Chapter 2
Alina
Icouldn’t sit still. Even though the wedding chamber was meant to keep me calm, with the lights lowered, the temperature warm, and the air smelling of lavender and lemon, it did nothing for my mood.
All I could do was pace and go over every mistake I made in the last twelve hours.
The first was telling Deanna, my friend, where I was going. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but she was terrified of Liam after he killed her dog a few months ago. She wouldn’t stand a chance if he went interrogating her. One hard look from him and she’d spill everything.
She’d tell him I’d left for the temple to get married to a monster.
Maybe Liam won’t go asking around just yet, a hopeful, bright part of me thought. But my well-trained bitterness quashed that thought instantly.
I was supposed to marry Liam in a week. The closer the ceremony, the more he checked on me, making sure I knew not to run from him. He visited every day under the pretext of leaving me bridal gifts, but the gifts were perverse.
A set of ribbons he’d tie around my wrists to remind me of my subjugation. A beautiful china set that looked just like the one he shattered all over the room when I first told him no.
He held one of the shards to my eye after that, telling me in calm, measured words how he might blind me so that I’d have no choice but to rely on him. He didn’t in the end, but that fear lived in my chest like a squirmy lizard. Every time I looked at the china set, I felt it.
Liam was unhinged, so yes. Telling Deanna was a grave mistake.
I made another at the train station. I hadn’t covered my face well-enough while purchasing the ticket, and the shawl I wrapped around my mouth slipped free, giving the ticket agent a good look at my features.
When Liam went to ask about me, as he would no doubt do as soon as he got the information from Deanna, he’d have no problem learning where and when I departed.
Just two small mistakes, but their effects could be so deadly.
I paced faster and faster, my hands clammy, my heart hammering with feverish speed. My only hope now was to marry my monster fast and hope with all my might he was a dangerous one. All I wanted was to be free of Liam’s threat, and he’d only give up if matched with an opponent stronger than himself.
He was a coward in that regard. Only tormenting those weaker than him. Like me.
Something scraped against the door, the sound muffled, and yet somehow violent. I froze, honing in on the doorway like a trapped animal. Oh gods. Was it Liam coming to punish me? My heart beat so fast, my head grew light and dizzy, nausea roiling in my gut.
I failed. He found me.
I looked around wildly, trying to spot anything that could serve as a weapon. But there was nothing, just a few heavy chairs too large for me to lift, an ornate sideboard, and the large metal bowl of eternal fire burning in the middle of the chamber.
I was defenseless.
When the door clicked open, I receded into the darkest nook of the chamber, hoping he wouldn’t see me at once. At this point, the only way I could save myself was to play for time. Maybe if I delayed Liam long enough, my future husband would come and rescue me.
I swallowed uneasily, shooting this hope down immediately. I’d hoped before and got burned so many times. There was no one out there who cared enough to save me. I was on my own, like always.
When the door opened slowly, I flinched, almost dry-heaving from terror. It took my wide, hyper-focused eyes a moment to see the silhouette that filled the doorway, dark against the dim torchlight outside.
It’s not Liam. It’s not. You’re safe.
I gasped out a sob of relief when I finally realized what I saw. The creature filling the doorway was only vaguely humanoid, the shape of its head and the bulk of its body immediately setting it apart. I leaned against the wall behind me, my palpitating heart calming slowly.
“Thank the gods,” I whispered under my breath, pressing both hands to my chest. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
The creature stepped inside with a faint click and closed the door. Click, click, click. He came closer until he stood in the blue, cold light of the eternal flame. I took him in, my eyes wide and curious, my chest feeling light and truly hopeful for the first time in months as my terror abated.
He looked dangerous and monstrous, and I had no doubt his appearance alone would put Liam off for good. My monster groom was covered with bronze scales that gleamed cold in the blue light. Sharp spikes grew out of his scalp instead of hair.
His eyes were huge and oddly matte, and, for a moment, I wondered if he was blind. But no. He looked right at me, so he had to see. His nose was human-shaped and bronze-colored, his nostrils flaring wide as if he was trying to take in as much air as he could.
