Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Willow POV

I awake in the bed alone. Lazarus has already left out bed. He is probably getting rid of Luanne, which is fine by me. I am glad she will be gone. If I ever told him even half of what she has done to me growing up, he would probably kill her. The woman is a monster. She drove my father crazy.

I get out of bed. I need to take a shower and dress for the say. I need to see Prissy about planning my wedding. I will be married in six days. I have not even made the first plan. Thank goodness I have Prissy to help me do this. I know nothing about planning a wedding. At least I have my dress.

I go into the bathroom to shower. On the mirror written in my lipstick is a heart that says I love you—what a sweet man. I take one of my lipsticks and write I love you too under it.

I grab a towel and turn on the water. While the water is running, I rush into the bedroom to grab some clothes. I need to slow down. These plans are going nowhere. I have Prissy. I need to calm down. Oh my goodness. I am getting married. I feel faint. I have to pull myself together.

I get into the shower and wash quickly. Forget the hair; I can ask Lazarus to wash it tonight. I need to clean my wings anyway. He can help me. I towel off. I slip into my clothes. I go to the closet. I pull out a pair of slip-on shoes. I slide into them.

As I am coming out of our room, Prissy meets me at the door. “Hey, Lazarus is taking care of your mother this morning, so I thought the two of us could make some wedding plans,” she says.

“That is exactly what I was thinking,” I say.

“What should we do first?” I ask her.

“I thought we could sample some cakes,” she says with a hearty laugh.

“Sugar rush. Sounds great,” I say.

“Prissy, I am scared to leave the house,” I say.

“No, honey. Everything is here for you to sample. All this is only temporary. There will be no need to fear soon,” Prissy says.

“You do not think it will get worse once I am queen?” I ask her.

“Honey, in the fairies eyes, you already are. No one with any sense will mess with you. Besides, Lazarus has plenty of security for you,” she says.

“I trust that,” I say.

We go down to the kitchen. This one has gone way overboard. “Uh, Prissy, I do not really eat sweets. I will die if I eat all of this,” I say.

She hands me the tiniest spoon. “Just take a small sample until you find the one you like for your wedding cake. I will pick out the groom's cake,” she says.

I have no idea where even to start. When Prissy said we were going to sample cakes, I thought it would be a few cakes. I would get a small sugar rush then pick a cake. This is crazy.

“Honey, you looked overwhelmed. Tell me what kind of cake do you prefer; let us narrow down the choices,” she says.

“Well, I think chocolate is too sweet, so let’s cross those out. I do not really like strawberries. So a plain vanilla cake that is not too sweet would be perfect for me,” I say.

“Come here,” she says.

She leads me to a beautiful cake. “Taste this one. It is vanilla and buttercream,” she says.

I take my little spoon and dip into it. I taste it. It is perfect. “We can have it decorated any way you like,” she says.

“You are far too good to me, Prissy,” I say.

“Well, you are marrying my favorite child,” she says.

“What kind of cake will Lazarus want?” I ask.

“You should know he has a sweet tooth. He loves everything sweet. I am going to have a red velvet cake made for him,” Prissy says.

“This is a lot of cake. What are we going to do with it?” I say.

“We could let the children sample it,” she says.

“Yeah, and the staff. Honestly, probably the entire community,” I say.

“Sorry, I know I went overboard,” she says.

“It is fine. I need your help,” I say.

“I was not sure what you liked. I should have asked,” Prissy says.

“No worries, the children will love this. They probably haven’t had cake in a long time,” I say.

Prissy leaves me to get the children. My siblings are going to lose their minds when they see all of this. I grab spoons for each of them. I stand at the kitchen door, waiting for them to come back.

Thirty minutes pass with no sign of Prissy or the children. I am panicking. I cannot breathe. Calm down. I need to go check. She could be having trouble rounding them up. I am being ridiculous. My mind always goes to the worst place.

I will check; there is no reason to wait. If Prissy is having trouble getting the children in line, I need to help. As I walk past the front door, it opens.

“Lazarus!” I exclaim.

“Everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, I think so. Your mother had every cake in the city delivered to her for me to sample. She went to get the children to come to try the cakes thirty minutes ago/ She has not got back with them yet,” I say.

“I am sure everything is fine. I will go check for you,” Lazarus says.

“I will come with you,” I say.

He stops me. “Willow stay here,” he says.

“Toby stay with her,” he says to one of the security guards Lazarus always has with him.

“Ma’am, you will need to come with me. Let’s wait in the library,” he says.

“I want to go with Laz. I need to check on the children,” I say.

“Willow, please come with me,” he says.

Toby is one of Lazarus’s most oversized security guards. I know he can pick me up and put me wherever he wants me. It is best I go with him without much of a fuss. I follow Toby into the library to wait for Lazarus.

It feels like an eternity sitting waiting. Toby makes no conversation. He stands by the door with his hand on his gun, waiting for something to happen.

“I cannot take it anymore,” I say. I begin to go out the door. Toby lets me know the only way I am leaving the room will be to go through him. He plants his body in between me and the door.

“What is happening, Toby?” I ask him.

Toby does not answer. I am contemplating if I can go through him when the door opens. Lazarus comes in. I can tell by the look on his face it is not good.

“Sit with me,” he says.

I sit down in a chair. Lazarus kneels down in front of me. “Someone took the children,” he says.

“Prissy? Is she okay? Who took them? Why?” I ask.

“Mother is going to be okay. They hit her pretty good in the head. The doctor is on his way. She must’ve really put up a fight. We can ask her what happened when she is coherent. If I had to guess, Luanne had something to do with this. She went way too easy,” he says.

“You know where she is, right?” I ask.

“Yes, we do. I will call the council to investigate. I need you to stick to me or Toby 24/7. Is that understood?” he asks.

“I get it. Can I go sit with Prissy?” I ask.

“Yes. I am sure mother would like that,” Lazarus says.

“I will stay with her until she wakes up,” I say.

“I love you, Willow,” Lazarus says.

“I love you too,” I say.

I leave the library with Toby to check on Prissy. This continued disturbance of our lives has to stop. Why are people so against us being together?