30. Laszlo
My palms were sweating.
I hadn’t expected that I would be nervous about getting married. Marriage was never in my plans, but she’d changed everything.
Lyn would soon be my wife.
For the first time in two decades, I had something to live for beyond revenge. Beyond martyrdom. Beyond Lilien.
The realization was strange, like I’d started shedding an exoskeleton that had protected me all this time. It was vulnerable, but inevitable, a side effect of growth.
I would protect her.
I would trust her.
Today, she’d be Belle Smith. Tonight, she’d be Belle Szász.
The museum was quaint, showing off different local rocks and gems. I wanted to be surrounded by something that brought her joy, to give her a taste of her future with me. She would know nothing but precious jewels from this day forward.
I’d intended to get a normal tux, but I wasn’t made for tradition, and I wanted to give her something special. I wore a black embroidered velvet suit, beads laced into the stitching. It was off the rack, but tailored to fit me. Best I could do on short notice.
Around my neck was a paisley bowtie in the exact shade of blue to match her eyes.
Lyn had asked me for something old.
If only I had found that necklace she lost.
While she was snooping on my computer, I had gone through her previous rental from top to bottom once again just in case, and had similar luck at the Gilt and Gloam. Cabot asked if I wanted to buy the place, said he was getting out of the business. I told him I’d be an intermediary to the sale.
Then I searched our penthouse for something old that would suit her youth.
I wasn’t sentimental, and mementos from my past were mostly etched into my skin.
My parents destroyed any trace of Lilien from our many homes.
I had nothing of hers to gift my bride-to-be, and I’d rather die than give her something of my other family.
Instead, I gave her a Roman gilt torc bracelet with two snake heads sharing one body. Rubies in the eyes. An antique from thousands of years ago. It matched the Ouroboros tattoo that caught her eye when we first met in the club.
I checked my Patek Phillipe watch. My phone showed she was stuck in traffic a block away.
The man I hired for the ceremony was an old acquaintance from school. He trusted me and wasn’t clever enough to realize Lyn’s ID was a forgery. To my credit, it was a great forgery, and I doctored the digital files to cover my tracks.
“She’ll be here in a few minutes. Thanks for doing this,” I said to David, the officiant.
The doors opened, fresh spring air filling my lungs, and the most beautiful woman in the world entered.
She stole my breath away as she glided down the aisle towards me. Her bouquet was filled with peach roses and blue hydrangeas, forming a beautiful sunset of colours together.
It felt like a dream.
Whatever a devil like me did to deserve her…
No, I didn’t deserve her.
But maybe one day I could.
Her dress was more daring that I expected. It showed off the centre of her petite chest and hugged the perfect curve of her hips. The silk excited her nipples, faint pebbles beneath the ivory white fabric.
Her golden hair was spun in an elaborate braided updo, giving her a halo. My angel.
She was my light through the darkness.
Roxy was dressed in a slinky red dress at her side. Behind them were her new bodyguards, Aleksei and Ilya. They were wearing suits, and their nods were respectful as they flanked the closing door.
Lyn joined my side, and I stroked her cheek. She kissed my thumb, and a pleasured hum rumbled in my throat that brought a smile to her exquisite face.
“Is this everyone?” David asked, and I nodded.
He cleared his throat and began the ceremony.
“Okay, welcome everyone. Thank you for joining us in the celebration of Laszlo Szász and Belle Smith’s nuptials.
When Laszlo called me up and told me where the ceremony was going to be, I was confused.
I mean… a natural history museum doesn’t seem that romantic. ”
My palms started sweating more, heat rising in my throat. I’d told him too much. Talked too much. When it came to Belle, though, I couldn’t help but gush.
“Then he started telling me why. Apparently, Belle has quite the talent when it comes to jewellery. He said that his beautiful bride was the most precious jewel in the world, and should be surrounded by other gems,” David added, and Lyn beamed up at me, tears in her eyes.
“But then he said the real reason. That he couldn’t ever give her everything she deserved for her wedding day, but that he wanted to give her the world, and well, the natural history museum was as close as a person could get to that.”
I leaned down and kissed Lyn’s temple, careful not to mess up her halo braid.
“Do you, Laszlo Szász, take this woman, Belle Smith, to be your wife—”
“I do,” I said immediately, and Aleksei chuckled, quickly covering it up with a cough.
David cleared his throat. “Wasn’t quite done there. Do you take her to be your partner and companion, your friend, and your confidant? To respect and support her through hardship and ease?”
Lyn grinned up at me, seeming to find my over-eagerness charming rather than embarrassing.
“I do,” I repeated.
“And do you, Belle Smith, take this man, Laszlo Szász, to be your husband, your partner, your companion, and your confidant, to respect and support him through hardship and ease?”
Heat prickled the nape of my neck and it only cooled when she smiled and me and said, “I do.”
“Then without further ado, you may now kiss each other,” David said.
My arm wrapped around her waist, slipping beneath the silk of her midsection as I pulled her into me. Her skin was impossibly soft against my palm. Her heels gave her a few inches, but I still had to bend down to kiss her, and my tongue teased along the seam of her lips as she whimpered.
“‘til death do us part,” I murmured.
It wasn’t a path I expected to walk, and I was shocked by the lightness in my chest.
From this day forth, I would only worship every inch of her body.