“Please.” He followed her to the table as she gestured for the rest of the Council to take their seats, Benedict scowling all the way. “Coffee would be wonderful.”
Caia grinned, satisfied, and squeezed Laila’s shoulder. “I don’t know what we would do without you.”
Laila smiled back.
31
City of Light
Paris smelled wonderful. It was a perfect day, crisp and clear. Caia perused cool postcards and trinkets displayed on the shelves of the stalls that lined the sidewalk of the Seine, snuggled warm in her duffel coat and the purple scarf Lucien had bought for her that morning.
“Caia, what do you think?” Jae grinned, holding up a postcard with four haggard old women in black witches’ hats and robes, sitting around a table drinking tea. “It’s you, Marion, Laila, and Penelope in a hundred and fifty years.”
Caia snorted and reached for it. It was pretty cool. “If we buy four postcards, we get them for two euros.”
Her friend’s eyes lit up, and she immediately turned back to hunt for three more funny cards. A sparkle caught Caia’s eye and she looked at the cluster of Eiffel Tower souvenirs. There were little ones, big ones, medium ones, tiny ones on key rings. Some were made of plastic, others metal, but the one that caught her eye was a very kitschy one on a key ring, the entire thing sparkling with diamanté to resemble how the Tower appeared during the light show. Apparently a lot of Parisians hated the light show, but Caia loved it. She and Lucien had taken to sitting on the window seat in their room at the Center every night to watch the Tower flash in and out of existence, a million brilliant diamond lights bringing it to life in the dark.
“Do you want it?” Lucien whispered in her ear, heating up skin that had grown cold without a hat. She leaned back into him.
“Yeah, but I’ll get it.”
“No need.” He reached past her before she could do anything, lifting the key ring from the display. He turned to pay the market seller for it.
At the sound of a giggle, Caia glanced over to see Jaeden had abandoned the postcards and was wrapped around Ryder in a passionate kiss. Caia immediately knew the tourists from the French. The tourists were the only ones who paid attention to the couple as they passed them.
“Hmm, that looks nice,” Lucien murmured as he came around in front of her to hand her the key ring.
Caia smiled and took it from him, putting the gift deep into her pocket for safekeeping. “Thank you.”
Lucien frowned. “That’s all?”
She made a face and reached for him, pressing a sweet kiss to his lips. She wasn’t really into the kind of PDA that Jae and Ryder were. Lucien threw her an amused look and then put an arm around her, drawing her into his side. “Where to next?”
Tomorrow was the battle, and Caia had wanted to escape from it all for just one day, just one glorious day of normality and fun. She was only nineteen, after all. And she was in love and in Paris, no less. It hadn’t taken much to convince Lucien, Ryder, and Jae to join her for a day out in the city where they could just be young and have fun.
That morning they had a sweet breakfast of cakes and pastries from an amazing chocolaterie and patisserie on the Avenue de Friedland. Afterward, they strolled up to gaze at the Arc de Triomphe and then wandered down the Champs-Élysées, where Jae ogled the clothing stores and Ryder marveled over the McDonald’s restaurant that sported the only white M in the world.
“It’s not that cool, Ryder.” Jae pulled him away as Lucien and Caia walked on.
“It is unique. The golden arches can be found anywhere on earth … here it’s white. It’s one of a kind. You know how I feel about one of a kinds.”
“I do?” she asked dubiously as they caught up with Caia and Lucien.
Ryder grinned at her. “I’m with you, aren’t I?”
“Dude.” Lucien smirked. “Smooth.”
Caia laughed. It may have been cheesy but Jaeden loved it, pulling Ryder down for an amused kiss.
They made their way to the Seine and perused the markets and the city’s architecture. At present they were at Pont Neuf, not far from where they’d come out of the Center at Notre-Dame. The Louvre sat across the river.
“Louvre, then?” Lucien asked, following her gaze.
“Actually”—Jae appeared beside them, entangled in her mate—“I heard Musée d’Orsay is better.”
“It’s certainly smaller.” Ryder raised his eyebrows pointedly. “Got my vote.”
“Caia?” Lucien asked, and she chuckled as Jae and Ryder frowned at being ignored.
“Musée d’Orsay sounds good.”
“And then lunch,” Ryder begged.
Caia huffed, “We just ate a little while ago and you had the most to eat.”
“Hey, that chocolate cupcake thing was tiny.”
“The three pain au chocolat and two croissants that followed it were not.”