Chapter 43
TAUREN
One month later…
“Stop fidgeting with those cuffs or you’ll ruin the fabric.
My poor creation will be in pieces if your bride doesn’t arrive soon.
” Girabalt swats at my hands. I’m dressed in a regal wedding suit, a burgundy overcoat and breeches set with gold embroidery, which Girabalt sees no issue with reminding me how much time he spent tailoring this past week.
“For the price I paid, it better not,” I tease back.
My best man laughs, returning to the side of my wedding arch. It was Dahlia’s idea to renew our vows. She suggested it while I carried her up to bed after one of our many, many dungeon visits.
Of course I immediately agreed by claiming her against the wall, as if I could give any other response. But now I'm here, waiting under a flower-covered wedding arch… I’m not sure if I should feel excited or terrified.
“I think you will like the dress she picked,” Girabalt murmurs behind me. “It is very… her.”
Terrified, it is.
I face my guests, my hands clasped tightly in front of me as the violins begin to play. My castle grounds have once again been decorated with thousands of blooming dahlias – in reds, pinks, purples, any colour that I know will make her smile.
But it’s not just my wife who’s smiling when she steps out from behind the brambles. I can barely contain my grin, because I’m about to be re-married to the most beautiful woman in the entire fucking realm.
Most of her hair is swept up into a bun, while two wispy waves brush her perfect breasts. A strapless, low-cut bodice flows into a tight skirt that flares subtly around her knees. A long slit teases her mid-thigh, driving me more and more insane with every step she takes towards me.
Me. Her husband.
And that is my fucking wife.
She’s passed to me by Amaryllis while Tamryn, dressed in a green bridesmaid dress, fans out Dahlia’s skirt before taking her place beside the arch.
There was a commotion, apparently, when Dahlia was supposed to choose her bridesmaid.
Maeve suggested she should just have all her eleven sisters and Tamryn follow her down the aisle.
But when her sisters arrived for the wedding, they of course couldn’t settle on who would get to hold Dahlia’s skirt.
After hours of bickering, they decided amongst themselves that the fairest option would be to have Tamryn hold her skirt while the rest of them would get to sit in the front row on Dahlia’s side of the ceremony seating.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, there were only four seats in the front row.
So, after several torn skirts, broken hairpieces, and Girabalt throwing a fit trying to return their clothing to a presentable state, all ten of them somehow managed to squeeze in the front row, half on top of one another while they agreed to let Amaryllis walk Dahlia down the aisle.
I’ll never know how she and Blossom managed to get them all here in one piece.
“You look beautiful,” I say to my wife, because that’s literally the best my mind can come up with when I’m face to face with beauty personified.
“Thank you,” she giggles, and I bask in the sound.
We go through the ceremony hand in hand. When it’s time for us to kiss, I stop her by cupping her jaw and using my fingers to pry her lips apart.
Confused, she draws her brows together.
“Just checking…” I tilt her head around to make sure there are no more tadpoles inside.
“You bastard.” She grins, before looping her arms around my neck and kissing me like her life depends on it.
After filing out of the garden, I lead my bride into the banquet hall, where I’ve put on the same feast I’d prepared for our first wedding.
Steaming plates of fish, meats, and curried vegetables sit upon gold-trimmed tablecloths.
A large dessert spread takes up one side of the hall, because no meal is complete without dessert.
And, of course, I couldn’t forget the human-sized chocolate fountain, which my wife seems to notice immediately as she lets out a deafening squeal – along with nearly all of her sisters.
She’s out of my grasp, leading the horde of sprinting princesses before I can stop her.
I stand back, watching the scene with a smirk pulling at my jaw.
She looks so happy, laughing with her sisters. Despite their bickering earlier, I can tell they all dote on each other. The older girls help the younger ones, making sure everyone gets their share of the chocolate waterfall.
When Tamryn wanders over, she fits right in. Dahlia passes her a fruit skewer, and she sits between Kalimeris and Liliana, two of my wife’s youngest sisters as they welcome her into their conversation.
“Tammie looks so happy here,” Maeve says, passing me a goblet of wine. “Thank you for taking such good care of her.”
