male in a brown rain poncho and wide-brimmed hat stood at a post, staring at a glass tube filled with rainwater. Balls. Not just any male. Ren Norric, Zelie’s lame-ass boyfriend. His upper lip curled when he looked down at Amelia.
“Ren’s measuring the rainfall,” Alok said.
“Why?” Amelia wrinkled her nose.
I chuckled. “Good question.”
Ren glared at me before looking down at Amelia. He stuck out his chest. “Forecasting is based on a set of complex mathematical equations. Variables are determined through the amount of precipitation and intensity.”
Amelia continued staring at him.
Alok cleared his throat. “It’s pretty neat that Ren can predict what the weather is going to do, isn’t it, Amelia?”
“Is it going to rain again?” Amelia asked Ren.
Ren set the rain gauge back in its holder and sighed. “The temperatures are warming up and will continue to do so, with the clouds clearing around midday.”
“Nah,” I said. “I think it’s about to get cooler.”
“Yeah, I feel a cold front coming on,” Ronin added.
We grinned at one another before facing the pond. A chilly, invigorating breath filled my lungs. Beside me, Ronin’s breath fogged the air. From the shoreline, ice formed and spread slowly across the pond’s surface.
Amelia clapped her hands.
“You shouldn’t mess with the weather,” Ren scolded, which directly translated in my brain to: I should absolutely mess with the weather.
The still water of Sterling Pond took on a smooth, glossy sheen. Amelia shrieked in excitement and raced toward the lake.
“Amelia!” Alok screamed.
The cold energy flowing out of me rushed back inside of my lungs as my niece stepped onto the lake and broke through thin ice.
CHAPTER TWO
Zelie
Hanging branches and leaves descended from the ceiling of Daisywhirl Hall. Papier-mâché trees surrounded the room with lanterns ready to be lit up the night of the Enchanted Forest Ball. I twisted ivy around a rope swing while my helper, Aimer, held the ladder steady.
Sweetberries and cream!
It was all happening. The faculty at Meadowbrook Elementary had raised the funds necessary for a full-time arts and crafts teacher. Principal Lemonwick had all but promised the position to me. Who better to encourage children in their artistic endeavors than the head of my graduating class’s reunion ball? Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my fourth-year students, but if I could spend my days encouraging all the young elves at Meadowbrook to create art, it would be a dream come true.
As far as the cream on top, my boyfriend, Ren Norric, wanted to come over to my cottage at the end of the day to discuss a “matter of importance.”
Eeeeeee!
After two years together, he was finally going to ask me to become his forever mate. It was so like Ren to be obvious about it. He was a forecaster, after all. He felt that everyone, like him, wanted to know what was going to happen before it occurred.
All the females in our class had crushed on him at one point or another. He had the whole moody, mysterious vibe going, along with a sculpted mass of muscled perfection. Every inch of him was gorgeous. (Take it from me.) He could have dated around—a lot—but he’d been single-minded in his study of forecasting throughout our school years. Now he was the best weather prognosticator Pinemist had ever known, maybe the greatest in all the realm. And he was mine. Turned out being single while the rest of my classmates started families early on wasn’t the worst thing. By the time Ren was ready for a relationship, the competition had dwindled.
I stepped down a rung on the ladder and twisted another section of ivy around the rope, making it appear as a vine in a jungle.
Mrs. Zelie Norric, head of Meadowbrook Elementary’s new arts and crafts program, proud wife, and mother. Okay, maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself, but at twenty-eight, I was more than ready to have my own happy household like my friend Fraya and her Fae mate, Alok. Their home was always filled with love—and chaos. It made my own cottage feel like a tomb.
Would Ren arrive on my doorstep with flowers and bubbly wine, or would he be matter-of-fact about his proposal?
I was happy either way. I already had a bottle of sweetberry wine chilling to celebrate.
I descended carefully until I reached the ground, where I finished tucking ivy leaves around the rope in thick, overlapping layers. I had one more swing to go, but it could wait until tomorrow. I needed to get home early and change into my blue