Page 60 of Shadowing Bright
Krys looked at him and laughed.“Don’t get a swelled anything about it.You still have to go on the first official date.The Night Faire with your grandmother doesn’t count.”
Emmers’ jaw opened slightly.“How do you know that?”
“The options are I am friends with your grandmother, I am friends with Amy, or I am a member of her new clan.”
“Uh, member of her new clan?”
Krys turned to him and flipped the side of her blouse to one side, showing the collarbone with the silvery snowflake that some of her people wore if they were affiliated but did not have snow-based skills.“My parents are arctic wolves.”
He blinked and nodded.“Right.So, you arrange these things for the clan?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Uh...”
“I arrange these things for extranaturals.Occasionally, some Frostfires are there.Mainly, I work with a lot of exotics who are trying to meld and mix two different traditions.”
She started taking measurements.
“So, the clan isn’t great.”
“The Frostfires are way better than the buttheads who ditched her.I just never told them when the wave set other things off.Everybody was content the way things were.”She laughed and smiled.“In Frostfire, if you don’t have snow skills, they don’t make you go to the endless mixers that they throw, they don’t make your parents introduce you to suitors, and they don’t make you participate in the winter games.I am way better off as a member under my parents.”
Emmers blinked.“You don’t want to seek a partner?”
“Not now.The moment that I do, I out myself to Normic and Keel, and they will have a line of guys or girls out the door, whatever I am up for.They are very supportive, but it can be a little much.”
Understanding dawned on him.“You are wanting to live on your own a little.”
“Yup.They put me through school, I got the marketing job, but then I helped a friend with her wedding, and I was hooked.There are so many logistical stressors and organizational tornadoes.I love it, and it doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything else.”
“So, it makes you happy.”
“Not just me.I throw a helluva party.The happy couples don’t remember me, but they remember perfect weddings.”She grinned.“And I still get paid.”
Emmers laughed.“Well, Amy and I are not there yet.”
“When you are, you know where to go and who to call.Of course, the leader has his own coordinators, so you will be dealing with someone else.”
“What if we want to use you?”
“You will have a fight on your hands.”
He nodded.“Okay.Got it.”
She smiled, got a measuring tape out, and started measuring entryways, the grand staircase, and the entry into the room with the erotic mantelpiece.
She measured the mantelpiece and smiled.Kairek came near her.“So, why are you measuring it?”
“Some photographers might have squeamish clients.Making a high-quality façade that they can put in when they tidy up the images will be easier for the photographers, and they can’t have more or less naked dark elves for the kids’ pictures that get taken to school.”
She looked at it.“Or I can do this.”She snapped her finger, and it looked like it was carved of unmarked stone.“Just an illusion, but it is an option.”Krys smiled.“I am pretty handy with illusions.”
Kairek smiled.“Do you use that for anything else?”
“Oh, sure.Getting out of traffic tickets, for one.”She grinned.
The couple taking over the mansion walked down holding hands.There was affection there and hope.Love was going to arrive when it wanted to, but it appeared to be not too far away.
