Chapter Text
“Wait, so,” Raine says, still confused, “you don’t want them to see you?”
“No!” Eda exclaims defensively from the other side of the door. “I’m not a monster! I don’t wanna make them miserable on their big day.” She pauses and corrects herself: “I don’t wanna make them more miserable on their big day. I wanna make ‘em miserable after their big day.”
By now, they should be able to decode everything she says, but she still manages to pull the rug from beneath their feet. “Huh?”
“If they see me, Odalia’s gonna go all bridezilla and kick me out while Alador drafts his suicide note,” she explains. “It’ll only create a scene.”
They lean against the door. “You? Creating a scene?”
“Unheard of,” she agrees, a playful lilt in her voice. “But the look on Odalia’s face when I tell her that I loved the fairy pies at her reception? Oh, she’s gonna flip! And the best part is, it’ll be too late for them to do anything about the fact that I was there. They won’t know what I stole, they won’t know how I managed to get in—”
“Because they definitely won’t suspect that I played any part in it,” Raine says sarcastically.
“Exactly,” she says, her voice muffled the way it is when she applies lipstick.
They push themselves up to face the door “Are you done? Nobody’s gonna see you without the illusion, anyway.”
“You are,” she counters.
She can’t see them through the door, but they hope she can hear the eye-roll in their voice. “I don’t count.”
The door swings open to reveal Eda in a fitted white button-up, tapered at the waist with the hem subtly fanning out at her hips to reveal the glint of a belt buckle, and a pair of hickory brown slacks. An undone necktie is draped loosely over her shoulders. Fiery red curls are up in their regular ponytail, billowing down her back and surely housing countless contraband items. She smirks at the dumbfounded look on their face, her eyes challenging them to a battle that they’re most definitely losing.
“And that, Rainestorm,” she adjusts the cuffs on her sleeves, “is why you count.”
They can tell she’s not wearing her usual boots because she seems shorter. That, combined with the slight heel on Raine’s loafers, makes them about the same height (almost; Eda might still have half an inch on them). Her legs somehow still look longer. Did her legs get longer? How did—?
“You good?” she asks. They must have been staring.
“I thought you were wearing a dress,” they blurt out without thinking. Fuck.
She smiles, presumably amused by their helplessness. She tugs the tie from its place around her neck, twisting it in her hands. “You mind helping me with this thing?”
They clear their throat. “Yes, yeah. Yeah, of course.”
Eda hands them the tie, and for the first time, they notice the pattern on it. It’s decorated with apples. Memories come rushing back: seeing it in the store, thinking of Eda’s newfound apple blood addiction that they had accidentally inflicted upon her, and giving it to her on her fifteenth birthday just to make her laugh.
“You kept this?” they ask.
“It’s a nice tie.”
“It was like, five snails,” they run their thumb across the fabric. “It was a gag gift. And it was so long ago, we had only been friends for a couple of months. I didn’t even think you’d ever wear it.”
“I was saving it,” she claims. “For a special occasion.”
They raise an eyebrow. “The ‘special occasion’ in question being Odalia and Alador Blight’s wedding?”
“When else am I gonna get to witness the royal wedding of the Titan’s Asscrack?” she glances down at their hands. “Are you gonna tie that thing? ‘Cause I don’t know how to.”
“Right, right, sorry,” their hands fumble with the tie. She bunches her ponytail up in her hand, lifting it so that they can get the tie around her neck. It’s embarrassing, the way they almost avert their eyes when they land on her throat. Her shirt is buttoned up to the base of her neck, but it still feels all too intimate; watching the movement of her angular jaw, her collarbones and the gold gem on her sternum forming outlines that press against the fabric. She still smells like juniper and fresh snow. They’re still not used to it.
Their hands shake as they cross the ends of the tie over each other to create a loop. The tips of her collar seem so sharp that Raine fears that the cloth will cut their skin if they get too close.
“I don’t bite, Raine,” she teases, sounding nervous, almost. She tries to keep her tone light to mask something—insecurity, perhaps (though Raine can’t fathom why she would be insecure after watching them make a total fool of themself). “Unless you’re into that kind of thing, in which case we can work something out.”
