AN: Sorry for the delay guys. My life is a little crazy right now and I haven't been able to write in forever. The only reason I can get this chapter up is because it was already edited and ready to be uploaded. I'm not sure when more will come but I promise more will. Hope you like this chapter and thanks for all your great reviews.
She felt like a Barbie doll. She hated feeling like a Barbie doll.
Aria sat there, in the Nathan approved dress, at the Nathan's mother approved venue, clapping for the Nathan's family approved bride-to-be. The Bride-to-be that was supposed to be Aria's best friend, but, as far as Aria was concerned, that was a case for the body-snatcher investigators.
Anyone who didn't know Branwen would look at her bright, dazzling, perfect smile and think she was happy beyond belief. They would look at her perfect posture and appearance and think she was a healthy young woman with a good background and a respectable family. They would talk with her and listen to her polite, warm and inviting voice and think that nobody could be more cheerful or proper or… perfect. Anyone who didn't know Branwen would think that this engagement party was doing the perfect job of showing how perfect Branwen was for Nathan and how happy they were to be getting married.
But Aria knew Branwen. Aria had known Branwen since Aria had been so young she would sit in front of the mirror and think she was playing with another kid. Aria had known Branwen since before Aria had known herself. So she could say, without a doubt, that she knew Branwen had to be the most miserable person in the world right now.
And deep down Aria wished she could do something to help Branwen out, other than the requested schmoozing and pretending to be representing Branwen's supportive but regretfully absent family. But closer to the surface than the sympathetic friend was the disapproving best friend that knew that if Branwen was miserable, she only had herself to blame.
For days Aria had been trying to figure out what in the world had possessed Branwen to have her agreeing to this stupid scheme. Sure, they say you always love your first, but what kind of spell had he cast with his penis to get her to agree to this? It couldn't have been a love spell because Nathan had been staying at the house with them since it all started to 'keep up appearances', and most days Aria was concerned she was going to have to help hide his body.
Branwen wouldn't have any teeth left if she kept grinding them so hard. They hadn't made it through a day yet without dishes flying across the house. Aria had begun spending most of the day in her room just so she wouldn't have to bear witness against Branwen at Nathan's murder trial.
Nathan was enjoying every minute of it. He was staying in the guest room on the bottom floor but he would find any opportunity to invade Branwen's personal space. Every time she threw something at him he would just use to set the projectile down and then laugh to himself as he left the room. Which, of course, only proved to enrage Branwen further.
To Branwen's credit, she'd only maimed him twice. Once when he'd kissed her, insisting that they practice to make it seem legit, and again when he'd slapped her ass as he walked past her putting a pot back in the cupboard. He was just lucky he was powerful enough to heal those little marks or somebody might wonder about the scabbed nail marks across his cheek.
For some reason that Aria didn't understand, Nathan kept expecting Branwen to fight back with magic and was constantly caught off-guard when she reacted physically.
Regardless, Aria didn't like him. There was something suspicious about him. Sure, Branwen had said that underneath the pompous ass there was a guy who could be genuine and compassionate, and Aria had to admit that sometimes she thought she caught a glimpse of that when he didn't know Aria was watching him watch Branwen. But Aria didn't for a moment let herself get pulled into the web he was spinning. She had to be ready to pull Branwen out of the web when it started getting too deep.
But how deep was too deep? After all, Aria was now sitting at an engagement party in one of Boston's most prestigious restaurants where everyone was congratulating Branwen and Nathan on a wedding that would never happen. Sure, that wasn't the point, but they had to know this couldn't end well, right? Aria was all for giving people what they wanted, but how convoluted was faking an engagement to please a dying grandparent?
Like what happened if the grandparent pulled through? Then what? And was it really doing them a kindness if it was all an act? Yes, faking an engagement to make your dying grandparent feel like you would be happy and content in a future without them was sweet… in a way… if you liked that kind of thing. But you were basically scamming them. And shouldn't your family, regardless of impending death or not, just be happy if you're happy? Who has the right to say you can only be happy if you get married?
Of course when Aria brought this up to Branwen she just kept getting the sighing and the eye rolling. "Aria, you don't understand. It's complicated. Nathan's grandmother is very old and she's been given a month, tops. The only thing she had ever wanted was for Nathan to settle down and start a family. He's a jerk, I grant you that, but she means the world to him and he wants to make her proud."
"Proud of a fake engagement?"
"To her it won't be fake. It will give her piece of mind."
