Fen

"What if they don't get along?" I asked Zale, and winced when I accidentally tore a cuticle. I was too stressed and was picking at my fingers to cope.

Zale gently took my hand in his. "They will. They're soulmates," he said.

"But we didn't get along great at first," I had to point out.

He laughed. "Well, let's hope neither of them is as disagreeable as I am."

I didn't think his joke was very funny. I looked around to make sure none of our guests had arrived yet and leaned in close to whisper, "I don't know, Castiel seems pretty intense."

Zale laughed harder. How was he not freaking out about this?

Zale had explained the deal he made with his father. He had a month – just under a month, now – to get Kyra to agree to marry a Huronese prince. Zale had arranged to have Castiel, Benny, and Kyra over to stay in his palace for the weekend. At first, Kyra had been sure her father wouldn't release her from her duties to visit Zale, but we knew better. Of course he agreed, because he knew that Zale was acting in his interests.

Blech.

Castiel and Benny's attendance wasn't as much in question. I didn't really understand what had happened between Kyra and Castiel when they shared that dance the night they met, but it was obvious she had captured at least a spark of his interest. They agreed to come within an hour of the invitation being sent.

Zale's mother had looked intrigued when he told her about the guests he had coming, but hadn't pried. "I think I'll take this opportunity to catch up with some of my friends. You can have the dining room" was all she had said.

The large, solid wood doors to the dining hall opened. Benny and Castiel walked in, closely followed by a guard dressed in Rellian regalia. "Castiel and Benicio Huron," the guard announced, as if it wasn't only the five of us in the room and as if Zale and I weren't already walking toward them.

"Thank you," Zale said dismissively, and the guard left.

Castiel looked around the room appraisingly and Benny smiled broadly at us. "I wasn't sure we'd see you two again so soon," he said.

I had to smile back. "We said we would," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but people say a lot of things," Benny answered.

Castiel's eyes finished sweeping the room and he looked to Zale. "Where's the rest of our party?" he asked. Since the invitation had specifically said Kyra would be here, he could only mean her.

Zale checked his watch and his eyebrows shot up. "It's later than I realized," he muttered, and showed me the time. It was five minutes later than when I was supposed to pick up Kyra.

"I'll be right back," I said. I waved awkwardly and was about to disappear when Zale's hands came around my waist and he pulled me in for a quick but thorough kiss.

"See you soon," he said, as though this wouldn't take less than a minute. I teleported away as soon as his hands released me before smiling widely.

"Fen, there you are!" Kyra said, sounding relieved. She was sitting on her bed with a large tote bag next to her. She hefted it up and I reached out to take it from her when it was clear she struggled under the weight. "Thanks," she said.

"No problem. Sorry I'm late, we lost track of the time."

I held out a hand for Kyra to take, but she bit her lip instead. "Zale mentioned the brothers from Huron would be there?"

I was glad I was already smiling, since it would have been impossible not to react to the way Kyra was trying not to seem as interested as she clearly was. "Yeah, they just arrived before I came to get you."

Kyra nodded to herself. "Okay. That's... good."

I held out my hand again, and once again she hesitated. Only, this time she didn't say what was on her mind.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

Kyra nodded, but she still looked worried. "Yeah. I just... I wondered why Zale set this up."

I disagreed with Zale's decision not to tell Castiel and Kyra what they were to each other, but I respected it. So I said the only excuse that came to mind. "Networking?"

Kyra started to look more like her normal, confident self. More than that, she looked a lot like Zale did when her brows raised sardonically. She even used a tone very much like his when she repeated, "Networking?"

"Yup. You know, Benny and Castiel seemed really nice when we met them at your party. So it just seemed like it would be good to get everyone together," I rambled. I should have just kept my mouth shut, since Kyra's lips pursed in a way that said she took a lot more information out of what I said than I meant for her to.

Namely, she didn't believe me at all and knew I was hiding something from her.

I saw the moment she decided not to keep pushing me for information. She shook her head a little and put on a smile that almost looked real. "Well, I suppose we should be going."