Their breath hitches, their eyes involuntarily flicking to Eda’s mouth. Her lips are painted their usual shade of burgundy, her fang shimmering under the sunlight shining through the window.
A joke, they remind themself as they tie the knot with a gulp. An obvious joke. They quickly finish fastening the tie and stuff their hands in their pockets. “I spoke to Darius. He isn’t coming."
She lets her hair down, sighing with disappointment. “Man. That’s a shame.”
“Kind of crazy that he was invited, though, right?”
“I mean, they’re power-hungry leeches, and Darius is probably gonna be Head Witch of the Abomination Coven.” She slips behind the door again, and her voice drops to a softer tone. “Do you ever regret it?”
“Regret what?”
“Not joining a coven.”
They frown. “Why would I?”
She emerges from behind the door with a vest in her hand. It’s the same shade of brown as her pants. “I mean, everyone knows that the Bard Coven had their hearts set on you for Head Witch since before you were even at Hexside. It’s… a lot to give up, I guess, for a life on the run.”
“I’m not on the run.”
“But you will be,” Eda reminds them, putting the waistcoat on. “If you don’t join after you graduate. You will be.”
Raine winces. It’s something they’ve been trying their best not to think about. Not joining a coven is against the law, but what are they supposed to do? Leave Eda to live a life of crime without them? Or worse, force her to join one with them? “I will be. But… it’ll be okay.”
She hesitates, not meeting their eyes as she buttons it up. “Kids at Hexside had betting pools on you becoming Head Bard, y’know.”
They blush. It isn’t in the cards for them anymore, of course, but the thought is still flattering. “Shut up, they did not.”
“Did too.” She finishes the last button. The suit is more fitted now, cinching at her waist, the apple tie peaking out from the V-shaped neckline. “Perry’s got a few snails riding on you.”
They clear their throat, tearing their eyes away from her. “What’d you put your money on?”
“I wasn’t allowed to participate. Something about conflict of interest and ‘violating ethical code’ because I’m…” her eyes scan them and fixate on their hair as she reaches up to fix a misplaced strand, “you know.”
They tug at their collar. They, truthfully, have no fucking idea.
“I thought it was pretty unfair, actually,” she continues, stalking over to the bed and picking up the blazer laid out on it. “Me placing a bet would be cheating, but the Oracle kids were allowed? They can just see into the future! How is that not cheating?”
They raise an eyebrow. “Don’t you also know oracle magic?”
“Okay, yes, technically,” she concedes, shrugging on her suit jacket. “But I don’t need magic to know shit about you. I’m too busy using it for more important things, like confirming that Odalia and Alador are going to have the most depressing marriage known to witchkind. But I will say, it was very kind of them to invite Darius to witness their suffering.”
“I don’t get the whole ‘inviting your ex to your wedding’ thing.” While Darius and Alador never really dated, Raine supposes it’s close enough.
“Really? I mean, I know you have stage fright, but you wouldn’t invite yours? Show ‘em what they’re missing?”
They scoff. “It’s Alador. And he’s marrying Odalia. I don’t think Darius is missing much.”
“Okay, true,” she laughs. “But Darius is hot as fuck. I’d come if I were him.”
They fail to ignore the burst of jealousy that flares up in their chest. “Darius?” they ask before they can stop themself.
She blinks. “What about him?”
“Nothing, just…” They do their best to not sound bitter. “Why would he want to go to his ex’s wedding?”
She laughs. “Are you kidding? Alador chose to invite him; why wouldn’t he? I would kill to go to my ex’s wedding. And I don’t even have an ex.”
That doesn’t surprise them for some reason. Eda’s never been in a relationship, and it’s not for lack of interest from other people. She simply loves to dangle, tempting and teasing people with what they can never have, leading them down a road that they’ll never see the other side of. It isn’t malicious in the slightest, of course. She’s radiant, confident, and perhaps a little vain, so of course she enjoys the attention. It never goes far enough to result in genuine heartbreak; it still feels like a punch to the gut on the receiving end. Raine knows that better than anyone.
“Okay, picture this,” Eda begins, theatrically yanking the edge of the curtain to conceal herself with the cloth. “You haven’t seen me in years.”
“I’m loving this already.”
