest of my life with— my hands old and discolored and his as smooth and vibrant as they had always been. His face, still youthful as he smiles at me with all the love and affection I could ever want.

What
price would I pay for that love or him for that matter? Would he still love me if I lost everything that made me attractive to him in the first place? I made a mental file in my head of things to worry about at a later date and locked them away for now.

“I forgot to thank you for doing this for me. I know I’m not your most favorite person in the world and that’s mostly my fault. We kind of had a rocky start.” She started. “I’m sure you know that I don’t have many friends, none of us do really, but your friendship is the greatest gift you’ve given to me.”

“I don’t mind at all.” I said, awkwardly. “I’m glad you asked me to be your Maid of Honor and I’m glad you all have accepted me as part of the family, you don’t know how much it means to me.”

“Oh Tristan, of course we accepted you as part of the family.
You’re just as much part of this family as anyone else. I just want you to know how sorry I am about the way I acted at the diner that day. I was completely out of line to think I could treat you like that.”

“No, it’s fine. We’ve already went over this, it’s been forgotten.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, I have something for you!” She said excitedly, pulling a large white box from the top shelf in her closet.

“What is it?” I yanked on the purple bow, letting it fall to the floor. I sat the oversized box on the vanity and lifted the lid, throwing the tissue paper behind me. “Sabrina, you shouldn’t have.”

            I held the silk, champagne dress up to my body and turned toward the mirror— imagining how it would look on me. It had a designer label. I would never buy something so expensive for myself. Sabrina informed me that she had all of her clothes flown in from New York, with a big named designer at her beck and call. I imagined a hundred bags all flying first class just for her.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. I wanted you to feel special today, too.” She smiled, holding up a taupe sash. “Look, this goes with it.”  I looked down at my faded, gray halter dress and frowned at its inferiority.

“Thank you, it’s wonderful.” I fought back a tear. No one had ever made me feel as special as Kane’s family made me feel.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

“No, it really is great. My mind isn’t here today, I’m sorry.” I confessed.

“Do you want to talk about it?”
She sat down on the bed beside me. “Just spit it out, you’ll feel much better if you get it off of your chest.”

           
Even on her wedding day she was willing to put her nerves aside and deal with me. It really seemed like a trivial thing to be thinking of at the moment, but the knots in my stomach twisted and turned with every passing minute.

“Well…” I hesitated, searching for the righ
t words. “I’m getting older every day and all of you are frozen in time… Kane is frozen in time.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“I’m not getting any younger and Kane’s not getting any older.”

“Oh, I see. You think he won’t love you when you begin to show your age? I hadn’t really given much thought to how you would feel about the sit
uation. He will always love you Tristan, nothing will ever change that. Don’t worry so much we’re going to figure this out together. He will find a way to make this work, I just know it.”

“He will?” I stifled a nervous laugh.

“Of course, he will. We will do everything in our power.” She pulled me into a hug and tears flooded my eyes. Sabrina wasn’t so bad, once you got to know her. She really was just like a sister to me now. “Listen, we have a wedding to get to, I’ll give you a few minutes to freshen up and I’ll be right back, okay?” She glided like a gazelle to the door and shut it behind her.

           
I rushed to the bathroom and changed into the silk dress, she had given me. I fussed with my hair for a second and gave up. Why couldn’t I have been born into this world? It would make everything so much simpler, I thought to myself as I paced back into the bedroom and waited for her approval.

           
My lungs constricted as I realized the time to walk down the aisle was getting closer. Not that it was my wedding, but it might as well have been, I was obviously more nervous than Sabrina was.  I pulled on the glass doors that led out to her balcony and let the breeze wash away the nerves. Then there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.” I called.

“Tristan, where are you?” Kane asked. Just hearing his voice put me at ease.

“I’m on the balcony, getting some fresh air.”

“Do you mind if I join you? I need to get away from the craziness downstairs.”

“Yeah, come on out.
I’m just watching Kole and Kaleb goof off.” I laughed to try to keep from crying.

“Do you like your dress?”
He wrapped his arms around me from behind and sighed.

“I do, I wish she hadn’t though.”

“She’s been chomping at the bit for the last month to give it to you. It’s her way of saying thank you.”

I nodded my head.

