Chapter 612: Twenty-One
I gaped. For a long, awkward, uncomfortable moment that became more awkward and uncomfortable by the heartbeat. But I simply couldn't.
Couldn't.
Comprehend-
Wedding?
Damn it, girl, Gram's mind snapped in mine. You knew this.
I looked up at her. What?
Gram hesitated, face falling. Didn't you?
Oh. My. Freaking. Swearword.
Shenka's voice broke the stillness, though I didn't hear a word she said. Before I knew it, she pulled me to my feet, the happy, kind tone of her voice telling me she'd smoothed things over, though the shocked looks on the watching witch's faces had to reflect my own.
Wedding?
"Syd." Shenka pulled me behind one of the large trees on the border of our property and the park, one hand tight on my arm, a smile plastered on her face, a positive mask for the outside world while her magic wrapped me in a hug. "You didn't know?"
Splutter. "What the hell?" Still trying to pull myself together over here. "What the freaking hell?"
"It's a really old law," Shenka said, voice low and soothing as my demon snarled her unhappiness and Shaylee huffed. How dare anyone tell us to do anything of the sort? Like I was supposed to know who I wanted to spend my life with at twenty-freaking-one?
"That's nice," I snarled even as my vampire tried to calm me down. Calm. Right. While my anger finally woke up and reacted to the news.
Um. Overreacted.
"Every girl knows." Shenka's power kept hugging me. "It's common knowledge."
I lashed out at Gram. I didn't want to be a witch when I was a little girl, I shot at her. Did I?
Gram's magic slammed me back. Suck it up, buttercup, she snarled.
Not this time. "There has to be something I can do." Anger traded off with desperation as my head swam so fast I had to clutch the tree trunk to keep from falling.
Sydlynn Thaddea Hayle. Sassafras's cold mental voice jabbed me as my silver Persian added his two cents. I looked up at the poke, caught sight of him curled up in Tara's lap, accepting her petting even as his amber eyes flared at me. Clearly, the discussions we had when you were a girl went right over your head. Or through the empty space between your ears. But you're a coven leader now and you have to belly up.
Or else what? I pushed away from the tree, hands shaking, anger back with a vengeance.
Or step down, he sent. Pick one.
And the nasty little fur ball went back to his nasty little petting session.
"I can't." I turned from Shenka, ignoring her outstretched hand and how her magic tried to hold me, gently but firmly. "I can't just choose someone like that." Faces swirled in my mind: Liam, the demon Rameranselot whom I'd met on Demonicon, the vampire leader Sebastian. Sage.
Quaid.
Always back to Quaid.
And, superimposed over all of them, me. Maji. Immortal and likely invincible.
It took me forever to choose Liam because of the state of my being. Only to end it before it began.
I rushed to the house, not caring they stared, needing to escape their eyes, the wave of sympathy now rolling across the back yard as the rumor spread, the understanding I hadn't known.
That I didn't know I was about to be forced to sell my body for the coven.
Okay, a little harsh, but it still rang true. Yes, I'd get to choose. But what if I didn't pick someone? Would they force me? I couldn't step down, not now. I needed to keep them safe.
But marriage?
Holy crap on a hell-bound train.
Just what I needed. More complications in my life.
I'd barely reached the kitchen when the door slammed and Gram ran from the hall and into the darkening space to hug me. Her anger was gone, her sharp edges soft and kind as she pulled me against her.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry, girl."
I hugged her back, knowing she apologized for far more than this moment. Her power kept me from realizing my full potential for a long time, though I now wondered if that blockage saved me. If Gram's magic core kept me from becoming maji too early, before I could handle it.
I let her feel what I was feeling, know where my train of thought took me and felt her guilt ease.
"Things happened the way they needed to," I said, knowing now as I did how powerful destiny could be.
"If I hadn't..." Gram cleared her throat, voice thick. "I know. You're right. But I should have made sure you knew everything." She shrugged, thin shoulders rising and falling under her pink sweater.
"If you hadn't given me your magic," I said, "I'd be dead now. Or part of another coven. Or taken by the Brotherhood." The thought made me shudder. "Right?"
My alter egos all chirped their agreement, hugging Gram with their energy.
She pulled me close again, sharp nails digging into my back as she squeezed me tight.
"I'm still sorry," she said.
"Is there any way around it?" I already knew the answer, the ball of knotted stress in my gut telling me so.
Gram shook her head, white hair floating around her like a halo. "No."
And she'd know, wouldn't she? "Gram," I said. "Did you have to marry Grandfather Ivan?"
She stared at me, mute. When she spoke again, she sounded frail, almost weak.
"Your great aunt was dead," she said. "And I couldn't just abandon the family."
Tears welled, not for me. I choked on them, touched her cheek. She gripped my hand, pressing it under hers, firmly against her face.
"That's why I gave you such a hard time over that Sidhe boy," she said. "Now you understand."
She had. Told me he was too weak, that Liam wouldn't be able to stand up to me.
If only I'd known why she brought it up.
Okay then.
Married by twenty-one. In eleven months.
Choke.
***
