Page 46 of Wedding the Werepanther

Her eyes flick to Jace, then to me, full of questions. But she nods. “Okay.”

I wave the dragon into the living room and gesture toward my creation. “This is it. Do you have the crystal?”

“I do.” He pulls out a small crystal, glowing the bright green of new spring growth. “This proved an interesting spell to create. I had to consult Lukendevener’s library.”

“As long as it does what I want.”

“Of course it will.” He glares at me, his ice-blue eyes freezing in their disdain. “What do you take me for? Some hundred-year-old whelp fresh out of the nursery?”

“No, sorry.” I drop my usual grin. I find it hard to express any kind of doubt in front of other types of fae. While stuck in our panther forms, my people spent centuries trusting only those of our pack. Yet I now also walk the realms as a man. To fully embrace this new world, I need to make friends, real friends. So I force myself to admit: “I really need this to go right.”

His expression goes from sub-zero to a mildly cool spring day, which is about as warm as the ice dragon gets. “You care about her.”

“I do.”

“All right.” He gestures toward my creation. “Where do you want it?”

“Here.” I point to a spot. “So it activates everything above this point.”

At his grunt of approval, I drill a small hole and use a wooden mallet to embed the crystal inside the tree so only the tip sticks out.

Jace leans over and strikes it with a claw, and magic vibrates through the wood. Tiny buds appear on all of the branches above the crystal, growing and unfurling until purple leaves cover the entire section.

I step back and take it all in, joy filling me until a smile stretches my cheeks. I clasp forearms with Jace. “Thank you. Your spell is perfect.”

He nods, his lips curling the tiniest bit in pleasure. “I’m going to visit with Victoria now. I want to run some diagnostics on the outside of the house.”

“But if you’re outside, how will you talk to me?”she asks.

“I have another translation parchment.” He pulls a piece of cream paper from his invisible pocket. “I can temporarily affix it to you in each location so that we may freely converse.”

Kitchen-cupboard applause echoes from the hallway, and the front door swings open as he approaches.

“Have fun,” I call over my shoulder, already on my way to Kayla’s office. I throw open the door. “It’s time for your surprise!”

Curiosity brightens her beautiful brown eyes as she hurries past me, Dewdrop flying right behind. She slams to a stop in the middle of the living room, looking toward where my creation stands in front of the windows.

Dewdrop flies over to hover in front of it, emitting a series of high chirps.

“It’s… it’s a cat tree?” Kayla turns puzzled eyes on me. “Won’t it be too small for your panther form?”

“Entirely too small.” I chuckle. “It’s not for me. It’s for Dewdrop.”

Two trunks made out of tree branches reach upward from the base. The shorter one holds a padded sleeping platform about six feet off the ground. The other trunk continues up to the full height of the vaulted ceiling and sprouts numerous smaller side branches covered with purple leaves. There’s another sleep nook tucked inside, where several of the branches come together.

The dragonet gives a shriek of piercing delight and dives onto the open platform, turning in circles as all four of his paws test its softness. Then he hops over to the taller trunk, scaling it effortlessly to disappear inside the thicket of leaves the same purple as his scales.

Kayla follows him over and reaches up to touch one of the leaves. “They’re real leaves instead of silk, and I can feel magic.”

“They are.” I step up beside her. “I asked Jace to find a spell that would grow them. I thought it would be a nice touch to create a sleeping place like the ones Dewdrop had in Dularia.”

The dragonet sticks his head out and whistles at Kayla before ducking back inside.

“He loves it.” She looks at me with her eyes so full of warmth I want to wrap her in my arms and never let go. “Thank you.”

“Do you like it?” I smile.

“This is the swankiest cat tree to ever swank. You did a fantastic job.” She trails her fingers over one of the trunks, stroking the satiny finish. “Of course I love it. Dewdrop’s over the moon. I didn’t even think about something like this, just made him a blanket nest on the corner of my bed.”