Page 116 of My Five Daddies

There’s a knock at the door and my steward opens it. “Nearly ready?” Thomasasks.

“Yes,” I say to him, turning toward the door. “How do Ilook?”

He doesn’t even smile. He never does. “Perfect,princess.”

I grin at Britta and she gives me a look. Thomas pushes open the door and gestures for me to follow. “Right thisway.”

“Good luck,” Britta says, kissing my cheek. “I’ll benearby.”

I take a deep breath. “Thanks. It’s going to gogreat.”

She nods and I go to follow Thomas. But I get about three steps before I stumble over the train of my dress, nearly rippingit.

Thomas and Britta both help me. “I’m okay!” I say, shaking my head. “Just nerves, that’sall.”

Thomas frowns at me and looks like he wants to say something very judgmental, although he always looks like that. He snaps his finger and a female steward comes in. She lifts up the train of mydress.

“Thank you,” I say to her, and we all file out after Thomas. He leads the way through the side hallways and toward the castlechapel.

I didn’t know there was going to be a ceremony, but I should have guessed. This is the royal family, after all. Especially in a conservative nation like Polovia, they have to follow traditions, and a marriage ceremony is as traditional as itgets.

This is not how I pictured my wedding day. I woke up this morning after having a dream about Nolan. In it, he went down on me again, but this time I was sitting on the throne in front of the entire nation. I was so embarrassed, but I still kind of likedit.

I was flushed when I woke up. That was when Nolan burst into my bedroom, told me that we were doing the ceremony in a few hours, and told me to get my butt out of bed or else. I was way too frazzled from my dream to do anything but obeyhim.

Fortunately, they let me invite Britta to help me out. I don’t know what I would have done without her. I’m practically barely staying on my feet at this point from sheer nervousness, but she’s been there with me the whole morning, helping me get ready, trying to keep me calm. I don’t know why Britta decided to help me out, but I’m so happy that she did. She changed my life in so many differentways.

I follow Thomas and we stop just outside of the chapel doors. The female steward stays a couple of feet behind me, and I want to make some joke to her, mostly because I’m so nervous, but I know it won’t go over. I’ve never seen a steward smile, much less laugh. The female stewards are even meaner than the males, if that’s even possible. There are fewer female stewards, and I guess they feel like they have to work twice as hard to compete with the men, which is pretty much true in a nation like Polovia, where gender roles are rigidlydefined.

We stand there for a moment, and I have no clue what we’re waiting for. After what feels like an eternity, Thomas lifts up a cane with an eagle’s head at the top and bangs it against the large wooden door. The noise echoes through the stone hall and I feel like it vibrates my verybones.

Slowly, the doors open. My heart is beating so fast I can’t hear anything else but its slamming as Thomas takes a few steps forward into theroom.

I follow him, head buzzing. It’s a fairly large chapel, and the whole castle is there. It’s a few hundred people, everyone dressed in their finest clothing. Lords and Ladies mingle with the common staffers, which is nice, but I’m scared shitless so it doesn’t matter to me who sits where in thismoment.

As we walk forward, I spot Nolan standing up near the altar. The priest is there in his vestments, and the king and queen are sitting on their thrones off to the side. As we approach, the king stands and walks directly towardus.

Thomas stops and steps aside, bowing slightly, as the king walks directly tome.

“Who comes here, dressed in white?” the king says in his booming, deep voice. He looks a lot like Nolan, and I realize suddenly that this is the first time I’ve seen him inperson.

The whole room is staring at me, and I have no clue what to say, when suddenly I hear the female steward behind mewhisper.

“A princess, looking for herprince.”

I take a breath and repeat that phrase. “A princess, looking for herprince.”

The hall is silent for a second, hanging on bated breath. The king appraises me and finally smiles veryslightly.

“Come then, princess, in good health and good character. Enter into our family with my blessing and the blessing of the house of Leitner, may it continue ever intoeternity.”

With that, the king turns and walks back to his seat. Once he’s seated, Thomas steps back in front of me and we walk up to thealtar.

Nolan grins at me as I stand in front of him. “Good job,” he whispers tome.

“Thanks,” I say, but the priest gives me a dirty look and begins the ceremony inPolovian.

It’s a short and simple ceremony. I don’t know what they’re saying, but we exchange rings, and eventually Nolan kisses me, a chaste and appropriate kiss compared to the other kisses we’ve shared. When that’s done, we turn and the crowd cheers as we walk back down theaisle.

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