Page 8 of Tik-Tok

“Perhaps.” North placed her palm against his and he pulled her beside him. The fact that he didn’t act different toward her made her heart sing.

“If this is ignoring, then I’ll take it.”

She smiled, wishing she could stay touching him for the entire night, but he was in love with someone else.Bah.

“So you’ll still be my guard, right?” she asked as she watched fae placing honied desserts into one another’s mouths, gulping down wine, kissing.

“To serve you is my first duty.” He bent his knees so she and he were eye to eye. “Always.”

And that would have to be good enough.

“May I borrow her for a bit?” a voice called behind her, drawing her attention away from Birch.

Reva.

Her grandmother was dressed in the darkest of blacks, a tight gown with a train trailing along the floor, heeled boots, and the swells of the tops of her breasts for all to see. She looked wickedly perfect, like a dark enchantress. If North had worn that, her father would have chopped off the head of anyone who so much as looked in her direction.

“Love doesn’t always happen the way we want it to, does it?” Reva murmured, draping an arm around North’s shoulders. Of course someone had told her grandmother, and she was sure it had been Thelia.

“It did for you,” North mumbled. Shame washed over her for saying that because she knew the story of how long Reva and Crow had been separated from one another before reuniting. Twenty-one years, and both Reva and Crow had not been themselves for eleven of them. They hadn’t reunited with Thelia until that time either, when North’s mother had discovered who she truly was and had conjured Reva and Ozma from a dark place with her magic.

“You don’t even want to know how many males I went through to find Crow.” Reva laughed. “You’re young, and there will be more. Enjoy the pleasure. Have fun. Live.”

“Easy to say when Tin’s not your father.” She had a feeling that Tin would have had a hard time accepting Birch, and he’d known him for years.

“Tin is just protective, that’s all.”

Something landed on North’s shoulder and talons scratched lightly through the fabric of her dress, causing her to jump. Her eyes fell to black feathers and a sharp beak. “Grandfather.” North grinned.

Crow let out a low caw before leaping from her and transforming in front of them in a cloud of smoke. A few obsidian feathers trailed to the stone floor.

“Haven’t started trouble yet, have you?” He chuckled, lifting a beaked mask and pushing it to the top of his head, revealing the light scar over the bridge of his nose. His hair was entwined with feathers, and he wore a deep blue tunic paired with dark pants.

Before she could give a snarky response, a horn blew, its sound long and loud right outside the closed entrance. The entirety of the room silenced, everyone spinning to face the opening doors. North stood on her tiptoes again, so she could catch a glimpse of Ozma, Jack, and the baby when they entered. But someone’s melon of a head blocked her view.

“Need me to lift you on my shoulders like I used to?” Crow chuckled.

North rolled her eyes but almost took the offer.

Still chuckling, Crow grabbed her by the elbow and tugged her to the side for a better view. “Look here.”

She peered through a space between a gray-haired pixie—Whispa—and a dryad, to see two fae guards enter the room in uniforms of blue and emerald. Behind them followed a female with long blonde waves cascading to her waist and an orange-haired male with freckles. Ozma and Jack. In Jack’s arms was a child swaddled in a light blue blanket. Gold crowns with blue and green jewels sat atop their heads. Ozma was draped in an emerald silk gown with a sapphire cloak, the silver slippers shining on her feet, and her wings hidden for now. Over her eye rested a patch that matched her cloak. Jack smiled brightly in his knee-high boots, leather pants, and silken tunic while Ozma greeted each fae as they passed. They walked down the ornate velvety carpet to their glistening gold thrones awaiting them at the far wall.

The fae of Oz hadn’t known who Ozma was until she defeated the Wizard and regained the slippers. Then the world discovered that Queen Lurline and King Pastoria had been cursed to forget they’d conceived a child.

Beside the thrones, the guards stood tall as Ozma and Jack took their seats, beaming as they peered down at their child.

Reva nudged North forward, knowing she wanted to see the baby as much as anyone, even though Reva, because of her close friendship with Ozma, had the right to greet the child first. North knew she couldn’t argue, so she made her way forward until she stopped in front of Ozma.

The Queen of Oz’s dazzling blue eye scanned her over, and something like pride shone brightly on her face. “You look just like your mother and father,” Ozma chirped, motioning her forward. The queen rested her gaze on her child in Jack’s arms. “Brielle has been waiting to meet you.”

“Hello, Jack,” North said, wanting to hug him, but his hands were too full. “Hello, Brielle.”

“We have a few gifts for you.” Jack grinned. “I’ll grab them from our room after the celebration.”

Jack always had the best gifts. Beautiful writing quills, adventure books, seeds for unique flowers.

“May I?” North asked, reaching a hand forward, antsy to hold the baby.

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