“Sabrina said you were having a moment. Is everything okay?” He turned me so that I was looking him in the eyes.

“It was just a minor breakdown. I think I have it under control now.”

“Do you want to talk to me about it?” He pushed.

“No, there’s a wedding about to happen and that’s the most important thing today. We’ll save it for tomorrow.”

“Looks like most of the guests are arriving.” He leaned over the edge of the balcony. “I guess it’ll be starting soon.”

I nodded.

“What’s your take on the whole wedding thing? Do you want to be married someday?” He prodded.

“I’ve never given it much thought, I
guess. I never saw myself as a bride, but I suppose if I found the right person I would be willing to reconsider.” I paused for a long moment. “What about you?”

“Someday, when the time is right, I would love to be married. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.” There was something off in his words, but I couldn’t bring myself to question him now.

“Sabrina isn’t even nervous.” I informed him. It felt like a betrayal, like I shouldn’t have brought it up. She had probably been married a hundred times in a hundred different lifetimes. It was more than likely a show for the locals.

“She is, but she hides it well. She’s not wound as tightly as some people I know.” He caressed my cheek and I s
huddered as the sparks lingered long after his hand dropped back to his side.

“Who are they?” I asked, pointing out a small group of women. “They look scary.”

            A tall woman with white hair, almost silver floated through the backyard flanked by six other women. The one in the front wore a powder blue Victorian style dress with beads and jewels covering the bust and her skin was pale and porcelain. She had perfect posture and her chin jutted out, like she was looking down on everyone.

          
Her eyes were large, green spheres that pulled up at the corners, making her look more feline then human and her full lips were a deep crimson— the color was unsettling against the contrast of her icy skin. On her head sat a small, diamond crown that shimmered in the fading sunlight.

          
The six women—three on each side, wore long tan dresses, nowhere as beautiful as her. They moved only when she moved, their skin wasn’t as pale as hers, nor as pretty. All six had mousy brown hair and it was pinned up into a bun below a small headdress. They didn’t fawn over her, they stood waiting, watching. Their eyes scanned the large gathering, like they were ready for an attack.

“The one in front,
she’s the Queen— Queen Anastasia. The six behind her are ladies in waiting. They are merely her protection.”

“Why is a Q
ueen at your sister’s wedding? You’re not royalty are you?”

“No,” he laughed. “We’re far from royalty. She’s here because she was invited by Sabrina, even though we begged her not to.”

“Is she the Queen you told me about? Where did she come from?” I hurled the words at him in one big blur.

           
Judging from the lack of color in her cheeks, wherever she ruled, she didn’t get very much sun. Maybe that’s what had me on edge. She was beautiful, for sure, but she was like nothing I’d ever seen before. She stared up at us from a small table, decorated with an elegant centerpiece and her bright green eyes narrowed as she searched my face.

“Slow down, just breath,” he warned,
turning me away from the balcony. “She has ruled over our kind for nearly a thousand years. The only reason for her presence is Sabrina’s wedding and also… Magic School, she’s come to observe—make sure everything’s running smooth, and it couldn’t be at a worse time. As you know we are the first family in history to open a school like this, she’s still skeptical.”

“What about all the humans at Emporia? She can’t know they are there, can she?” Fear hitched in the back of my throat.

“She won’t harm them. Remember what I said about living by certain laws?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“She lives by the same laws.” He assured me.

“Why does she keep staring at me like that?”

Bef
ore he could answer my question Sabrina barged through the room. “Kane, what are you doing in here? I told you to stay out!” She fumed, dragging him by the arm.

“I was merely checking on her. Is that a crime?”

“No, but murder is! And I don’t want that on
my
conscience. Now leave.”

“I’m going. I’ll see you downstairs Tristan.”

Sorry,
I mouthed.

“What will I do with you two? Now, here is your bouquet, I’ll hand mine off to you when I get to the altar. Got it?”

“I think I can handle it.” I shot back.

“Good. Kole and Patience will go first, then Kaleb and Hope, then you and Kane.” She slung the words at me in a
hurry. I did my best to catch them all as the butterflies started to flutter in my stomach.

I nodded, keeping my mouth closed to ensure the butterflies stayed in my stomach along with breakfast.

“Okay then, it’s time. Are you ready?” She asked.

I nodded again, wringing my cold, clammy hands.