Enlightened A Light Tamer Novel (The Light Tamer) (26 page)

“EVERYONE,” the man shouts so loud I jump and let a squeal. “Hands together.  Raise your hands up, showing the unity that binds us as creatures from the earth.  We’re bringing
together
two beating hearts and merging them as one.”  He raises his hands in the air and yells out.

“Go
siorai
!”

“Go
siorai
!”  The crowd repeats.

I think that means eternally in Gaelic.
Caleb thinks to me.

Oh, gotcha.

“
Mr.
Lucente
, do you give your daughter Jessica Aileen
Lucente
to Caleb Art Baldwin for the rest of her life?”

“I do,” my dad replies and puts my hand into Caleb’s hand.  “I love you Jess,” he whispers and steps back away from me.

A lump starts
to grow at the base of my throat.

“Do you Caleb Art Baldwin, take Jessica Aileen
Lucente
as your wife, to be her forever friend, bound to her heart, and the one and only true love of her life?  To love her without questions, cherish and honor her, protect her from chaos and destruction?  To
soothe
her in times of distress and to entwine your heart and spirit?”

Caleb quietly replies, “I do, infinity.”

The lump in my throat constricts airflow; the tears welled in my eyes.  This is actu
ally
happening. 

“Do you Jessica Aileen
Lucente
, take Caleb Art Baldwin to be your husband, to be his forever friend?  To be his partner and his true love?  Will you love him without reservation, honor him and trust him, protect him from the perils of life?  To
soothe
him in times of distress and entwine your heart and spirit?”

“I do.”

The preacher, which isn’t Thorne, who thought he’d be the one to perform the ceremony.  This man spoke with authority and absolution with every word.  He wore a
plain
grey
suit
and black tie.  He pulls a rope from the pulpit and holds it above his head.  “May the spirits bless this rope to bind the two souls.  Will the father of Jessie and Caleb step forward?”  I hadn’t noticed
Mr
Gabe, I wonder what he thinks of all of this.

He hands the rope to the men and asks them to tie our wrists together as he repeats a handfasting blessing.  “Blessed is this union with gifts from the East.  New beginnings with the rising of each sun, in Fairyland. 
Your heart, mind and body will absorb the nourishment the eastern sun will bring.
  Blessed be by the gifts of the South.  Your heart’s passion to warm you in the cold of the winter.  Light to illuminate the darkest of times.  Blessed be by the West, the cleansing of rain to wash away fears and darkness.  Blessed be by the North.  Fertility to the fields and to your womb
,
may they enrich your lives.  A stable home to come home to.  Take with these the tools of the earth.”  He sprinkles a handful of dirt over the ropes and rinses it with a cup of water.  He holds a ball of light in the palm of his hand and drops it to fall on the rope.  Without hesitation, he blows on the light ball.  The four elements, of
course
. 

“Do you have the rings?”  The man says to Thorne.

He pats his chest and pant pockets, giving a
good
show of forgetting to bring the rings.  I could see the bulge in his pocket as he did his little ruse.  
Finally
, patting the pocket with the box of rings.  He hands them to Caleb
.

“They are inscribed, please say it out loud for everyone to hear,” the man demands.

“Preaditi Unum.” Caleb and I say it out loud.  Without warning, a sharp pain jabbed me in the heart.  By the look on Caleb’s face, he has it too.

As quickly as the pain arrived, it was gone.  My heart feels strong, yet slower.  “
Caleb, what happened?”

I think our hearts melded together.  I think our souls bound together.

“As one, you’ve been bound by the prophecy.  Your rings say,
the gifted one,
and that you are. 
As you live as one, you’ll die as one or come as close to death as one can.  When one heart stops, the other is paralyzed.  You’ll never be alone if you live and fulfill the prophecy.  Now, a test,” the man says and motions for a waiter to step forward. 

The tray with the two champagne flutes is balanced on his hand.

“Caleb, before you are the glasses that represent your union, one is filled with barken-beer and the other with white sumach berry wine.  One of the glasses is filled with poison, the other is as harmless as a glass of water.  Caleb, you’ll be guided by your bride.  Jessie, with your hands, bring
forth
your light and let the light chose.”

What do you want me to do?
Caleb thought to me.

It’s a trick, that is what many of these test things are.  One of them smelled sweet, that is the berry.  I don’t know a lot of white berries to be poisonous, but I’m guessing it is.  The pungent one is the barken-beer.  I don’t know what
barken
is, but I’m guessing it isn’t poisonous.  I’ll hold my hands over both.  I’ll pretend to chose one,
and
you take the other.   Are you ready?

I believe in you. 
Here
goes nothing.

Caleb
,
don’t die.

Jess, I’ll try.

You’re impossible.

We’re married, I’m supposed to be.

People
are
staring.

Okay, my Queen.

The sounds of
a horses hooves
behind us startle everyone out of silence.  A pandemonium breaks out,
and
we turn around to see what’s going on.  A stunning blonde woman wearing traditional  English riding
wear
bombarded through the crowd.

“Put that glass down boy.  They’re both full of poison, any respectable preacher would know better than to pass that trash to royalty.”  She starts clapping her hands together.

Caleb, do you think she’s mad…you know, crazy?

I don’t think it, I know it.

