“Thanks.” Godiva preened as she ran her hand down the silk jacket embroidered with hot pink peach blossoms on deep green. Beneath it she wore a top and a long skirt in a lighter shade of pink. She’d gotten her finger and toe nails done in hot pink to match the haori’s blossoms. “Emily brought it for me from Japan when she went last. I seldom get to flash it.”
“Well, it’s flashing now,” Jen said. “Okay, time to run. Who’s first?”
She took Rigo, then came back for Godiva. When Godiva found herself standing on a cool tile terrace, Jen let go, shivering a little.
Doris and Bird had been waiting for them. “You all right, Jen?” Doris asked with a quick, anxious look.
But Jen just waved a hand. “Too many transfers in a row and my bones feel like they got stashed too long in the deep freeze,” she admitted. “However, it’s only you six. I’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
Bird spoke up. “Mikhail is holding a table for us over at that end of this terrace. It looks like your entire island is here, Jen.”
“Pretty much,” Jen said with a laugh.
Godiva looked around—and stopped dead. “Wait. Wait. Wait. When you said Nikos lives in a castle, I thought you were kidding. Or maybe meant a fancy house like a Victorian three-story, with a cupola or two. This . . . is a real castle!” She gazed in amazement at the spectacular spired castle built along the top of a mountain ridge.
Jen laughed. “I’ll give you guys a tour in a bit. But first, we’re starting things hetairoi style, with a flyover.”
She excused herself and went to join Nikos, who lifted his hand in greeting to Godiva and the others. He was flanked by Bryony, who Godiva recognized from the day of the Cang battle, and a handsome young man who was introduced as Mateo. The two were Nikos’s lieutenants.
Jen joined Nikos in a sparkly flicker as they both shifted, Nikos into a gorgeous sable winged unicorn and Jen to a golden phoenix. The hetairoi also shifted, and in a rush and thunder of wings, the entire group took off over the terrace ledge.
Godiva’s stomach almost dropped when she saw the steep slope below. But then she tipped her head back, staring up in amazement as the hetairoi formed around Jen and Nikos in formation, some flying high as sentinels, others flying low in strict order.
Their animals represented all the colors of the rainbow, gleaming in the slanting light of the setting sun as they soared in a slow spiral around the castle spires, then struck out to make a broad circle over the curve of a harbor below.
When they reached the sea, they banked as one, flying in perfect unity until they vanished behind a rocky mountain, then reappeared on the other side. When they landed on the terrace again, they gathered again into a group, with all the guests forming a circle around them.
Nikos and Jen stood under a bower of flowers to exchange their vows. The wedding was simple and beautiful, finishing just as the last bit of the sun sank fiery red into the vast Mediterranean.
Then one by one colorful lamps were lit, and Nikos called out, “Come, guests! Feast with us!”
Godiva and Rigo sat with Doris, Joey, Bird, and Mikhail. Joey was as talkative as Mikhail was silent, but they all knew each other well enough by now to be comfortable with everyone’s natural rhythms.
After the feast, Jen took them through the castle. Then Joey and Doris had to leave, as Doris had a commitment at her temple and couldn’t explain that she was attending a wedding on the other side of the world. Bird and Mikhail went down to listen to the musicians, who were playing music from all over the Mediterranean.
Under a sky brilliant with stars, the young people gathered on a lower terrace for dancing.
Godiva and Rigo watched for a while, then Godiva said, “How about walking off some of those incredible Greek dishes?”
Rigo held out his hand. They strolled along a breezeway with columns to either side, the ceiling carved with fantastical animals and humans cavorting together. They held hands, which was by now a habit when they walked together.
“Some of these animals I’ve seen today,” Godiva commented, peering upward. “You know what I’m enjoying most? The fact that I get to keep learning,” she said, grinning.
“Same.” Glancing around, Rigo added, “Alejo would love this place. All the old things so well preserved, made new again.”
“You’re right,” Godiva said, letting go his hand to slide hers around his waist. “That reminds me. What about Alejo? I know in shifter terms sixty-something doesn’t mean much, but isn’t it a long time not to find a mate? I am now going on record to say that I am totally in favor of mates, yessiree. He deserves one. He’s amazing, handsome, sweet.”
A horrible thought occurred. “Do you think the way he grew up with me slagging you at every turn, and then the long weird silence, turned him off?”
“No, no,” Rigo said, and she had the felicity of sensing that he truly meant it.
Rigo went on, “Alejo’s dated a lot. Especially when he was young. But none of them were the right ones. One or two were, well, disasters. One of those made him wary enough to concentrate on other things. And he’s constantly busy. He puts work first, especially as the ranch is so isolated that he doesn’t meet many new people unless he goes out.”
“Summer is still hot, and he says the humidity back there is steamy, with squadrons of mosquitos the size of tanks. We’ve got weeks and weeks before autumn, and my stay at your ranch. I think,” Godiva said slowly, “maybe we need to straight-arm him into a visit to Playa del Encanto. Not to matchmake. That practically guarantees a backfire. Just to visit. Meet people. Some of whom will be female people. It’s the law of averages.”
Rigo smiled down at her, his eyes tender. “Though she be but little, she is fierce,” he quoted.
Rigo even reads Shakespeare, Godiva thought happily. But she crossed her arms with mock affront as she said, “I happen to really like Hermia, one of Shakespeare’s few heroines who definitely rocks. Howsomever! If you’re implying that I’m in any way bossy . . .”