Zoey/Rouge II (Patreon)

Her dad was in his room, sitting on the bed as he pulled on a pair of black tennis shoes. He had already changed into jeans and a blue, button-down shirt. Zoey paused in the doorway and shook her head. “It’s not fair how much easier guy-clothes are to get in and out of than girl-clothes.”

He looked up, and the grin he kept just for her flashed across his face. The smile he gave Bree was different, and Zoey briefly wondered if the new baby would get a whole new look, or if she’d have to learn to share that, too. “Hey, Zoe. You know, until relatively recently, women of a certain station were expected to have servants who would-”

She held up a hand. “Whoa! Yep, I know, I’ve heard it before.” She raised an eyebrow. (A trick she’d only recently picked up, after trying for years!) “How’re you doing, Dad?”

It took a moment, but a slow, satisfied smile spread across his face, flashing white teeth against deep brown skin. “I’m… good. Better than good.” The smile faded, and his eyes fixed her with that all-seeing Dad look. “How are you?”

Great. Not-great. Excited, and jealous, and apprehensive, and so, so, glad he was finally able to smile like that. Like he really didn’t have anything left in the world to worry about, even though he was a world-class worrier. “I’m good,” she said, and it was true, though it wasn’t the whole truth.

He mirrored her lifted brow, and they smiled at each other in complete accord, until a quiet throat-clearing behind Zoey let her know that they weren’t alone any more. She whirled, stepping out of the way and into a defensive posture, though her hand didn’t instinctively reach for a non-existent Mambele anymore. Well, not entirely nonexistent, but she still hadn’t gotten the replica back from the police, so it wasn’t within easy grasping distance.

Bree, who was standing behind her, absently reached up to rub the scar on her arm from when she’d been shot. It had taken all of them a little while to stop jumping at shadows, and they definitely still had a tendency to be warier and less trusting than they were before someone tried to kill them. “Hey, kiddo,” she said softly. “How are you?”

Zoey snorted a little laugh, stepping out of the way so Bree could enter the bedroom. It wasn’t small, but somehow it didn’t quite feel like there was enough room inside for all of them, so Zoey shifted into the hallway as she said, “Why do people keep asking me that? I’m good.” She let her smile widen into a grin.

“I mean, my dad just married a super nice lady who also happens to be rich and in the process of producing my little brother.” She paused after this, but neither of them corrected her, though she could see from the amusement in their eyes that they knew what she was doing. They refused to tell anyone if the baby was a boy or a girl, even her, and no matter how she tried to trick them into it, they hadn’t let a single clue slip.

Bree laughed, and wrapped an arm around Zoey’s shoulders, squeezing gently before she headed for the master bathroom. “That’s true. You are pretty lucky.” She paused in the bathroom door, warm eyes resting briefly on Zoey, then Marcus. “And so am I.” There was a tremor in her voice, but she sniffled and closed the door behind her before she let any tears fall.

Zoey and her dad exchanged an understanding glance. Bree could be a tough lady, when she needed to be, but underneath the strong, independent businesswoman was one of the softest, squishiest people Zoey had ever met. The hormones from her pregnancy had only exacerbated that, and these days, she cried at toilet paper commercials. Frankly, it was amazing that she’d made it through the ceremony without breaking down. It was probably only due to Tess’ surprising skill with a makeup applicator that she still looked as perfect as she had that morning.

Speaking of Tess… Zoey raised her voice. “Who caught the bouquet?”

A surprisingly loud cackle of laughter came through the door, along with the rustle of fabric. “Danika!”

Zoey felt her lip form a surprised O, and met her dad’s eyes. “Uh,” she said, “is that… okay?”

Her dad laughed. “Why? Because she’s old, like us?”

“Hey!” Bree called, and Zoey and Marcus exchanged grins.

Zoey shook her head. “No, I just thought… I mean, I know she’s here with that Brad guy, but-” she wrinkled her nose. She hadn’t talked to the guy much, but the family had all had dinner together a few nights ago, and he just seemed… boring. He was some kind of accountant. Or lawyer. Or maybe an accountant lawyer? Whatever it was, he loved numbers the way Zoey’s dad loved literary quotations, but he was a lot less funny.

Her dad sighed and stood, brushing his jeans down like they were slacks that might have creased while he was sitting. Bree had loosened up his clothing style a lot, but he fell back into old habits easily, and she was certain he still had a few sweater-vests stuffed in the back of his closet.

Stepping close, he pulled Zoey further into the room, and half-closed the door behind her before leaning in. “Look, Zoe,” he said, then hesitated. “I… You know Aunt Danika and I have our issues. She doesn’t talk to me much about her private life, and I don’t offer advice she didn’t ask for.”

