Page 7 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
You can do this.
Could I?
I chanced one last look at the crowd. My gaze lingered on my cousins. None of them smiled, concern shadowing their steely gazes.
They would have found another way to keep the family safe and not marry a brute. None of them would have stood here, tears pricking their eyes, trying not to tremble. They were the true heirs of the Protectorate, some of the most dangerous and skilled people in all of Malhaven. How had Fabrian found me before they could? The question would haunt me to my grave.
The priest cleared his throat and the big book hovering in front of him opened on its own.
“The moon and stars have been kind enough to bless us with a union today,” he began, his nasally voice magicked to be amplified in the entire castle garden, drowning out the enchanted harps. “Between two heirs deserving of their titles. Fabrian, the scion of the Bazin family and the Serpents’ hope of a better, more prosperous future–”
I grimaced behind my opaque veil. How much more prosperous could they get? Fabrian wore a snake amulet made of pure diamonds around his neck.
“–and the Protectorate’s Lost Daughter, who was mercifully returned to her family,” the priest went on, voice booming.
Another small piece of me died.
Mercy wasn’t in the stars. Not today, and certainly not for me.
My heart threatened to beat itself out of my chest. I took a deep, centering breath that did nothing to calm me down.
Then I made the mistake of gripping my gorgeous bouquet of plump, odorless flowers–everything had tolookgood, notbegood today–as if I could wring some courage from the wilting stems.
Allie’s strained half-smile fell as her unrelenting gaze swept over me, from my white-knuckled grip on the bouquet, to the slump in my shoulders. I righted myself instantly, but she’d already seen enough.
“Should anyone oppose this union,” the priest went on, oblivious. “Then–”
Allie moved quickly. Before I knew it, her fingers touched the pulse point at my neck. I jerked back, but that one touch was enough to reveal the truth. My lies couldn’t hide the way my pulse roared.
Triumph shined in her darkening gaze.
“I knew it,” she whispered.
I licked my lips, tasting the sickly sweet rouge painted on them. “It’s just wedding jitters.”
Please believe me. Please let this go.
Fabrian scoffed. “Leave it to The Huntress to cause a scene.”
A sharp look from Allegra shut him up. Then her almighty gaze fell on me again. I wanted to shrivel.
“Stop this,” I said with all the courage I didn’t feel. Whispers erupted in the crowd.
Allegra still wouldn’t budge.
“Youstop this,” she said. “What’s going–”
The whispers were replaced with frightened gasps. Allie’s face fell as she looked behind us. That troubled me more than anything.
I followed the guests’ panicked gazes to the end of the aisle.
I froze.
“Gods help us,” Allie whispered.
Nobody could help us now.
Because standing at the end of the aisle, in all their fearsome glory, were the most dangerous fighters in all of Malhaven. Dressed in their black leather uniforms, dozens of them grimaced at us, armed to the teeth with golden weapons.