“Oh, how darling.  What a lovely gown they’ve made for you.  My goodness, what a lovely couple you are.  So beautiful, oh to have young love once again.  I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself.  I’m Teagan O’Brian, and
around these parts
I’m known as the Seelie Queen.”  She turns her back on Caleb
and
me to face the crowd.  “I am disappointed to find you would go behind my back, and bring
forth
the supposed Queen of Fairyland and have her marry like a commoner.  Why was this
hidden from me
?  Who decided this?”

“I did Teagan, that’s who.  Now calm your tail-feather and turn to see their first kiss.  Their real magic is about to dazzle us all.  Come
here
friend, we’ll watch together.  Caleb and Jessie, the final piece to the puzzle is for Caleb to kiss his bride.”

Beautiful, I’m the luckiest guy on earth and Fairyland. 
He puts his hand under my chin and steps in closer.  Everything around us stops, the melody to my favorite love song from my mom’s playlist.  Edwin McCain’s, I’ll Be, is running through my head.

The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful

Stop me and steal my breath

And emeralds from mountains thrust towards the sky

Never revealing their depth.

What is that you’re humming?
Caleb asks.

Was I humming?  It’s a song my dad would sing to my mom.
 

We smiled against each other, lost in the moment. 
No one watching, no one hearing our thoughts.
  Until we hear….

“Oh for
cripes
sake, you become royalty and you subject us to a marathon make-out,” Amber teases.

We turn to her and laugh.

“To the people of Fairyland, I introduce you to Caleb and Jessica Baldwin the King and Queen of FAIRYLAND!!  Behold the Kingdom of Everlasting Light.  All Hail the Light Tamers!”  The man who married us announced, very loudly.

“ALL HAIL!”  The crowd yells.

Caleb takes my hand.  “
Are you ready,”
he asks.

Don’t let me fall.

Never.

“Mom, stop fussing.  We’re going to be late to the airport.  She’ll have to get dressed at Caleb’s house,” I fuss.  It’s been two weeks since our wedding and nothing, yet everything has changed.  We met with the Seelie and Unseelie courts and said we were going to let them to continue ruling the fae.  Rumors were spreading at school that Caleb and I got married in a secret wedding because I’m pregnant.   Stupid rumors, especially since I have to be a virgin to hold my throne.  We felt that rumors are just that, and we wouldn’t admit or deny any accusations. 
It isn’t like we’re married in the human world.

“Jess, I’ll meet you outside.  Is Amber staying over tonight?” Mom asked.

I grab my stuff and rush out to the car with her.  “No, she’s going
to dance
with Thorne.  He got those other guys to come and guard Caleb and
me
.  I still don’t know how I’m going to explain the creepy guys that follow us around to Jersey.”

Dad is standing outside at the car, holding the door open for my mom.  I haven’t been able to heal him yet.  I tried to put my hands on him and see if it helped.  He isn’t all the way dark, his desire to steal my light has subsided.  Mom and him have been talking on the phone, and have gone to have coffee a few times.  I don’t know that they’ll ever be together as a couple again, but I’m okay with the way it is right now.

“I can’t believe you guys let grandma actually chaperone the dance tonight.  She’s meeting us at the cemetery, the one that Jersey wants to visit before the dance. 
She said she wants to get pictures by that creepy arch with the wrought iron gates.”

“She’s always been fascinated with ghosts and cemeteries.  She took you walking through one that one time,
and
you were in hysterics.  Do you remember?”  Mom laughs at the memory.  I can’t lie, her laugh makes me laugh.  She sounds like a cartoon character when she laughs.

“It was dark,” I finally say when I catch my breath from laughing. 

Mom laughed.  “Oh yeah, I guess that wouldn’t be
good
.  I have so much to learn about you Tamers.”

“I’m willing to teach you everything I know,” dad says flirty to mom.

“Are you now?” She flirts back.

“Oh for the love of all things sacred, I’m the kid,” I blurt out.  “No flirting.”

“Says the Queen.” They say in unison.

“Hey dad, I meant to tell you this.  Miss Raine had told
us she
had a girl coming out to talk to us.  Her name is Chrissy,
and
she can heal animals.  I guess she can actually talk telepathy with them, and they tell her what is wrong.  I’ve been looking forward to her coming to the class,
but
she had to cancel.  There is some type of Olympic games that are taking place in Ireland.  I heard Miss Raine say something about a wolf got hurt.  I don’t know what kind of Olympic sport has wolves, but I thought that was interesting.”

“We’ll have to check Google,” mom says.

The convention center is decorated with fall themed decorations.  We’d eaten cupcakes and hotdogs and tried a few Light Tamer tricks.  Amber looked cute in a sassy purple dress with feathers on the hem.  No matter how much Thorne tried to deny his feelings for her, the look on his face was obvious.

The DJ called the last dance, and I heard the familiar melody to I’ll Be.
  Caleb held out his hand to me,
and
I walked with him to the dance floor.

“Mrs. Baldwin?”

“Yes,
Mr
Baldwin?”

“You look beautiful tonight.”

“Oh yeah?  You look pretty snazzy too.”

He leans over and kisses the tip of my nose.

“What’s next?”

“Happily ever after,” he whispers in my ear.

“We have to find a way to close the portal,” I say.  I lean my head against his chest and hear and feel our hearts beating as one. 

“It’s our destiny, close the portal and stand with these other creatures.  We have our first Council meeting next weekend.  It’s time to bring
forth
a united front.”

“Did I tell you that Mrs Ward had Amber go to her office and told her that her DNA has the code they’re hoping will help with the four elements.”