The fae female took a second to get my meaning. Then she laughed and continued to lead me out the door.
Message received. This was all I got. I guess the pretty white dress thing was just a human tradition. I shrugged and followed her to the center of the Life Tree, where everyone was gathered.
It didn't matter if I wasn't wearing anything other than body paint. These people were about to get a much bigger eyeful anyway.
The sun was setting, turning the strips of the sky visible through the branches overhead a pretty golden color. Lanterns dangled from the trees, but they weren't filled with fire. They contained dancing light similar to the storm glass needle hanging around my neck.
I felt every eye on me as I walked to the center of it all. Everything was decorated with flowers, exotic petals strewn all about. Other than that, there wasn't much in the way of decorations or anything that said “wedding.”
No aisle runner. No balloon arch. No minister.
There was a circular bed in the center of the crowd, with lanterns and flower wreaths hanging from the branches above.
Oh, God. What had I agreed to? I knew what was coming. But seeing the bed sitting there, with the sea of fae gathered all around, perched in the branches, waiting for the show to start, I started to get cold feet.
This would be easier to do if Vin was beside me, giving me his strength. But no, he'd stormed off and left me alone because he was too much of a baby to face his feelings.
I had really pissed him off.
I was hoping I’d get a chance to speak to him before the wedding.
This wouldn't be the first time we'd fucked in front of a crowd when we weren't on the best of terms.
I scanned the crowd for any sign of the fae queen and Valkera—Vin’s bitch ex—and relaxed a little when they were nowhere to be found. This would be easier without them around to watch. Talk about awkward.
A group of fae came forward, about six of them. They were unshifted, covered in body paint, also depicting ravens, to cover their own totem tattoos. Only their paint was white, while mine was black. They were priests, by my guess, by the way they began to chant some kind of prayer in fae tongue.
My resentment for Vin grew by the second. Where in the hell was he? If he was here, he could translate what they were saying.
It’s not like this wedding had been my idea, and once we got back to my own world, it’s not like this marriage would be legally recognized. But it still felt monumental. Special.
But by leaving me, he’d made me feel more alien and out of place than ever.
I didn’t feel like I belonged at my own damn wedding.
If he didn’t make this right with me, I’d give these people a show all right. They’d watch me rip their prince’s balls clean the fuck off.
The same female that had led me to the Life Tree’s center extended her hand and gestured for me to get onto the bed.
My breath hitched, and I lifted my eyes to sweep over the crowd. Everyone was watching. Waiting.
This was part of the deal with Vincent. Marry him, so his people would recognize me as his true mate, and he’d take me home.
But something felt off. Chalking it up to nerves, I kneed up onto the bed. The priests circled it, chanting. The crowd chimed in.
What the actual fuck.
This was next-level surreal.
The fae people chanted and prayed as the sun dipped behind the trees and the sky turned dark. Traces of the silver moon slowly crawled up, peaking through the highest branches of the Life Tree. As I rose higher in the sky, the silver light covered the bed in patterns of silver and shadows, the silhouettes of the leaves swaying gently over the sheets.
A strange wind started up, sending my red trusses whipping over my cheeks.
There was dark magic in the air tonight.
A flurry of murmurs rushed over the crowd when a hulking silhouette of a winged man fell over the bed. I angled my head to see Vincent’s dark figure perched higher in the tree. The moon was at his back, crowning the prince in a halo of pale light.
I could tell in an instant, even from this distance, that he was still upset with me. I could tell by the cold way he regarded me as he straightened to a standing position and strode down the branch toward me. It bowed dangerously beneath the male’s weight, but he didn’t stagger. His gait was commanding and demanded the attention of every living thing. Even the wind in the trees died down so that every sense would be held captive by the fae prince alone.
