I roll my eyes, but I don’t deny it.
“I’m okay.”
“I know.”
King sits on one of the empty chairs that, moments ago, were filled with women dressed in matching bridesmaid dresses. He looks very dapper in a three-piece suit.
“They didn’t come,” I tell them both something they likely already know.
“No. They didn’t.”
I’d had no choice but to explain to my father and brother what had been going on in my life. I told them everything from the incident with the grenade to falling in love with Kruger and my plans to adopt Theo. To say they were less than impressedwas an understatement. My brother, who’d stayed by my side when I tried to take my own life and grieved for all I lost, couldn’t move past the fact that I’d done something so reckless, almost taking myself from him once more—which was fair. His answer was to cut me out of his life, which was stupid if he didn’t want to lose me. This would mean he lost me anyway. He also refused to accept Kruger in my life, because Ravens were toxic and they’d be my downfall. Dramatic, but I couldn’t begrudge him his feelings—not after what I’d put him through.
My father went a step further and refused to accept Theo in my life. He had deemed it God’s will every time I lost a baby, which of course was bullshit. It was Lee’s will, not that I shared that part with him. He looked at Theo as a way that I was cheating the system. I told him I hoped his god kept him company in his old age because I’d be at home having dinner with my son and my husband. I hadn’t spoken to them since, but I’d sent them an invite to the wedding, with the hope that we could mend the bridge between us. But I guess there is no mending a bridge that’s been burned. You just had to build a new one. It didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt and questioning if I was making a mistake.
“Well, their loss is our gain,” Blade states, walking over to me and taking my hand.
I stand up from the bench to face him. He takes me in, his eyes moving over my face before they move over my body and he takes in my dress.
“You look beautiful, Delphi. Kruger is going to lose his mind.”
“Thank you, though the dress was only possible because of King. Thank you for that, by the way. This was exactly what I envisioned.”
And it is. From a distance, the dress looks like an off-white wedding dress with a full tiered skirt that skims theground, and a fitted corset covering my chest. One might make out something black in the fabric, but it isn’t until you get close that you realize it’s ink. Black script scrolled into the fabric, making up words full of reverence, sentences of worship, and paragraphs filled with love. A second glance, and you’d notice the layers are letters, painstakingly stitched together, transforming individual chapters into a story. The story of Kruger and me. My favorite story ever.
“I’d ask you how, but over the years I’ve realized there is nothing you can’t do if you put your mind to it.” Blade grins at King.
“Can’t cure cancer. I know I tried.” He says it so blasé, but I know he means it. Conan has been his friend for a long time. If he could take it from him, he would in a heartbeat.
“He’s getting better, so I’d say the cancer is just as wary of you as most mere mortals are.” Blade smirks, making King huff out a laugh.
Turning back to me, Blade lifts my hand and kisses the back of it, before bending his arm and slipping my hand into the crook of his elbow. “I’m going to walk you down the aisle to the man you love. The man who deserves you, who has earned you. One who won’t judge you or try to change you. One who will love you like you should have always been. But if, by some twist of fate, he fucks up, me and King know a dozen ways to kill a man and get rid of his body so it will never be found.”
He kisses my temple as I feel my lip quiver.
“Let’s get this show on the road before Kruger comes and hunts you down himself,” King orders, getting to his feet. But instead of walking to the door, he walks to me. He pulls out a jewelry box from his pocket and opens it, revealing a simple pearl bracelet.
I suck in a sharp breath. “Where did you get this?”
“I figured if your dad couldn’t be here, at least your mom could be.”
“You stole these from my dad’s place?”
“You mad?”
“No. Thank you, King.”
“You’re welcome. I figured it would cover your something borrowed. Here.” He pulls out a bedazzled dagger with a sapphire-encrusted handle. “Something blue.”
“Whoa.”
“You flashy bastard. Who gives a woman a fucking dagger on her wedding day?”
“One who is worried about her virtue?” King winks, making me laugh.
“I think that’s long gone.”
“You, my dear, are a paragon of virtue. That will never be gone, but there will always be someone who thinks they can take it from you. This will even the playing field.”
