Nay.
Her hand jerked free from her uncle’s arm.
“Nay,” she breathed.
Her uncle stumbled to a stop beside her. “Emma, what in God’s name do ye think ye’re doin’?”
She turned toward him, trembling. “I said, nay!”
Gasps rippled through the guests like wind through tall grass. The priest hesitated, mouth half-open, but it was now or never. Emma swallowed and took a step back.
Her uncle’s face darkened. “Ye disgraceful lass. What do ye think?—”
“I cannae do this!” Her voice cracked, rising above the music. “I cannae marry a man who… who frightens his own clan! Ye’re handin’ me to a ghost!”
Someone she didn’t recognize in the crowd rose to their feet, and several voices whispered harshly.
“Emma!” her uncle barked. “Compose yerself!”
She was already moving.
She gathered her dress as she turned, and air whooshed from her lungs. The chapel doors stood open now, wide and full of pale light.
“Emma?” her uncle called again, his voice almost a warning.
She ran.
More gasps rose behind her, and she heard a woman cry out. A man probably swore under his breath, but she was too caught up in the excitement to confirm.
She tried to shove past the crowd, knocking a bouquet loose from a pew. Flowers scattered underfoot.
“Emma!” her uncle roared.
Booted steps thundered after her, but she didn’t look back. The crowd parted too slowly, and she kept pushing through them, her shoulder catching a man’s chest, nearly sending her spinning. However, she kept running until she reached the main doors.
She swallowed and crossed the threshold, feeling the cold wind slap her face. Her makeshift veil tore on the door as she burst into the open air, the fabric snagging and pulling. She ripped it free with one hand.
“Emma!” came the shout behind her.
She didn’t stop.
Stone gave way to gravel. Gravel to grass.
The wind snatched at her hair and tore pins from their places. They fell in a trail behind her, bouncing silently on the earth. She kept running, ignoring the burn in her lungs.
After a long while, she staggered to a halt at the far side of the wall, pressing both hands to the cold stone.
She stood there for a full minute, doubled over, gasping for all the air she could get.
Green.
The doors opened, and the first thing he noticed as she walked in with her uncle was how green her dress was. It stood bright against the candles and pulled him out of the reverie he had been in right before she entered. She paused at the threshold, caught by the light. He narrowed his eyes to examine her from afar.
She was slim and pale, like the snow itself.
Her eyes had been the furthest from timid. He saw the fire in them almost immediately. The thought of having a woman like that as his wife pricked him in a weird way. Whether it was the right or wrong kind, he couldn’t tell yet.
But then she ran.
