Page 62 of Wedding the Werepanther

In the kitchen, Violeta presses my bouquet into my hands and joins the others outside. It’s a big, colorful bunch of flowers so obviously fake they look like something out of an old-school Mario 2D-platformer game, which makes them perfect.

I pause by the parchment in the kitchen. “Can you see everything in the backyard okay?” Victoria said she can, but I want to double-check. After all, this “wedding” has to satisfy the fine-print requirements.

“I can.”

“And you’re okay with everything?”

I keep expecting the house to complain that a video-game theme isn’t appropriate for a wedding, but she’s been surprisingly tolerant. I didn’t even need to shove the disaster of the Weddingpocalypse in her face. I think I’m growing as a person.

“It’s been fun,”she writes.“I forgot what it was like to have a big bridal party in the house. I’ve enjoyed it.”

“Get ready for more fun, then.” I pat a cabinet. “Because we’re about to throw our first party!”

“Shadow says everything’s ready outside.”Jace attached a piece of magical parchment to the arbor, which is an extension of the house, so Victoria can take part in the ceremony.

“Start the music!”

The upbeat theme song from the originalSuper Mariogame plays from the speakers I put outside, and Victoria opens the back door for me.

Friends fill the yard, all wearing their colorful best—even the men have on bright shirts.

Shadow stands in front of the arbor, wearing the white tux and top hat Victoria found in the attic. It should look at least a teensy bit ridiculous, but he wears it with the self-confidence of a top model ready to storm the runway during fashion week, so he looks fantastic.

The joy filling his gorgeous green eyes pulls me forward. Say what you will about Shadow: he knows how to have fun. That’s the Kayla I want to be tonight: the one surrounded by the things she loves most and the people who support her. The one that’s nothing like my parents always said I’d be.

I look at all these happy faces and let the good feelings fill me, my fast footsteps matching the lively music as I stride down the aisle. The song fades into silence once I reach him.

Dewdrop swoops down from the top of the arbor to take my bouquet, and Jace steps close, ready to pull the rings from his invisible storage pocket.

Shadow takes my hands. “You look beautiful, my wife.”

“So do you.”

Words appear on the parchment as Victoria spells out the vows I created.

“Kayla, you’re the gamer girl for me,” Shadow reads. “Will you campaign beside me always, through cavewights and power-ups, through empty inventories and loot stashes?”

“I will.”

New writing fills the parchment.

“Shadow, you’re the gamer boy for me,” I say. “Will you campaign beside me always, through cavewights and power-ups, through empty inventories and loot stashes?”

He squeezes my fingers. “I will.”

“Now the rings,”Victoria writes.

I turn to Jace and extend both hands as he pulls out a two-foot-wide papier-mâché wedding band. I might be the only one who gets the homage to the oversized ring Bowser tries to give Princess Peach in the game, but what the hell—it’s my fake wedding, so why shouldn’t I have fun with it? I place it over Shadow’s head, careful not to knock off his top hat. “With this ring, I thee game.”

Jace hands Shadow an equally large ring, this one topped with a big blue stone that matches the ones on my costume. Shadow places it over my head so the stone rests right at my cleavage, his eyes arrowing in on the spot as he shoots me a wicked grin. “With this ring, I thee game.”

“I now pronounce you a gamer guild of two. You may kiss.”

Shadow scoops me into his arms, bending me over until I worry my crown might fall off. Then his mouth covers mine, and I lose the ability to think of anything but his kiss.

The crowd breaks into cheers, and Shadow stands me upright, so we can turn and wave.

“Let’s eat!” I call out, which is met by more happy yells.