His lips were thin, covered in smaller scales than the rest of his face. A red, forked tongue burst out for a moment, flickering in the air, and retreated. A shiver went down my back.
He was dressed vaguely like shifter nobles, in an embroidered jacket and trousers that were a similar shade to his skin. Broad in the chest, he stood tall and straight.
After a long moment of watching me, he hissed, his shoulders suddenly dropping into a relaxed posture. When he stepped around the bowl of fire, I saw his long, muscular legs, bare, claw-tipped feet, and a scaly tail swinging behind his thighs.
“Come closer,” he said in a low, hissing voice that made goosebumps break out over my nape.
There was something so otherworldly in that voice, something beastly, and yet, it formed words with just a faint trace of accent. I shivered from the goosebumps, staring up at my groom’s face.
He stared back, his nostrils flaring with breaths that grew more and more rapid. I hesitated and took a small step toward him, still watching him as if mesmerized. There was something in the way he returned my gaze, but I wasn’t sure whether it was just the alien nature of his expression or something universal.
If I were to guess, I’d say it was hunger.
He didn’t blink or move his eyes. They were glued to me as if he couldn’t get enough, but maybe that was how his species interacted. I had no idea. I didn’t even know what he was. The temples had a policy of never revealing the groom’s species until the first meeting. Something about human brides being easily scared of monsters.
But the joke was on them. I had already met the most terrifying beast of all, and he was human.
“Hello,” I said, taking another tiny step forward.
My groom hissed, his tail twitching at the sound of my voice. He looked tense, but in a different way than right after he entered. His body vibrated with faint tremors as he stood, waiting for me to approach. His eyes drilled into me, dark and endless.
They pulled me in.
“My name is Alina,” I said, taking another step.
I was almost within his reach now. A bit closer, and he would be able to touch me with an outstretched arm.
I took that step and stopped, looking up at his immobile, transfixed face. We were both frozen. The fluttering of his nostrils was the only motion betraying he was alive. Even his eyes didn’t move, which was disconcerting.
No one I knew could keep their gaze so still. It was unnatural. And yet, I didn’t stop looking into the depths of those eyes. They weren’t glossy, and I didn’t see my reflection in them even though the black of his enormous pupils should be reflective.
There were thin, bright gold circles framing the black. That color was so unusual, and yet inhumanly beautiful.
Suddenly, the black contracted, more gold appearing at the edges. I let out a fast, shivery breath.
“Hello, Alina,” he said in that hissy voice that was like a shiver of cold wind. I gulped, but when he made no move to approach or touch me, I relaxed.
“What’s your name?”
He breathed out a long breath and took in another, his eyelids drooping a bit, as if in pleasure.
“Voss. Come closer yet. That scent… Please. Come here.”
There was something akin to desperation in his voice, but I didn’t dwell on it. A hard ball of wariness I wasn’t even aware of melted in my chest. It melted, leaving me light and relieved, because he asked.
Liam would have grabbed me if he wanted me close, giving me no choice in the matter.
Encouraged by my groom’s restraint, I approached, stopping only when the tips of my shoes almost touched his black, matte claws resting against the blue marble. I craned my neck back, looking up at his face. From up close, his eyes were even larger, the spikes adorning his head even sharper.
For the first time since he entered, he closed his eyes. His nostrils flared as he drew in a long breath, and his body uncoiled, waves of tension seeping out of him.
He exhaled with a faint moan, as if breathing me in gave him a pleasure so great, he couldn’t control himself. Another wave of goosebumps raced down my skin, a strange frisson stirring in my belly. It was something like curiosity and satisfaction.
When my scaly groom opened his eyes, they were mostly gold. I gasped, falling into them, while he raised his hands.
He cupped my face and held me tenderly, breathing out with a long hiss. His breath blew in my face, cool and pleasant. His scales were dry against my cheeks, hard to the touch, almost as if no life pulsed beneath them.
“I’m sorry,” he hissed.
And the next thing I knew, I was buried in his arms as he crushed my ribs with painful force.