Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

The Fosters

The wedding reception was the fanciest party Sophie had ever seen—with an insane amount of food, including every pastry she'd ever encountered in the Lost Cities—and a massive wedding cake that looked like it could feed hundreds of people.

Sophie and Keefe were seated at the high table while their closest friends—and Grady and Edaline—sat at the tables nearest to them.

They had gone back and forth on where to seat Lord Cassius and finally decided to go ahead and seat him with Sophie's parents.

He didn't really deserve to be counted among "close friends and family", but there would be less drama this way, and they didn't want their wedding day tainted with anything negative.

Plus, Sandor and Ro were both also seated at the table, considered close friends, and Ro was conveniently seated right next to Cassius. She and her precious amoebas and bacteria had caused him enough troubles in the past, so they knew she'd keep him in line.

But he showed no inclination to cause trouble. He was surprisingly quiet and subdued during the wedding and, so far, the reception.

Their wedding cake was the most delicious thing Sophie had ever eaten. It somehow reminded her of mallowmelt, but was a more sturdy structure than the typical gooey consistency of mallowmelt. And as Sophie sat there next to Keefe, talking and laughing and chatting with their friends and saying hello to the Councillors who came by to speak with them, she found that for once, she didn't mind being the center of attention.

Not as long as Keefe was by her side, his arm either slung over the back of her chair or resting lightly on her knee.

"You know," Keefe told her through a large bite of cake, "this might be the only time in all our history where the entire Council chose to attend the wedding of a bad match."

"You're right," Sophie realized. "I guess they really did mean it when they said they'd stand by me even with me being unmatchable. They're not even kicking us out of the nobility. Though I don't know if that really means their views on matchmaking are really changing all that much...more that they're just making an exception in our case because of my unique circumstances."

"True," he agreed. "But it's a start." He took a drink of his fizzleberry wine, his hand coming to rest on the back of her neck, gently sweeping her hair off her shoulder. "You have always had a way of making the Council come around to a new way of thinking."

Sophie smiled as she got another forkful of cake. "I sure hope so."

Before she could bring the cake to her mouth, Keefe had leaned in, pressing his lips softly against her cheek. "Did I tell you how incredibly gorgeous you look today?" He murmured. His eyes raked slowly over her, taking in her appearance again. "I seriously have the hottest wife on the planet."

Sophie blushed slightly at him calling her hot, and couldn't stop the giggle that escaped her lips. "You know, you look pretty good yourself," she told him. "And that Ruewen crest looks right at home--oops!"

The forgotten bit of cake had slipped off her fork--which she'd still been holding partway to her mouth--and fell down the front of her dress. The v-neckline of the wedding dress unfortunately ensured that the cake fell down her dress instead of falling onto it and simply landing in her lap. "Um..." She was going to have to excuse herself to extricate the cake--or try to lift it with her telekinesis.

But Keefe smirked, his eyes shifting downward and back up. "I guess I could get it out for you," he told her in a low, enticing voice. "We are married now, after all."

Sophie felt her lips curve up in a smile, but she shook her head. "Not in public!"

"Even though I can feel just how tempting that is for you?"