"Won't be fake? What do you mean?"
And that was the real kicker. They were going to stage a small fake wedding. That just blew Aria's mind. Of course it was only if they were pushed to get married before the grandmother died. But still, the theatrics that were being supplied for this woman. Every time Aria saw the drawn, worried and miserable look on Branwen's face Aria wanted to walk up to the grandmother and slap her in the face, asking her why she couldn't just be happy that her grandson had someone who was willing to jump through so many hoops to help him out. Or better yet, stop putting your own desires before the dreams and wishes of your family… you know, the people who still have to live with themselves after you're gone.
But Aria would never really say or do that. She just hated seeing Branwen so upset. They still hadn't figured out what to do about the fire or the darkling and despite Aria's parents not figuring anything out, something was going to have to be done. They couldn't live in fear forever.
Glancing around the room, Aria found Branwen and Nathan standing together, talking to the Matriarch herself. Branwen's smile was strained and Aria could only imagine the conversation and list of new demands. In all honesty she had given up understanding it. These days she was so upset with Branwen for wearing herself down with the engagement drama that as soon as she brought it up, Aria began to fade her out.
Something she had clearly done again because she was brought back to the present by a knife on crystal. Turning to look at the head of their table, Aria watched as Branwen and Nathan stood and Nathan put his knife back down.
"I would like to thank you all for coming to celebrate Branwen and My engagement. It's been a long time coming. Our first meeting was tumultuous and when she moved away we lost touch for a bit but when we bumped into each other last spring it all just came rushing back." He looked into Branwen's face and Aria saw it again. She couldn't deny that Nathan cared for Branwen. After all, he wouldn't find driving her mad so enjoyable if he didn't.
Smiling, Nathan did that knuckle thing that Branwen had told Aria she hated and Aria smiled to herself as she saw Nathan flinch. It must be nice to have eyes so light that nobody could tell when you were using your magic.
Electrocuting her fake fiancé aside, Branwen managed to pull off the loving fiancé act, even as Nathan turned back to the assembled friends and family and announced the thing Aria had truly hoped wouldn't happen.
"I hope you will all help us celebrate our love on February fourteenth, Valentine's Day, when we will be having a small ceremony just outside the city at a small chapel. Our hope is that on that day not only our dreams can come true but the strength of our love can inspire others to follow their hearts as well."
As he finished his speech, Nathan turned to smile at his grandmother. But Aria's eyes moved to Branwen, who stood at Nathan's side, her hand in his but her eyes wide and glued to the back of the room. Aria followed Branwen's panicked expression past all the smiling members of their party to the single figure standing alone in the shadowed entrance.
Aria stared at the dark expression on Pogue's face and felt so bad for him. But before she could even think of anything to do, the gathered friend and family began to tap their glasses, Nathan turned to Branwen and, not noticing her stricken expression, he pulled her in for a kiss. Branwen reached up and grabbed his hands, probably to pull them away, but Aria supposed that her ever dutiful best friend realized that wouldn't exactly look like a loving fiancé.
Looking back to Pogue, Aria tried to relay some sort of expression to let him know… something. Anything. But his eyes, filled with torture, stayed on Branwen. Pained by his torment, Aria looked at Branwen and tried to send her a mind-message, anything to tell her she had to stop it all now. That there was a boy at the back of the room that loved her and she was killing him. But by the time Nathan released her and smiled at the cheering crowd, Branwen and Aria both turned to stare at the entry and found nothing but a closing door.
Tuesday Branwen was lying in bed, where she had been since the night of her disastrous engagement party. Of course, for all intents and purposes, it hadn't been disastrous at all. It had gone off perfectly. Grandma Maggie had been convinced and everyone had a good time. Unless you counted the bride. And the maid of honor. And the man the bride loved. Nope, not the groom. The man who wouldn't answer a single text or call Branwen tried. Not that she could blame him. It's not like she'd ever answered any of his before.
And what could she really say? She'd text him saying that it was complicated but wasn't what he thought or what it looked like. What more was there? Telling him what was going on would mean telling him about her powers and she couldn't do that. She'd lose him for sure. Then again, she didn't really have him. She'd pushed him away every chance she got. And now that she'd succeeded she wanted him back. Her friend.
Aria was ready to hit Branwen. And Branwen understood her best friend's confusion. But Aria also hadn't spent a year with Nathan's coven. Aria didn't understand that not only was Maggie the matriarch of the Southern coven and one of the few witches left with the talent of intuitive spell-casting, where she could not only make her own spells but had a working knowledge of every spell ever worked. But on top of all that, Maggie had been like a grandmother to Branwen.
