Wicked Steps

Chapter 33

The day of her bachelorette party darned, and Emberlee woke invigorated while Damien woke burdened with a hangover. They'd both been fed equal amounts of aphrodisiac and yet not a single salacious thing had occurred once Emberlee had helped Damien out of his clothes; she'd simply redressed him at gone to bed with him.

Somehow Aerig came to collect Damien shortly after dawn despite having drunk with him the night before. "Hair of the dog, darling, its an old Adaban curative, " he encouraged even as presented both of them with full wine glasses.

"Please explain," Emberlee insisted, even as she nudged Damien all the way awake.

"We have a myth of something called a lycanthrope, a human forced into a wolf's shape based on the phase of the moon," he admitted. "Basically if the werewolf bites you, you become infected, and a possible cure is to drink pure spirits with a 'hair of the dog that bit you in it."

"I'll gladly drink dog hair if it means this hangover goes away," Damien sounded as sick as he looked.

"Love, I don't think magic or alchemy could help you now," Emberlee offered as her best sympathy.

Damien's arm had been flung over his face as if it could help stop the spinning, and still Emberlee saw him try to land an eye on her directly. "You called me love," he pointed out as if it were significant.

"I'll be calling you husband before the end of the week," she reminded pointedly, for some reason unable to meet his eye.

"Rule one only has five days left on its life expectancy," Aerig added immediately, earning a dark look from Emberlee.

"We only have to survive today to make that day safer," she pointed out blatantly.

"I have no doubt in your ability Emberlee, neither does he," Aerig a winked despite her glower.

"You're just eager to hear the details?" she tried to be mean.

"Of anything I can't directly witness, yes!" He renamed shameless.

"You would truly sit in a chair and be audience for our first night if that's all we allowed you?" her incredulity rang in her tone.

"Méabh demanded much worse of me Emberlee, at least you care how it affects me," he admitted with a hapless shrug, "besides, your fiancé already agreed to whatever you allow."

For some reason that made Emberlee smile, both an Imperial Prince and a diplomatic Envoy waited on her permission. "Today is the day of celebration, why did he drink so much the night before?" The next four days would be filled with religious ceremony and traditional pageantry, their wedding was the fifth day. If there was a day to overindulge it would be today and not last night.

"You know why," Aerig didn't deny, already knowing that if tradition called for Damien to be dosed with the aphrodisiac meant Emberlee had been too.

"Rule one," she summarized.

"Rule one dies in one Xutian week, are you ready?" he asked, not unkindly.

"We'll let you know," she glibly replied, watching Aerig try and help Damien battle against his hangover.

"None of us are ready," Aerig announced, seemingly to their reflections.

"Now you sound like my Father," she pointed out.

"I'm not the kind of man who enjoys being called Daddy," he pointed out in a matter that sounded suggestive but she didn't understand. "Méabh's Mercy, you really are young." he swore in Adaban.

"I told you before, I don't have time to waste on reading the lusty, worldly books you read," she hazarded a guess.

"You're both too loud," Damien complained.