123
I sit at the window, staring down at the crowds lining up to enter the cathedral.
I’ve been dressed for hours and I’ve had nothing to do but study the strangers coming to witness my union.
My heart has been in my mouth as I scrutinised the features of those alighting from their limousines, fearing that my enemies might still, even at this late hour, stop my wedding.
But security is tight. Jag had assured me no one from my past would get within ten blocks of this area, let alone make it through the masses of vampire security accompanying guests, both royal and non-royal — all hand-selected to attend by the queens.
Queens heavily invested in ensuring these Games continue to provide wives worthy of continuing the royal bloodlines.
A ceremony like this is like no other on earth, and mine, if anyone knew the truth about my history, is even more unique.
But I’ve been careful to ensure no one does know that.
I’d insisted that nobody attend me for this wedding.
No friends, no family, no retainers. I would have liked Thorun, but she’s been sent somewhere called Yin’s Island with her grandmother; somewhere Jag says is safe.
So, no one accompanies me down the aisle, no one I know witnesses the event. No one sits with me in my final hours.
‘My final hours of being vulnerable and mortal.’
I imagine this is what life is going to be like once I’m married, too.
I’m not worried about that. I’ve never been one scared of my own company.
But I’m nervous tonight. So many things can go wrong.
If I’m honest, a little distraction, even the chatter of the hairdresser, would have been welcome for a time.
But, once I’d been helped into my gown — a huge confection with multiple hoops, layers of antique lace, and a train long enough to cover the entire carpeted aisle of the cathedral as I walk its length — the hair and make-up women had attended me, and then everyone seemed to leave all at once.
“I expect I’ll be called soon, though,” I murmur to the window, “the wedding starts at midnight, and it’s half past eleven now.”
I jump, startled, as the door bursts open.
Standing immediately, my eyes widen when I see it’s not someone come to escort me to my wedding. It’s my husband-to-be. And his expression is terrifying.
“What is it?” I squeak, immediately suspecting what he’s about to say, but hoping against all hope that I’m wrong.
“You’re fucking FONDI?” He shouts, striding towards me and gripping my shoulders, his eyes boring into mine.
I wince at the pain his fingers are causing as they dig into my skin, but don’t try to pull away as I meet his intense gaze. Since the night he’d bitten me he’d never been anything but gentle. This is a Jag I haven’t seen before.
“Yes.”
Snarling, he pushes me away from him and spins to stride to the other side of the room, slamming both hands against the wall. He stays that way, palms against the wall, back to me, and I wait, holding my breath for what might come.
“Jag…”
“Stay there, say nothing,” he snarls. “I need to… I fucking can’t…I need to calm down.”
I wait an interminable time, watching his shoulders go from tense, his breathing sharp and fast, to his posture slowly relaxing, breaths coming more steadily, before I try again.
“Jag.”
He doesn’t turn as he speaks, just leans his head against the wallpaper, his tone wearily defeated.
It’s worse than when he was angry.
“I can’t marry someone who lies to me. You’re a lot of things, Cat. But a liar is not something I pegged you for. I thought we had, at the very least, the truth between us.”
Lifting the skirts of my giant wedding dress, I rush across to him, leaning my head close to the wall to try to get him to look at me.
“Jag, I didn’t lie. I never lied to you.”
“Your last name,” he mutters. “Your last name, Cat.”
“You never asked for my name,” I cry, my words coming fast as I try to get my truth out before it’s too late.
“Yes, my last name was forged to get onto The Games, but I never lied to you. I told you I had powerful enemies. I told you the truth about what happened to me. Everything I told you was the truth.”
“Half-truths,” he snarls, turning to face me, his eyes alight with anger once more. “Half-truths, Cat.”
I shake my head.
“What I told you was factual. I just didn’t tell you everything.” I hang my head, knowing I’m about to get a reckoning for this, one I’d hoped might not come until after we were married.
“The truth is,” he says quietly, “that you’ve put me in an impossible situation. I can’t marry you, and yet I must.”
“Jag…”
“You know the lore and the LAW,” he says, his voice ice.
“Our bloodlines can never cross. You’re Forbidden.
No member of the thirteen families can ever mingle their blood with ours, nor will they ever be consumed by us.
It’s been that way for centuries, millennia. Ever since the covenant was signed.”
“Yes,” I whisper. “I know.”
“You’ve brought death and destruction to my family. When the queens find out about this I could lose everything, not the least of which is my life.”
“It won’t come to that,” I murmur. “There’s always a way around these things.”
“Oh yes?” He raises an eyebrow, his tone sarcastic.
“And what strategy did you have to ensure this subterfuge continued to go undiscovered? Did you just think I could go around killing Fondi to silence them and not suffer the consequences? Or are you so fixated on immortality that you couldn’t care less if I was punished after we were married?
Tell me, Cat, what exactly was your plan? ”
“I’m working on it,” I bite my lip, “and no, I wasn’t planning on sacrificing you.”
“You know that’s exactly what will happen if I marry you,” he snarls, his tone indicating he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.
“And yet,” he shakes his head, “you had the opportunity to spare me this, to spare us both what’s to come.
You could have taken the token and left The Games. I could have married Thorun.”
“Yes.”
“Why? Why, Cat?”
‘Because that slut Angelina is right. I’m in love with you.’
“I don’t know.”
“Bullshit.”
“I,” I take a deep breath and, once more, tell him a half-truth. “I wanted safety, security. I told you that all along. Living a life on the run is what I’ve been doing for years. I didn’t want to continue doing that.”
He stares at me for a long, long time before walking to the door.
“What are you going to do?” I call as he reaches for the handle.
“I’m going to marry you,” he says, his voice resigned, “and then figure out a way to get out of the shitstorm you’ve brought to my house and my hearth.”
I could almost fall over in relief until he spins back, his eyes cold.
“But that is where this ends, Cat.”
I frown, opening my mouth to ask what he means.
But he’s gone.