She reached out a hand for me and in seconds, we were in the dining room in Zale's castle. Zale stepped forward to greet his sister, then took her bag from me. "Kyra, it's good to see you. I'll have this brought to your room."

He strode away before she could even respond, leaving me standing awkwardly with the brothers and Kyra. She exhibited none of the uncertainty she showed in her bedroom. She studied Castiel with the same calculating gaze he aimed at her, before they both looked to me.

They're onto us.

I pushed the thought away. They couldn't be.

But there was something in the way Castiel watched her, and in the way his eyes kept flicking to me, looking thoughtful. They greeted each other, but the words all ran over my head while I tried to calm down my paranoia.

"Why don't we sit down?" I said, trying to play the good host. The seating area had been expanded since I first started coming around, and our party of five would be spread across a chaise lounge, a plush armchair, and a couch. I sat down on Zale's favorite, the chaise, and had to look away so they wouldn't see me smile when Benny took the armchair, leaving Castiel and Kyra to share the couch.

Zale came back from handing off Kyra's bag and claimed the seat next to me. He loosely hooked an arm around my shoulders – he'd been way more affectionate lately – and I leaned happily against his shoulder. Kyra and Castiel sat down, and with them sitting so close together, I noticed something I hadn't seen before.

With a frown, I tapped into my magic so I could really examine the bond between them. My enhanced sight confirmed that I hadn't been imagining things; the bond between them was much stronger than it had been when they met.

Castiel slid forward in his seat, using his body and his arms to shield her from my view. "What are you doing?" he demanded. Benny stood up and stared down at me with a hard look in his eyes I wouldn't have expected from him.

"Calm down!" Kyra said, pushing out from behind him. "Fen's not going to hurt me."

"What am I missing?" Zale asked, looking between all of us.

I shook my head, since I was wondering the same.

"What were you doing?" Castiel asked me again, ignoring Zale entirely.

"I was just looking," I said.

Kyra put a hand on Castiel's leg. "Be nice," she said.

That was when Zale realized that Castiel and Kyra were being too familiar. "Are you two...?"

Benny sat down as the attention shifted away from me and my magic and toward Kyra and Castiel. She looked distinctly uncomfortable, while Castiel sat up straighter in his seat.

"We're together," Castiel confirmed, staring right into Zale's eyes as though daring him to say something bad about it.

When Zale didn't respond, Kyra said, "It's still new, so we're not really telling people yet."

Well, that explained why their bond was so much more developed now. But when? How?

"Well, this is unexpected," Zale muttered.

"Is it?" Castiel asked pointedly.

I knew they were on to us!

"Are we just going to ignore whatever magic Fen was doing?" Benny asked.

"My magic lets me see connections between people," I explained as the attention once again shifted to me. "I was noticing how, um, connected you guys are."

Kyra blushed. "Isn't it disorienting, seeing connections that way? How can you tell them all apart?"

"It can be confusing in a crowd," I said, "but times like this, there's not a lot to see."

"Can you only see connections between people who are in front of you?" Benny asked curiously.

If I kept answering questions, I was going to have to explain more about what these connections actually were. "Yes."

"That must be a huge strategic advantage," Castiel said to Zale. I didn't like the light in his eyes.

"Not really," Zale said.

"I can think of countless ways it would help. You'd always know where you stand with people. It could help you sense a betrayal, or help determine where allegiances lie."

"It doesn't work like that," I said. "I just see..."

Oh, hell. I couldn't dance around it anymore.

"I can only see people's connection to their soulmate."

I squeezed Zale's hand in apology and he pressed a kiss to my temple to let me know he wasn't upset. Unsurprisingly, it didn't take long for Castiel's eyes to widen as he took in the implications of what I said.

"And you see such a connection between myself and Kyra?" he asked.

I nodded, looking between them. "We weren't going to say anything until you knew each other better," I said apologetically.