While staying with the Southern coven, Branwen's mother had spent most of her time with the council. Despite being the Matriarch, Maggie didn't sit on the council. She didn't like coven politics. But unlike Branwen's coven, the council had the deciding power, but only acted with Maggie's blessing. They didn't need to, but they respected her wisdom. And Maggie had respected the coven as a whole. She knew every one of her coven, their birthdays, their families, their problems… She considered them all her family. And while Branwen stayed there, Maggie had considered Branwen family as well.
When Nathan had explained that Maggie was dying and that she wanted Nathan to take his spot as her successor Branwen had understood. It was an old tradition to keep covens joined through marriage and Branwen had been a part of their coven for a year. She was a natural choice.
Nathan was very powerful. He didn't need a wife to be a good ruler, but if it would ease Maggie's worries in her last days to think Nathan would have one, Branwen would do all she could to make Maggie happy.
Branwen just wished her decision to do so hadn't made Pogue so unhappy.
"That's it!" Aria said, bursting through the door and throwing open the curtains. Branwen hid under the covers but soon Aria ripped those away too. "Nope, no more hiding. You have class tomorrow and you haven't even flipped open a book."
Branwen groaned and flipped over, burying her face in a pillow. "I read those books months ago. I could teach that class." She mumbled.
"What's that?" Aria said. "I can't hear you past the pillow, horrible bedhead and whiny excuses."
Grinding her teeth, Branwen turned over and sat up. "I have the right to stay in bed should I choose to. I am an adult."
"Really?" Aria gasped sarcastically, "Then start acting like it!" She stomped out of the room before calling, "And have a shower. You're starting to make the whole house smell."
Branwen frowned and muttered, "It wouldn't happen if you left my door closed."
"I heard that." Aria called. "And that is pathetic, even for you."
Rolling her eyes, Branwen got up off the bed and pulled her shirt off. A shower couldn't hurt.
"Good afternoon."
Despite facing the opposite direction, Branwen still covered her chest with her hands. "What the hell, Nathan? Get out."
"I didn't come here for a peep show, I promise."
Branwen picked up the sheet Aria had pulled off her bed and covered herself with it before turning to Nathan. "Would you like to state why you did and then get the hell out?"
He smiled that annoying lop-sided grin of his. "I just wanted to let you know that Maggie is going to come over this Friday. She wants to help with some wedding planning. She's going to be staying the night. I offered to set her up on the main level but I was thinking she's going to be noticing if I keep coming up from downstairs."
Branwen narrowed her eyes. "So tell her we're waiting until we're married."
His grin grew. "I'm pretty sure she knows that ship has already sailed."
Damn her adolescent self and those hormones. "Fine, tell her we're refraining to make our wedding night special."
Nathan raised a brow. "You know what she's going to say to that."
Yeah, she did. For a woman who was so traditional she wanted her grandson to marry before taking the seat of power in the coven, Maggie had modern theories on some things. For instance, she'd once told Branwen, "Men seem to get the notion that they enjoy sex more than we do, and we want to keep it that way. The more they think that the easier it is to use against them. For men are carnal in nature and it is our jobs as women to soften them."
When Branwen was fifteen she had blushed so red at the innuendo that she almost got dizzy.
But despite Maggie's thoughts that sex was one of the many things women had up their sleeves to bend men to their will, Branwen knew that if she told Maggie they were abstaining from sex to make their wedding night special, Maggie would scoff and tell her it's never too early to start saving for a rainy day. Maggie had never been shy about expressing her thoughts about what old age does to the sex drive. She was an amazing and amusing woman. And that amazing and amusing woman was making Branwen's life very complicated.
"Fine." Branwen said. "But you're sleeping on the floor."
He smiled again and she wanted to punch him in the face. "Don't trust yourself around me?"
"I trust myself. I don't trust you. Maggie always said it was a stupid man who left his dinner where the dog could reach it."
Nathan frowned. "You're concerned for my piece of mind and don't want to tempt me with your beauty?"
Branwen rolled her eyes. "Sure, let's go with that."
This time when Nathan smiled Branwen knew something was up. It was too bright. "Well if that's the case, maybe you should have picked sheets that weren't so thin."
