“I hope it was worth the wait.”
He lifted her off the ground, carrying her to the bed. Settling himself between her legs, he gazed upon her with love and affection as he ran his knuckles down her collarbone, over her silk nightdress, and beneath the hem.
His hand rested on her thigh, and he murmured, “I would’ve waited an eternity for you, my beautiful creature of the night.”
Then, he bent and showed her exactly how much he loved her.
Vivienne’s heartbeat steadily as she stood outside the large double doors of Castle Sanguis’s throne room. Two vampires stood sentinel on either side, but other than acknowledging her when she first arrived, neither spoke to her.
That was fine—this was her moment to mentally prepare for what lay ahead.
She’d waited for this day for a year, and the moment was finally here. Her white lace gown was draped over her body, her wings werespread behind her, and she gripped a bouquet of blood-red roses to her chest with white-knuckled hands.
Breathe.
She’d been calm until she’d slipped the dress on and overheard two castle servants remarking about the new princess. Then, her heart had stopped beating for one long moment, and it hadn’t entirely recovered.
For some reason, it had slipped her mind that this wedding would do more than just declare to the world that she loved Marius and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. In her mind, it was a formality at best, since they were Bound.
But now, she realized that by tying herself to him in matrimony, she’d be more than his wife. She’d be a princess.
That was so far from anything she’d ever pictured for herself that, for a long moment, she’d considered running in the other direction.
She wasn’t, nor had she ever aspired to be, princess material.
She was a soldier. A bodyguard. For the gods’ sake, she preferred wearing fighting leathers to dresses, swordsmanship to embroidery, and killing to drinking tea and talking politics.
She was about as far from the perfect princess as one could get.
But then, before Vivienne could drown in the dark ocean of panic threatening to overwhelm her, she visualized Marius’s face. His brown eyes that sparkled when he laughed. The rugged cut of his hair. The slight curve of his halfling ears. The way his eyes darkened right before he kissed her. The adventures they’d already shared, and the ones they had yet to have.
And slowly, her heart rate steadied. Her breathing evened out. Tension seeped out of her.
It didn’t matter what they called her: bodyguard, princess, or just Vivienne.
She wasn’t doing this for the people of Eleyta, the vampires that inhabited Castle Sanguis, or even the king and queen.
This was for one person. Her Bound Partner, her prince, hereverything.
It was that thought that had Vivienne drawing in a deep breath and rolling her shoulders.
She could do this.
A quiet knock came from the other side of the door. It cracked open.
“It’s time,” Fleur, the queen’s maid, murmured.
Vivienne smiled and nodded. Music swelled, and she straightened her back as the guards opened the doors.
She didn’t feel even the slightest hint of trepidation. Ian, her Maker, was sitting in the front row beside Felix. Tightening her grip on her roses, she smiled at them and strode forward into the packed throne room.
The High Ladies of Life and Death were sitting on the other side of the aisle. They had traveled from Ithenmyr with their mates and families.
There were many others here, and they became a blur of smiling faces as Vivienne walked towards her future husband.
At the front, on the right-hand side of the podium where the thrones usually sat, was a small table with special Light Elf orbs burning in lanterns. Two sealed envelopes sat on the table, messages addressed to Marius and Vivienne’s deceased parents. She’d cried while writing hers, but she wouldn’t cry now.
Her gaze slipped from the table to the prince, and any lingering fear she might have had dissipated.