Page 20 of Legacy

Six

Avra

I fisted my hand as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. After a month of planning and preparation, according to Ozias’s preferences, the day was here.

My wedding day.

This wasn’t what I imagined as a little girl.

I miss you, Mama. I need your guidance, Papa.

I could only hope somewhere in heaven, Mama forgave me for marrying the son of her murderer. Papa, on the other hand, would understand this decision.

Out of all of us, I was most like him.

My parents ingrained family loyalty and honor into us, and there were no lengths we wouldn’t go to seekjustice.

However, at moments like this, regardless of who I married, I felt their absence as if the wounds that never truly healed were tearing open again. My dreams of Mama helping me dress with Laya and Cali talking nonstop would never happen. And no matter how much I wished it, Papa wasn’t alive to walk me down the aisle.

I inhaled deeply, refusing to lose myself in the pain. I had worked so hard to control my emotions. As Vik always told me, I should use them to fuel my plans for the future.

Plus, my beautiful sisters, smarter than I ever could be, stood by me.

Through the walls of the ready room of the church, I heard the hum of noise, indicating the final preparations for the wedding.

The planner Ozias had hired was the only positive aspect of this situation. She attended to every detail and kept Ozias away from me. Her ability to maneuver people made me want to hire her for the Vitalis world.

I slid a hand down my body, admiring my dress. The planner had also introduced me to a local up-and-coming designer with exquisite taste. The gorgeous gown I’d chosen incorporated traditional Greek designs with high-fashion trends seen on the runway.

Of course, Ozias had interfered in the process, claiming the dress was too simple and cheap. He expected me to select something from the optionshispeople chose, something too revealing.

The old man was out of his mind if he thought I wouldlet him sexualize me and make me nothing but a sexy trophy on his son’s arm.

The gown I should have had on had disappeared in the aftermath of the coup. It had been passed down from generation to generation on my mother’s side of the family to the firstborn daughter.

I would have altered it to fit me and fashioned it to something more to my taste, but the legacy the women of my family created would have continued.

Now, it was gone to who knew where, most likely burned or thrown out by the greedy bastard about to become my father-in-law.

“You’re stunning,” Cali said, jolting me away from the detour of anger where my thoughts were leading me.

She approached me from behind and smoothed a fold in my skirt.

I smiled and nodded. “This is definitely a showstopper. That idiot needs to learn that a lady can draw attention without displaying her goods.”

The fabric hugged my every curve, and with the way the lace overlay avoided revealing too much skin, it gave the right amount of sexy.

“You look tall, elegant, and anything but Elias Xenos’s inferior.” The way Cali stated things brought a grin to my lips.

“I couldn’t agree more. Elias is taller than me. There is no denying this fact. However, with these heels and my above-average height, I am at least near eye level with him.” I tookthe lipstick Laya handed me to touch up my makeup and said, “I do love this dress.”

“You lookamazingin it,” Laya agreed as she checked her hair in another mirror, glancing at me through the reflection. “How are you feeling about this? You can change your mind.”

I lifted my shoulders, making sure the bodice of my dress could move with me.

“Can she?” Cali asked. “All of us are in too far to change the path. Just don’t fall in love with him.”

The youngest of the three of us was the most logical and felt the most. Cali would deny the latter until she was blue in the face, saying she knew how to control her emotions, but Laya and I knew her. She carried the empathy that had never bloomed in us.

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