Again, I glanced at the door, wishing there was some way to make this better.
“Give her time,” Broderick said. “She will come around.”
Would she? For some reason, she had loved my brother. Love didn’t just go away overnight. “She mourns a man who never existed.” If Roisin knew the truth about the way he delighted in torture and dallied with other women, the terrible things he’d done, she would’ve been thanking her lucky stars to be rid of him.
Offering me a hand, Broderick sighed and said, “He existed to her.”
10
ROISIN
Rain splatteredagainst the chapel’s slate roof, and all I could think was, “Even the sky is crying.” On any other day it would’ve been calming, lulling me back to sleep. Not today. The dark clouds and rain were a sign of the darkness that had infiltrated my future. I had begged and pleaded with the stars over my fate. Mother had said this was my destiny, that taking the throne of Vellana was bigger than me, than any of us. It would signify peace between humans and fae, the end of hundreds of years of animosity and prejudice held by those in power.
I was meant to be marrying Alrec in my ivory silk gown and cathedral veil that stretched the length of the chapel’s red and gold carpet. I was meant to be walking toward a man with golden hair matching the golden crown on his head, not a devil with black hair, blacker eyes, and the blackest soul. A devil who would soon be king by the look of his father propped up beneath a mound of fur blankets on the front pew.
I could protest.
I could outright refuse.
I could hurtle straight for the door and escape the noose closing around my neck.
Except I would never consider bringing such shame to my mother. This union symbolized so much more than the marriage of two people who despised each other.
This was the dawn of a new age.
Unfortunately, the price of that new age was my life and my happiness.
In front of me, Lowri walked in time to the music played by the stringed quartet tucked beneath a rosette window. She had been unusually quiet ever since she learned I was to marry Caiman.
I didn’t have the words to make her feel better.
I was too empty.
Dark pews lined either side of the aisle, filled with noblemen and their wives.Although invitations had been extended to our friends and relatives living in Iodale, I saw no familiar faces or pointed ears.
A massive pipe organ rose like some metallic beast at Caiman’s back. Broderick kept his post next to the rear exit. On the opposite side sat a gilt-framed portrait ofa young, majestic Alrec from his funeral two days earlier.
In the four weeks since the attack in the bay, I’d kept hold of the hope that Alrec had somehow survived. Each time a search party returned empty handed, that hope dwindled until only a thread remained. On the day we buried an empty casket, that final thread had snapped.
The veil I wore concealed the tears tumbling down my cheeks as my heart clattered against my ribcage. My feet ached inside the golden slippers Alrec had gifted me, itching to turn back toward the exit. I clutched the bouquet of blush-colored roses until my fingers cramped.
A death march. That’s what this was. Signifying the end of my life as I knew it.
If I focused solely on the bright red of Caiman’s fitted coat, I could pretend he was Alrec.After what felt like forever yet no time at all, I reached the end of the aisle. When Caiman made to lift my veil, I stepped back. His gloved hands fell to his sides. I imagined his eyes narrowed but didn’t glance up from the petal-strewn runner to check.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today . . .” The priest’s words jumbled into a dull hum.
I promised Caiman things that belonged to his brother.
My heart.
My faithfulness.
My love.
When he repeated the vows in his low timbre, chills snaked down my bare arms and foreboding settled in my core. I didn’t look at him until the priest pronounced us husband and wife and said that the prince could kiss his bride.
This time, I knew better than to shrink away when two gloved hands lifted my veil.