“What do we have here? A crasher? Mind showing me your invite?”
“Sure. Here it is.”
Gripping his wrists for leverage, I pitch forward, head-butting him until he tumbles back.
Jace and Dover appear at the bottom of the steps as Mal rights himself. A silver stream of light bursts from his palm, but Jace ducks, tackling him back into the wall.
“Fucking traitor!”
Jace grabs him by the collar and tosses him down the stairs before hauling me to my feet. The three of us race back up the steps and down the hall as the faint sound of music drifts toward us.
It’s starting.
We exchange a worried glance.
“Dover, where are we going?” Jace’s voice is edged with panic as we careen around a corner.
“The back stairs will lead us to the chapel.”
“Wait.” Jace skids to a stop, his eyes catching on the exposed corridor across the way.
Through the window, I see a figure in white drifting down the hall in the wing across from us. She moves like a specter—there, but not fully present. Unreachable and unobtainable.
Time slows as she floats forward like an ivory queen in a shimmering silk dress, escorted by two golden guards. My heart hammers. She’s concealed beneath the veil, and I pray she turns—pray she can somehow feel me. I need to see her face.
I need…I needher.
But she doesn’t turn. I watch helplessly as the girl I love disappears down the hall to attend her own wedding.
Come on!Dover shoves us forward, breaking our trance.
We hurry down the steps, the chapel doors coming into view across the way. But as we reach the bottom, a line of golden soldiers is waiting to greet us.I manage to break through, twisting back to see Jace and Dover caught in the madness. I freeze, my hand on the door.
“Go!” Jace shouts. “Go now!”
A twinge of guilt tugs at me as they hold the line. But I can feel her on the other side of this door. I feel her in my blood, in my bones, calling to me. So I don’t waste another second before turning and throwing open the chapel’s heavy doors.
* Cue:Troubleby Pink
14
SERENA
Something old.
Something new.
Something borrowed.
And something blue.
I’ve pictured my wedding a thousand times. Dogeared countless magazines, filled Pinterest boards with white gowns and floral arrangements. I’ve fantasized about the exact lilac shade of bridesmaid dresses I would choose. I imagined smiling as my dad walked me down the aisle, getting choked up as he gave me away.
I imagined this day being the happiest of my life.
Instead, it is a nightmare come true.
Forced to marry a man I loathe with every fiber of my being on the off-chance that I can find a way to keep my friends safe from his relentless, destructive ambition.
