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CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

“ Y ou’re sure you want to go through with this?” Getta asked in a low voice as she deftly braided my red hair, white flowers forming at her fingertips and working their way into the elaborate coils she was creating.

I sat before a wide mirror, assessing myself critically in the pale dawn light which shone from the Faelights hanging above my head.

“I do,” I said firmly, avoiding her eye in the reflection because I understood her hesitation but I couldn’t back out now.

I’d spent years working towards this moment, plotting, scheming, winning favour from all the right Fae and getting myself ready to claim the title this marriage would afford me.

“Alestro is a fine Fae and his accomplishments in spy work over the years which parted us have placed him in great esteem with our Earl Tarlord. This match is as fine as ever it was. Besides, no lady of worth would break her word and honour over such a…minor setback.”

Getta caught my gaze in the mirror, her expression sceptical.

“Minor? Warriors return from war missing limbs or suffering the lasting effects of the horrors of battle all the time and they are hailed and honoured for their prowess. Any such warrior would be more than worthy of you no matter the scars warring had left upon their souls, but the curse Alestro Sharbone brought back with him seems akin to a death sentence if the whispers in the court are to be believed-”

“I will not be cheated of my destiny by the gossip of servants,” I snapped, smacking her hands away from my hair and rising to my feet.

“Alestro will find a way to cheat this curse or I shall find a way to rid him of it. Either way, my destiny is bound to his and if you intend to remain at my side you will not question me on it.”

Getta dropped her eyes, murmuring apologies and I expelled a harsh breath, placing my fingertips on the edge of the table to stop them from trembling.

It wasn’t fair of me to be so harsh with her but I couldn’t back down now.

I had placed everything upon the fulfilment of this destiny.

I couldn’t let this fall apart. Who knew if I’d ever manage to secure another match as good as this one?

I expelled a long breath through my nose, only allowing myself to speak once I was confident the shrillness would have fled my tone.

“I know you wish only the best for me, Getta but I assure you that this path is still it. Now come, I have waited too long for this moment to end up being late for it now that it has arrived.”

Getta bobbed into a slight curtsy, hurrying to grab the train of the elaborate dress which I had been weaved into.

The entire thing was crafted from earth magic, made up of entwined flowers of every shade from bright yellow at my chest running down my body all the way through the orange hues until darkening into the blood-red blooms which pooled around my feet.

It was the tradition of our people to clad ourselves in our elements when bonding ourselves in marriage and I had been given the luxury of years to design this most perfect dress to adorn me in the moment of my plans finally coming together.

Thankfully I had no stairs to climb this day, the wedding chamber set in the deepest recesses of Stone Castle, surrounded by our element in the depths of the rock and earth itself.

The path to the chamber was deserted, all members of the castle staying well clear of the corridors while I passed, tradition keeping their eyes away from the bride until after the ceremony was completed and the union consummated.

I swallowed thickly as I considered that part of this day.

My virtue had been guarded for so long that I had begun to fear I might never feel the touch of a man’s body against my own.

I’d spent so many nights imagining this moment and now that it was upon me I found my nerves almost too much to bear.

I fixed my eyes on the far end of the long corridor and walked as quickly as my bad hip would willingly allow.

It had improved somewhat over the last few days but my wrist had quickly stepped in to take its place as the dominant ache my body was battling, the affliction in my bones never quite willing to offer me a full reprieve.

Getta followed diligently behind me, holding the train of my dress until we reached the door to the marital chamber.

I had never before glimpsed the inside of it, the ceremonies which took place here only witnessed by the ones taking part in them, the Reaper officiating and our Earl overseeing it all - as was his duty.

Of the five Earls who battled for full dominion over Avanis, I knew ours to be the best. Earl Tarlord was pious in his devotion to the stars and had sacrificed so much more in this war than any other might claim to while still finding the strength to go on ruling justly and honourably over those of us who fell beneath his domain.

There was no better Fae in Avanis than he to lead us and I couldn’t deny the fluttering of my heart at the thought of having his full attention throughout this monumental chapter of my life.

“May the stars bless you in your union,” Getta murmured and I offered her a sweet smile, all argument between us forgotten.

I headed down the three small steps which led to the wooden door marked with a downward pointing triangle struck through with a single line for the element of earth. The most powerful symbol there was.

The door swung wide to admit me and I found Alestro standing within a small chamber lit with twinkling Faelights, the granite walls shimmering all around.

But my eyes didn’t latch onto the man who was about to become my husband, instead sweeping to take in our Earl, whose powerful frame dominated the space to my right, his gaze falling heavily upon me while I entered.

My breath caught in my lungs as he surveyed me, the weight of his judgement falling over me and leaving me feeling far more exposed than I could ever have imagined being in his presence.

His strong jaw was locked tight, his expression hard as it always was and yet there was an intensity in his green eyes as they swept over me which was far heavier than I would have expected.

The Earl’s dark hair was swept back from his face rather than falling around his face as it usually did and the difference seemed to strip years from him, as if the curtain of grief which shadowed him had been lifted for a time to reveal his true age beneath the weight of it.

He’d suffered so very much for someone so young.

“Welcome to the path of the stars, my dear,” a female voice snapped the tension in my body and I jerked my eyes away from Earl Tarlord, swallowing thickly as I bowed my head to the Reaper who stood awaiting us in her golden cloak, her dark eyes skimming over first me and then my groom.

I stepped fully into the chamber and Earl Tarlord closed in on me so that he could close the door at my back.

There was only just enough space for the four of us within the chamber. I was acutely aware of the Earl standing at my back, his breath dancing across the exposed skin at the base of my neck while I lifted my eyes to meet those of the man I had waited so long to marry.

Alestro had always been a handsome man, his dark hair falling forward into his eyes, his strong jaw rough with stubble and the smirk he gave me told me he knew I was noticing those things about him too.

I offered him a small smile, my heart thundering faster and faster, the room seeming even closer as the weight of Earl Tarlord’s eyes on my back burned a hole right through me.

I hadn’t been able to speak to Alestro properly since his return to Stone Castle.

He had remained unconscious for three days after collapsing at The Horned Table and had spent most of his waking hours since trying and failing to break the ties the curse had placed upon him so that he might divulge whatever secrets he held within his mind.

His screams had echoed through the stone corridors more often than I could count over the last few weeks.

I had heard tales of the rashes, boils and abscesses which had broken out across his body – and those were said to be the least of the injuries the curse caused when he tried to work around it.

He had come close to death four nights prior and Earl Tarlord had called time on his attempts to unveil his secrets until something could be done to counter the curse.

The Reapers had denied his request for help, claiming that to do so would be to interfere with the war - which they would never do - but they had suggested going ahead with our wedding in place of the offer of help we so desperately needed.

I couldn’t say that it had seemed like a fair offer.

We had already been intended to wed, but no one was foolish enough to deny anything a Reaper deigned to give out, so here we were.

“In this world of torment and warfare, it can be hard to claim the bounty of love and solace in the arms of the one you hold dearest,” the Reaper began. “But it is in these dark times that unions such as these are most important of all.”

I shifted, the urge to glance over my shoulder nagging at me but I forced my gaze to remain on my betrothed as the Reaper went on, speaking of stars and destiny, of elements and the zodiac wheel, all of it no doubt endlessly important and yet none of it penetrated my mind well enough to register its full meaning.