But neither one of them was paying any attention to me. They stared at each other for several long moments, long enough that the silence in the room started to feel uncomfortable and oppressive. Finally, Kyra smiled a little and said, "Well, that certainly complicates things."

Castiel shook his head at her with a fond expression before looking to Benny. "There goes the hope that this will fizzle out, eh?"

Benny snorted a laugh, but I had a hard time seeing what was so funny. "You wanted to break up?" I asked. It was an invasive question, but at this point it seemed like we were past the point of propriety.

"You must see how this complicates things," Kyra said gently. "My father-"

"Your father is an ass," Zale cut in.

Kyra sighed. "That's not the point right now, Zale. As I was saying, my father doesn't want me to be with anyone who could pose a threat to him. Castiel isn't exactly malleable."

"So?" Zale asked, looking annoyed. "Who cares what that man thinks?"

Kyra looked down and Castiel shot an annoyed look at Zale. "Kyra does, and she has every right to. He's her father. I know your history with him has been lacking, but don't make the mistake of thinking Kyra is obligated to feel the same way."

Zale didn't bother hiding his annoyance, and he was so irritated that my skin itched just from experiencing it secondhand through the bond. "Yes, but did her father mention the deal he struck with me?"

Oh, no. This couldn't go anywhere good. It would be a delicate subject to broach in any circumstance, and Zale was too angry to explain it delicately. I had to step in.

"What deal?" Castiel growled.

I spoke before I even had a plan for what to say, knowing I couldn't give Zale the opportunity to explain this. He was itching for an argument. "Euripides came to the school last week. He was going to pull Astrea out, and told Zale he'd never see her again."

Kyra paled. "What? He never mentioned anything to me about that."

"I'm sure there's a lot he doesn't tell you," Zale said, his eyes still hard with anger. I gripped his hand and hoped it provided him some level of comfort.

"Zale was desperate to stop him," I continued. "He offered the only deal he could think of."

I hesitated while my tongue stumbled over the words for just a second too long.

"He gave me a month to get you to agree to marry a Huronese prince," Zale said.

Kyra put her head in her hands and the brothers exchanged surprised looks. Almost simultaneously, their eyes crinkled with amusement. Castiel chuckled softly while Benny let out a big guffaw.

"Well, Euripides is in for a surprise," Castiel said, still chuckling. "There's no question he was aiming for Benny."

Zale's irritation finally cooled as he smiled back. "Perhaps this will teach him to be more specific."

Kyra finally lifted her head from her hands to reveal that her face was dark red with embarrassment. "I can't believe you did this," she said to Zale.

His eyes softened for the first time since Euripides came up. "Sorry, Kyra. I had to protect Astrea."

"Of course you did," Kyra said, and I could see that she really meant it. I wondered what she had done throughout the years in the name of protecting Astrea. Knowing Euripides, he had probably used Astrea as a tool to get Kyra to jump through whatever hoops he wanted.

"There's more," Zale said softly, still entirely focused on his sister. Her expression filled with apprehension and he smiled reassuringly. "If I follow through on our deal, Astrea will be allowed to live with me until she's eighteen. He won't control her anymore."

Kyra's eyes filled with tears. She came over to us and pulled Zale out of his seat to hug him tightly. "Thank you."

When they pulled away from each other, Castiel was there to wrap an arm around Kyra's shoulders. He looked down at her with an arched brow and a sharp smile. "I suppose we have an engagement to celebrate."

Benny guffawed again while Kyra rolled her eyes. "Someone's being presumptuous," she said.

Castiel stepped away from her and performed an elegant bow I wished I could replicate. "Apologies, milady." When he straightened, it was only to take her hands and swiftly drop down to both knees before her. "Princess Kyra of the honorable nation of Vidonia, would you do me the highest honor of becoming my bride?"

And though his words should have made the proposal ridiculous, especially given the circumstances, the sincerity burning in his gaze turned this into a beautiful moment to witness. Kyra's eyes watered and she pulled him to his feet. "Yes."

They smiled at each other until Kyra smirked and added, "But not until after the sixth date at least."

That set off another round of laughter.