“Shut up,” she says from behind the curtain. “We’re jilted lovers. You haven’t seen or thought about me in years, and you don’t want to see me. Or so you think.”
Even in a hypothetical scenario, the idea is outlandish. “Ominous.”
“My presence in your life is unlamented by your family,” she continues. “My name is notorious amongst your friends, new and old.”
“I don’t know if—”
“You know I’ll only bring you chaos and distress, but deep within…” she pauses for dramatic effect, “a part of you still craves the warmth of my touch.”
They snort. “Alright.”
“It’s a beautiful day,” she narrates. “The sun is in the sky, the griffins are chirping, but who emerges from the bushes?”
Raine takes a wild guess. “Is it you?”
She whips the curtain through the air to reveal herself, looking as ostentatious as ever. “It’s me!”
“Shocking twist.”
“And let’s just say, the years have been kind to me,” Eda drapes the curtain over her shoulders like a cloak. “I’m dressed to kill, even hotter than I was the last time you saw me. So much hotter, in fact, that you hardly recognize me. Murmurs fill the room. You stop in your tracks under my sultry gaze and wonder, ‘Oh my Titan, who is this beguiling, redheaded vixen? Surely it’s not the one that got away, the jilted lover that my heart still yearns for even after all these decades apart—”’
“Decades?”
She unravels herself from the curtain. “There’s nothing you desire more than for me to whisk you away from this madness, but alas!” Her eyes close as she swoons, dramatically collapsing to the floor. After a moment without a reaction, she finally breaks character, opening her eyes. “You get my point, right?”
“Okay, yeah I get why you would want to,” they roll their eyes. “Attention whore. However, I will say that the narration was a little flowery. Also, we have all the same friends. I don’t think you’ll ever be notorious to them.”
“It’s a hypothetical, asshole,” she says. Her hand drops from where it was resting on her forehead. Her brow furrows. “Besides, I’m gonna be a wanted criminal in a few years, so it’s not that far-fetched. Alador and Odalia already aren’t my biggest fans.”
They can’t exactly argue with that. “Okay, but you never even liked them. You called Alador a weak-willed piece of drywall yesterday, and if I start listing the things you’ve said about Odalia—”
“Lily doesn’t speak to me anymore,” she says flatly, trying to appear nonchalant. The only thing that gives her away is the way her foot taps against the floor. “The only times she’s reached out this past year have been to ask if I stole her mail. Which, yeah, I did. But that’s the only way to get her to even acknowledge my existence. I’m friends with Perry, but we’ve barely kept in touch after high school, and Darius isn’t gonna associate with wild witches once he’s a covenhead.” She shakes her head. “Face it, Rainestorm. You’re the only one dumb enough to go down with this sinking ship.”
Suddenly, Eda looks like a kid at I.F.W.O.T. again, hugging a grudgby ball to her chest and telling Raine that her sister is her only friend.
They step forward. “Hey,” they say softly. “I’m not dumb.”
She lightly scoffs in response, wearing a melancholic smile. “Right.”
“And you’re not a sinking ship,” they crouch down to meet her on the floor. “I would know, because I was on a sinking ship before I met you, and it sucked. I didn’t have any real friends. People only cared about me if I got them good grades or made their drinks taste better.”
“I only stick around for your apple blood,” she mumbles.
They ignore her. “You saved me from that. Eda, you…” They trail off. Given the way their blood rushes in her presence and the twinge in their heart any time their hands touch, it’s been difficult to categorize where exactly the two of them stand. The surface they dance on is no longer a singular line, but a circumference; no matter how quickly or in what direction they move, they always end up together in the same place. No matter how many lines they dissolve, or how many times Raine has to shake their head, when people at university ask about their ‘girlfriend’, or how badly they wish they had the guts to grab her hand and pull her in till their lips meet in the middle, one thing remains constant: “You’re my soulmate. Okay? It’s you and me, no matter what.”
She looks at them with wide eyes. Her mouth falls open, but no words come out.
They clear their throat. Titan. They hold their hand out for her to take. “Let’s, uh… let’s crash this wedding, then?”
After half a second of hesitation, a grin creeps onto her face, accepting it. “Fuck yeah.”