29. Huntyr
Chapter 29
Huntyr
" Y ou're kidding me." I stared at the dress—or lack thereof—with my jaw falling open. “This has to be a joke.”
"It won't feel so bad once you have it on, I promise." Wolf carried the dress to the bed and laid it out flat.
"Easy for you to say. You're not the one who has to parade around here practically naked."
He smirked. "I'll be wearing less clothes than usual, if you're looking for an excuse to see more of me."
I sighed. "This is hardly the time for jokes."
"But it might as well be." He took two steps toward me, hands out, almost as if he wanted to touch me, but he stopped himself. "The angels have much different traditions than the fae, or even the vampyres. This wedding will be…well, it will be unique, at the very least."
"And wearing this damn dress is something that's required of me?" Hells, I could see the dark color of the bedsheets through the dress.
"If I could stop this all from happening, Huntress, you know I would do it in a heartbeat." His softened tone made my chest ache.
"I know you would. I’m just not ready for this, I guess."
"But you are." My breath hitched as he reached out and brushed a knuckle against my cheekbone. "You're more ready than you could even know. You'll walk in front of a group of drunk people who only want to party and celebrate the equinox, we'll exchange some words in front of my father, and the hard part will be over."
"That seems painfully mundane."
"It is." He smiled. "That should be a relief. In vampyre culture, they drink each other's blood, you know."
My eyes widened, but he was already laughing. "Relax. My father would rather not have a wedding at all than bend to vampyre culture."
"Who knows," I added. “He tends to be a bit impulsive. What if he decides to kill us both at the altar?"
"Then he'll have no queen and no way to access the power of the blood kingdom."
My face fell. "Right."
Jessiah pushed the door open and peeked his head inside. "Brother?" he asked. "You're needed in the throne room."
Wolf glanced at his brother and nodded before returning his gaze to me. The soft smile that lingered before vanished, replaced by a stiff tenseness. He looked nervous .
"Everything alright?" I asked.
Jessiah left, closing the door behind him. "As good as it could get on a day like this," Wolf replied through gritted teeth. "I'll be fine. Try to relax a little while you get ready for the equinox. If we had a single female servant I trusted working here, I would send them your way, but?—"
"I'll be okay. I’ll be fine on my own. I'll see you at the ceremony."
Wolf's face tightened as he took a step back. "Right," he said. "Good luck, Huntress. It’ll all be over soon."
He turned and walked out the door without saying another word.
It wasn't just the look on his face or the tenseness in his shoulders. The deep, growing pit in my stomach also told me something wasn't right.
But I was marrying Wolf under Asmodeus's hand. Of course something wasn't right.
Wolf had a plan. I could trust him, right? After everything, I could trust this. I could trust that he hated his father just as much as I did, that he was willing to do what it took to protect these people.
I walked back into the bathroom and let the hot water fill the porcelain tub.
It felt so fucking foolish, getting ready for an event I was forced to attend.
What was Asmodeus going to do to me, anyway? Wolf was just trying to make me feel better about the whole thing. This was not going to be a nice, quaint wedding between two lovers.
This was a damn war ritual, and I was the prized possession.
I stripped my clothes off and left them in a pile on the floor while I stepped into the water. I used Wolf's soap, letting the pine scent wash over me and infiltrate my senses.
This was all happening so we could free the citizens of The Golden City and protect the vampyres from Asmodeus's rule.
Where was he going to stop? Someone like him wouldn't halt until he had the entire kingdom under his fist, ready to do anything he said.
This was for them. For the people of Midgrave who were too weak to fight for themselves. For the ones slaughtered by the fae who feared them too much.
This was so they had a chance to fight too.
After scrubbing my body until my skin felt raw, I started on my hair. I dunked the thick black curls into the soapy water, running my fingers through it until it felt somewhat manageable.
I wasn't even sure why I cared. I could show up covered in dirt and wrapped in chains, and it wouldn't make any difference.
This wedding wasn't for me or Wolf. It was for him. Asmodeus.
I waited until the steam of the hot water dissipated, until it cooled to too light of a temperature, and I finally pulled myself out.
Next was that damn dress.
You've got to be fucking kidding me. Asmodeus was a sick, sick man.
I tried not to think about all the other brides who could have worn this before me. It wasn't new, that much was obvious by the tattered hem and the softened fabric.
I dried myself off before stepping into the dress, pulling it up over my hips and securing it across my breasts.
That was the extent of it. The dress had no straps, which felt neither practical or necessary, and it fell all the way to the ground. A tall slit exposed the skin of my left leg all the way to my mid-thigh.
The fabric itself was a bright, cherry red, but it was so thin, it left very little to the imagination. Every inch of my body was draped in red and on full display.
Great. Just great.
I prayed to the goddess that everyone would be too damn drunk at this thing to notice.
My bare shoulders contrasted deeply with the bright dress, making me look younger than I looked in a long time.
I didn't like to feel exposed. I liked to feel prepared. Ready. Powerful. I liked to wear all black and training leathers and layers and layers of clothing.
Not this.
I was just starting to hear voices outside as I secured my hair in a braid straight down my back, letting the shorter curls around my face hang loose.
Asmodeus wanted a damn show for this equinox celebration, and I had a bad, bad feeling that was exactly what he would get.