Page 34 of Daman

“Should we call off the wedding and go home?” I glanced at my reflection in the full-length mirror in the corner of the room and felt an unexpected wave of sadness go through me. Warrin seemed so emotionless, but would he be upset if I didn’t show up at the chapel?

Would I?

“The wedding will go on,” Alastair said. “The ice dragons are too important of allies to lose. You need to stay here. But the rest of us will need to return to Echo Bay tomorrow. Clara’s family now, and we protect our own.”

“I’m staying here?” I asked.

“Yes. Marrying Prince Warrin isn’t enough. You need to build relationships with Nikolai and his people. Oversee the army too and instruct them on how to fight demons. Show them that they can trust you.”

Bitterness seeped into me. “Is that an order?”

Alastair stepped closer, his icy gaze burning into me. “Do I need to make it one?”

“No.” My body coiled under his scrutiny, and I couldn’t meet his eyes. I hated that he held so much power over us. The intense way I responded to him reminded me of when we’d first met Asa earlier that year, how all of us had dropped to our knees in his presence, strength leaving us. “I’ll do it.”

“Good. Don’t disappoint me.”

As Alastair exited the room, I released a shaky breath. Deep down, I knew he cared for each of us. But sometimes? He was intimidating and perhaps even a little cruel. Lazarus had molded us into his perfect weapons. Alastair most of all.

“Enough of that shit.” Bellamy tipped my chin up and smiled. It helped alleviate some of the tightness in my chest. “You ready to marry a dragon?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

Dimitri, one of the other manservants, led us out of the castle and toward the forest. All of my brothers except for Bellamy walked ahead of us and went to the chapel to find their seats before the ceremony, so the stroll through the snowy woods was quiet. I had worn my coat over my suit and tugged it closer as I inhaled the cold air. It had stopped snowing, but a few flakes drifted from the trees as we passed beneath them.

Winter had officially arrived. Though, inside the barrier of the ice kingdom where it snowed all year long, it seemed like a world of eternal winter. Like we lived in a snow globe.

“You’re smiling,” Bellamy said from beside me.

“I’m just remembering a conversation I had with Warrin.”

“Well, if he makes you smile like that, he can’t be all bad, can he?”

“Shut up, pretty boy.” I bumped his arm. “I can’t believe I’m really doing this. Me. Getting married.”

“You’re marrying a dragon though,” he said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He wore a knee-length coat over his flashy white suit. He smirked. “Does Warrin know how big of a dragon nerd you are?”

“No.” I bumped him again. “And I’m not a dragon nerd.”

“Uh-huh. Okay.”

Nerves plummeted into my gut as we arrived at a small clearing.

The chapel looked as if it was sculpted from ice, with a pale-blue and white structure and frosted windows. The land around the chapel was sacred to the ice clan. According to legend, the first ice dragon had been created there, leaving behind a blue stone embedded in the bark of the largest tree. That stone was what helped the kingdom control the weather and keep out enemies, the source of their magic.

Warrin stood outside the chapel, speaking to King Nikolai.

My breath caught upon seeing him. He was dressed in an elegant dark suit that clung to his tall, muscled frame in all the right places. It looked like a military dress uniform with a silver emblem on the right shoulder. The style and colors complemented mine.

“Damn.” Bellamy whistled under his breath. “He cleans up well. D?” He nudged my arm. “You still alive? You have some drool coming outta your mouth.”

Before I could tell Bellamy to kiss my ass, Warrin’s gaze found mine. And the soft smile he greeted me with turned my insides to mush.

“I’m going to find my seat. Let me have this.” Bellamy slid my coat off my shoulders and folded it over his arm. He tossed me another smile before nodding to Warrin, then Nikolai, and heading inside.

“Ty prekrasna,” Warrin said to me, his voice taking on a husky quality. It was the first time I’d heard him speak Russian, and it kind of gave me butterflies. The meaning of his words did too.

“You called me beautiful,” I responded, shaking a bit. Without my coat, the cold air cut right through my suit. I told myself it was the cold that had me shuddering anyway and definitelynotthe sexy-as-fuck ice dragon in front of me.