Zoey did the eyebrow lift again. That just never got old.

He chuckled. “I know, you think all I do is offer advice nobody wants, but when it comes to Aunt Danika, I mind my own business. She seems happy with Brad, and,” he shot a glance at the bathroom door, then leaning even closer, “honestly, I once heard her call the bouquet toss an ‘archaic attempt to define a woman’s value by her marital status’, so I didn’t expect her to even go out there. If she did, then she’s dropping Brad a pretty broad hint, and I’m just going to be happy for her.” He stepped back, and Zoey sighed.

“Okay, I get it. Still, what about Ajax?” she said. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t like the guy.” Which was an understatement, actually. Ajax could be abrasive, but when he bothered to speak to Brad at all, he was downright rude. In fact, Tess seemed to be the only person who could kind of keep Ajax under control, though Zoey hadn’t yet managed to get the story of how they’d met out of either of them.

Clearing his throat, her dad added, “And, while I’d never interfere in my little sister’s love life, that doesn’t mean you can’t.”

Zoey cocked her head quizzically.

“Ah, I mean,” her dad went on, looking uncomfortable even as he leaned closer again, dropping his voice, as if that would keep its deep resonance from echoing through the room. “If you happen to talk to Ajax over this next week, and find out why, exactly, he doesn’t like Brad-”

“Marcus…” Bree poked her head out of the bathroom door, giving her new husband a ‘we talked about this’ look. He smiled back weakly, but raised his brows questioningly at Zoey as soon as the door shut again.

Silently, she raised her hand, giving him a thumbs-up. He grinned, and they chatted loudly about inane topics until Bree finally exited the bathroom, wearing a slim-fitting pair of jeans and a blue ombre maternity top that started just a few shades lighter than the shirt Marcus was wearing. In her hand, she held a metal box, and she offered this to Zoey as she came to stand beside her new husband.

Slowly, Zoey reached out and took it. She recognized it, of course, but the last time she’d seen it, it was in Veritas Online, shortly before Aspen slagged it with one of his mage-smith tricks. This was a duplicate of the trapped puzzle-box Akuji had hidden his soul-stone inside. The one they’d never figured out how to open.

Zoey’s dad and her new stepmother gave her matching smiles full of satisfaction. “It’s tradition for the bride and groom to give a gift to all the members of the wedding party,” her dad said.

Bree nodded. “Bridget helped us get this made. It doesn’t have any traps on it, of course,” she gave the lop-sided grin that was pure Aspen, “but that doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to open. Still, we think you can figure it out.”

Zoey lifted it to her ear and shook it, gently. It rattled. In fact, it literally sounded like a baby rattle.

Her dad’s smirk grew larger. “You keep asking if the baby is a boy or a girl, and since you’re going to be its big sister, we thought it only right you should be the first to know.”

Her hand dropped, and she shook the metal box at him, accusingly. “So you put an announcement in here?”

He nodded. “We gave something similar to Bridget, though of course she didn’t help us make that one, so now it’s just a question of who figures their gift out first.”

Zoey stared from one to the other of them. “Let me get this straight,” she said, eyes narrowing. “You just pitted a sixteen-year-old kid in a competition of wits against one of the greatest geniuses of our time?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a competition,” her dad said. “Both of you will ‘win’, after all. We’re completely confident you’ll solve it before we get back from our honeymoon.”

“But she’ll probably solve it first,” Zoey said, mournfully eying the box.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Bree said, a mischievous smirk on her face. “Hers is quite different from yours, and I know Bridget’s blind spots very well.”

Heart lifting, Zoey lifted the box again, looking at it more carefully. For the first time, she saw that while it looked like Akuji’s box from a distance, the filigree contained delicate images of Silus, Khor, the Goddess Tree, and all of her friends from Veritas Online. “Huh,” she said, tracing a finger over the little bat. A trail of color followed her touch, leaving a brief flash of reddish-brown and silver fur, rather than the original gold of the box. She frowned as she realized that the box felt cool, but not quite metallic. Was it… plastic? What kind of plastic could change color like that?

Bree and Marcus looked at each other, smiling triumphantly, before someone called from below. “The car is ready!”

The newlywed’s look of satisfaction shifted to one of concern, which, from what Zoey had seen of the freshly decorated Just-Married-mobile, was a completely valid emotion. It was her turn to grin as she stepped back out of the doorway, motioning for them to lead the way down the hall. She really hoped someone was taking a vid, because she wanted to be able to replay the look on her dad's face when he saw how his precious car had been decorated over and over.