Chapter Forty-seven
“KING,” Harmony said after their ritual, “this is Gussie’s scrying mirror. We sealed it in one of your metal toolboxes, so Gussie couldn’t access it during the ritual. It’s the last piece of her magick in the house. I have a plan to dispose of it. Let’s go.”
“Scrying?” he asked, as they left.
“You read it like you read a crystal ball. Do you need another cane? There are at least a dozen upstairs.”
“A dozen? And you gave me the one with the ring inside?”
“I had no idea, but no wonder I got a sense of the ring near the cane stand. Guess I must be psychic or something.”
“You’re something, all right, and I’d rather lean on you than a cane.”
Harmony’s heart tripped. “I never thought you’d lean on anyone.”
“Walking alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
“Especially up this hill.” They walked slowly, their arms around each other, toward the edge of the cliff. “This is the place,” she said, “looking down to the base of the cliff. Gussie loved the sea. Nicodemus died there. Lisette escaped there, and Gussie’s mirror belongs there.”
“This is Mermaid Cliff,” King said.
“Appropriate, since we’re both fond of mermaids.”
King brought her as close as he could with the mirror between them. “You’re the only mermaid I want.”
“I’m glad.” She accepted his kiss but didn’t push for more than he was willing to give. “I promised to explain the meaning of the sea horse after the ritual. Are you ready? The ancient Celts believed that the sea horse was a transporter to the otherworld.”
“Blessed peaceful ghost! What made you choose a sea horse tattoo?”
“It was cute. We were thirteen when we got our tattoos. We didn’t understand the symbolism. You named your boat The Sea Horse. Why? Because you wanted to cross somebody over? I don’t think so. Yet I believe that your compassion, when you felt sorry for Gussie, is what made Lisette give you the other half of the ring.”
“I think she did it for you.” He looked out over the cliff. “How did you know about this place?”
“I came for a walk last night . . . when I never thought I’d see you again.”
He winced. “I was a fool. Have you forgiven me?”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“Think harder.” He grazed her neck with his lips to persuade her.
Looking down, she eyed his interest . . . with interest. “I see you’re thinking harder.”
“Ignore that. I have a sock in my pants.” He turned the mirror so she could look into it. “Tell me what you see.”
Harmony gasped. “Lisette! She’s wearing my gown, saying, ‘Thank you.’ Ah, she’s gone, but I did it, King!” She threw her arms around him. “I completed my psychic mandate.”
“Somehow, I knew you would. I’m glad you saw proof. I didn’t expect it, but I’m glad. I showed you the mirror so I could tell you what I see when I look at you . . . at us.”
Harmony’s radar went up, and she stepped back. “I’m listening.”
“During the ritual, I realized that I’d entrusted you with my family’s future, and my thoughts crystallized. You and I are polar opposites. “I’m broody, skeptical, controlling.”
Harmony nodded. “Single-minded, uptight, impatient, bossy . . .”
King frowned, such an endearing frown. “I’m trying to make a point.”
She slid an arm to his waist via his tush. “Please continue.”
He raised a brow. “I’m all the things you said, while you’re unconventional, willful, impulsive, stubborn, and scary/thrilling . . . everything I’ve been missing in my life. You stir my heart, Harmony, the way you stir that cauldron, arousing fire and peace, magick and love.”
“I do?” Harmony stilled and felt herself coming back to life. “I wanna kiss you, but I can’t get close enough with the mirror between us. Throw it, now, as far as you can, so it doesn’t break on the rocks.”
King tossed it in a sweeping arc, and the mirror slid clean into the sea.
“Yay team!” Harmony cheered. “Give me an O.”
King crushed her in his embrace and kissed her senseless. When he broke the kiss, he looked up and turned her in his arms to face the sea. Dolphins played where the mirror had landed. “Look, they’re celebrating for Gussie.”
The sun slipped from behind a feathery white cloud and crowned the dolphin playground with a rainbow.
Harmony’s eyes filled. “The dolphin symbolizes the end of an old life and the birth of a new one.”
“Speaking of which . . . ,” King said. “When my cane shattered, I think the walls around my heart shattered, too, because all manner of emotions poured out. Then there was this ring.” He took her hand. “This amazing symbol of the missing half of my heart.”
“I feel like we’re in the lagoon,” Harmony said.
“The lagoon,” King repeated, “was more than passion. That’s why I ran.”
“I know.”
“You’ve always known things about me that you shouldn’t.”
She smiled. “When I got to the castle, I could read you—every sexy move, touch, lick, kiss, and maneuver you imagined—I read your every fantasy.” She wiggled her brows. “But I can’t read your thoughts anymore.” She tried to sound wistful.
He raised a knowing brow. “Want me to spell it out for you, do you? Then I will. Remember what I said about getting married once in a blue moon?”
“I remember. Blue moons happen about thirty-seven times a century.”
King searched her expression. “Do you know the date of the next blue moon?”
Harmony couldn’t stop her smile. “I do, but do you?”
He gave her an enigmatic smile. “Seven days from today. On June thirtieth, there’ll be a blue moon.”
“I found Lisette’s half of the ring with the first full moon of the month, June first,” Harmony said.
King’s laugh lines crinkled to the breaking point. Her heart about stopped with his all-out grin. “And with the second full moon of the month, the blue moon, we can split the ring so we become two halves of a whole, each of us wearing half. Romantic, huh?”
“I could faint from the romance—that was a proposal, right?”
“There’s that smart mouth, but I love you, anyway.”
“Get out!” She pushed from his arms. “You don’t know what you’re saying. You love me?”
“Didn’t I say so during the ritual when I gave you the ring?”
“Uh, no, McClueless.”
King shook his head. “Smart mouth and all, I love you,” he whispered against her lips, and his words touched her in amazing places, especially her heart.
He pulled her down to the wet, lavender- and thyme-scented grass.
Harmony touched his face, his dear, dear face, traced those wonderful laugh lines, gazed into his deep whiskey eyes, his emotions there for her to see, including . . . love. The man she loved . . . loved her in return. Bless the stars, how had she gotten so lucky? Her psychic mandate had turned a handful of unwanted misfits and an off-with-their-heads castle into a home and a family. “I love you, King.” She cupped his cheek. “I love you, but I never thought I’d get to tell you.”
“Harmony Cartwright, will you marry me? In sickness and health, grandchildren and castle renovations—not to mention great times in the sack with multiple multiples—for as long as we both shall live? How’s that for a proposal? Spontaneous and romantic, heh?”
She laughed. “I’ll marry you in sickness and health, lust, passion, peace, and love—in spite of your fractured tries at spontaneous romantic sentiment—for as long as we both shall live . . . and beyond.”
Despite his exaggerated wince and the quirky half smile that accompanied it, Harmony could see that King’s emotions sat close to the surface. He cleared his throat. “I love your laugh, you witchy woman. And I love that you’re a smart, sexy, sassy high priestess. I noticed the first day that you have a great rack, a fine ass, and legs that go on forever—but I didn’t know about the tattoos.” King began his nibbling way down her cleavage, toward the triquetra hidden there, but he stopped, looked up, and grinned, an easy, no-holds-barred grin that overflowed her heart with love. “How can a man not love a woman with tattoos?” he said.
“All this sweet talk is going to my head, McBullseye. Good thing you’re aces in the sack.”
“How do witches get married?” he asked, raising his head. “Do we have to fly in a high priest on a broom?”