Branwen looked down and sure enough she could see the shaded circles of her areolas right through the white sheet. "Damn white sheets." She said and she looked up and saw his shadow disappearing down the hall.
"I see not much has changed." He called.
Things didn't get much better, either. Branwen got up Wednesday morning, got all her things together, managed to avoid Nathan and made it to class right before Professor Lewis began. She'd thought she was doing pretty well. And then she looked up to find a seat and the only available one was smack dab next to the one person she would rather die than sit beside.
At least Pogue had the grace to move his bag for her to sit down. He also didn't glare at her or yell at her. He even picked up her book when she dropped it. He didn't say one mean thing.
He didn't say anything.
When class was over, she packed up her bag and turned to ask him about his presence in her class and he was gone. She decided not to say anything about it to Aria because she knew what Aria would say.
"You broke his heart and led him on, of course he doesn't want to linger for some small talk."
Yeah, well conscience Aria had a point. But just because she screwed it up didn't mean Branwen wasn't allowed to be hurting too. And she was suddenly like a junkie, craving even the smallest contact with her addiction. She watched for him everywhere she went. She looked in every face in the halls and scanned every open space for any sign of his tell-tale hair and jacket. And then in her last class on Friday, when she was finally becoming both busy and hopeless enough to think about things other than Pogue Parry, she got to class early and started going over her textbook when she felt eyes on her and looked up to see him standing a few feet inside the door.
She went to give him a tentative smile but he looked away before she had a chance. He sat on the opposite side of the classroom and even Branwen knew that her glancing throughout class was obnoxiously obvious.
As the lecture drew to a close, Branwen made sure she had everything in her bag and ready to leave and when they were dismissed, she weaved through the bodies like a magnet in jello. Still, they were in the hall before she was within shouting distance from him.
"Pogue!" He flinched but kept walking. "Pogue, please?" She saw the sigh he took raise his shoulders and drop as he stopped and turned to wait for her.
When she got to him he ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Branwen, I have a class."
"It's the end of the day, Pogue, there aren't anymore classes for the day." It hurt that he was trying to avoid her with such a weak excuse.
Taking a deep breath, he met her eyes. "What do you want, then?"
"I want to talk to you. I want to explain, at least try to."
"Try to? Your text said you couldn't tell me what was going on."
Branwen sighed. "It's complicated."
"Yeah, it said that too." They stood in silence for a bit and the hall was almost empty before he spoke again. "Look, I don't know what the deal is or why you felt the need to lead me on while you were dating someone else but if this is going to be a repeat of your texts, well I really do have better things to do."
Branwen shook her head. "I wasn't dating him and I wasn't leading you on. Even if I were dating him, I told you I couldn't be more than friends."
"Yeah, because you didn't have time! You were too busy getting engaged."
"It's not like that. It's an arrangement."
"You're having an arranged marriage?"
Branwen thought about that. That's not what she had meant but suddenly it was the only thing that was anywhere close. "Kind of. Look, I don't care about him like that. I've known him a long time and he needs help with something and, well, it's..."
"Complicated. Yeah, I got that part." Pogue rolled his eyes.
"Hey! I'm trying to be honest."
Pogue's glare grew cold. "Funny, I thought you were trying to hand me some crap about marrying some guy because he needed help and yet somehow I'm supposed to be okay that you didn't see fit to tell me this once since we met. You could have just said you had someone, whatever he is."
"He's just a friend."
Pogue opened his mouth to speak but then looked past her. Branwen followed his eyes and found Nathan coming up behind her, smiling his usual smile, completely unaware of the mess he was making of her life. Not that she'd helped any.
She looked back to Pogue but he just kept staring at Nathan, the little ticking working in his jaw. When Nathan got to them he smiled at them and held his hand out to Pogue. "Nathan Gregory."
When Pogue spoke it was through gritted teeth. "Pogue Parry."
"Nice to meet you." Nathan said before turning to smile at Branwen. "You ready to go? I picked up Maggie and got her settled into the study. I put new sheets on our bed too." Of course he would be a complete douche and bring that up now.
Branwen, who had still been watching Pogue, felt her heart break as his jaw clenched and his beautiful hazel eyes dimmed. "Pogue, it's…"
"Complicated. Right." He met her eyes and gave her a smile that didn't hold the smallest amount of happiness. "Have fun with your… friend."
He turned and walked away, turning the corner and disappearing. Nathan came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her but she pulled out of his arms before punching him in the chest, slapping him, shoving him back and walking away. She really should have stayed in bed.