“She’s family. I’d never abandon family.” I sip my wine. But then I catch myself, choking. “That’s not to say I think that you ever abandoned us. If anything, I abandoned you. I should’ve—”
“It’s alright, Tauren.” She pats my shoulder. We’ve not spoken much about Elheart, though she knows he’s in the dungeon. I didn’t tell her that I beat him, but I think she can guess. His face is still a rainbow of bruises, even now.
Her smile falls. “I didn’t want to bring this up tonight and put a dampener on your evening, but I think it needs to be said.”
I brace myself, ready for the attack I completely deserve.
“I’m sorry,” she says, and my lips part.
“What in the realm are you sorry for?” I don’t mean to sound angry, but I’m so surprised my words just come out that way. “You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“I left you all. I did abandon you. Claren too. I just… I felt so suffocated, I suppose,” she explains.
“The more time I spent with Elheart, the more I just wanted to close everyone else off. I’d never felt that way before, and I really loved him, I did.
” She shakes her head. “I think I just loved him so much that I forgot to make room for anyone else. And looking back – and this isn’t an excuse,” she winces, “I think Elheart may have encouraged me to close myself off from you. I just didn’t realise it at the time because all I wanted was him, and would’ve done anything to make him happy. ”
“I pushed you away too,” I remind her. “I should’ve been more accepting from the start. I was too overprotective, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I should’ve written to you. At least to let you know I was safe—”
“I had my spies, remember?” I shrug. “I should’ve pulled them out of the palace and given you your privacy the second I knew you were happy with him.”
She smiles sadly. “We’re even in that regard, I suppose. I’ve been spying on you too since my ‘death’.”
I shudder at her words. She’d told me the story of how it happened.
She was lucky that a barn owl had been hunting in the garden where she and Elheart had fought. In classic Maeve fashion, she’d saved one of the owl’s chicks years prior, and the animal had fallen in love, as everyone does with her.
After her fight with Elheart, the bird had offered its body and Maeve used the last of her magic from Elheart’s soul to accept the freedom that living as a bird would give her. But she could never leave Tamryn or us behind completely, swooping in and out of our lives as much as she could.
Tamryn figured it out almost immediately, but didn’t have the magic to revert her mother back to her true form. Claren and I just needed a little longer to get it through our thick skulls.
“You never have to apologise for wanting to be close to us,” I tell her, and I mean it. “The past is in the past. I’m just happy you’re home. And however you want to deal with Elheart, I will… accept your choice.” It’s a struggle, but I get the words out.
“I’m not moving back to the palace with him.”
“Thank fuck,” I groan, and she laughs. It’s so nice to hear her laughter again that I can’t help but laugh with her.
Her grin turns to a smirk as she tips her wine glass towards the back of the hall. “I think your wife might want you.”
I follow her gaze to see Dahlia seated upon a banquet table, licking the chocolate icing off a muffin. She licks it like she wants a lot more from the damned thing, and when her gaze lifts it finds mine immediately before dropping to my hips.
I clear my throat, as if I haven’t been hiding a semi all day just watching her in that gown.
“Looks like some of your guests might want her too,” Maeve snorts, tipping her glass towards a few male demons who are staring at Dahlia like she’s part of the buffet.
My fists clench. “Excuse me.” I pass my glass to Maeve, who just chuckles as I push through a gaggle of guests.
In mere seconds, I’ve shoved the leftover muffin into my mouth and yanked Dahlia off the table.
“Hey,” she protests, but I can hear the excitement in her voice. “I was waiting for Eden to bring us more wine. She was going to tell me about the two handsome princes she’s going to be courting.”
“Two?” I scoff, dragging her towards a set of doors that lead to the gardens.
“They’re step brothers.” She grins. “That means she can fuck them both at the same—”
I toss her over my shoulder before she can finish that barbaric sentence.
“Tauren,” she squeals, giggling.
“You’re misbehaving again.” Night air cools my face as we pass through the doors.
“What are you going to do about it?” she teases. “I was actually quite enjoying eating my muffin in front of your relatives. Once you’re finished with your tantrum, I think I’ll get right back to it—” I squeeze her rear hard enough to make her whimper.
“That’s enough of that, sweetheart.” This woman will be the death of me, I swear. I keep my hand against her rear as I carry her deeper into the gardens. I know exactly where to take her.
“Where are we going?” she asks after a few moments. There’s a fearful hitch in her tone. It’s fucking delicious.
“To the place I fell in love with you,” I breathe.