Lilliana wanted to know whose gown this was.
What if it belonged to Kayden’s mistress or ex-wife?
For all she knew, the Laird had been married before.
She pushed away the question of why she might be put out about that.
That is not the point. I just do not want anyone’s… castoffs. Not for my wedding.
Still, she knew that the maid would probably not have the answers she sought, so she nodded to her. “Thank you very much. Would you fetch my lady’s maid so she can help me dress?”
The girl bobbed another awkward curtsy. “Aye, miss. Right away.” She hurried out of the room, seemingly excited to be of service.
Lilliana released a long sigh before sitting back down to await Betsy’s return. She stared at the dress. It was a deep midnight blue with a high collar, embedded with pearls in a winding pattern from the high neckline to the hemline. It resembled a starry sky at midnight. A stark contrast to her fair skin and blonde hair.
Betsy spent a few minutes gushing over it before finally helping her into it.
“Oh, My Lady, you look so beautiful,” Betsy said, her eyes wide with wonder. “It is as if the dress was made for you. And… theLairdsent it for you to wear? I had not even thought to ask him.”
The gown did fit Lilliana perfectly. Its bejeweled bell sleeves made her arms look long and elegant. The bodice fit her well, her waist cinched tight but not uncomfortably, as if whoever had made the dress knew her measurements. The skirt flared out at the hips, coming to rest in a wide hemline just past her ankles.
Moira came to see if she was ready. “The sun is just about to set, miss. We need to get going before we miss it. Such a lovely time to wed, too,” she murmured as she hurried Lilliana along.
They stepped out of the veranda doors to find the path strewn with petals all the way to the kirk. Clansmen lined the walkway as a show of force and support for the union. The sounds of drums and pipes echoed off the cobblestone with each step Lilliana took, as if the song itself was composed for this moment. She admired the golden light that the setting sun cast along the way.
The kirk was set behind an elaborately carved stone archway. As she walked under it, admiring the decades-old shapes, she saw the priest enter through the large wooden doors and knew the darkness inside housed Kayden.
The thought alone made her heart skip a beat.
Betsy squeezed her hand before letting it go and fussing over the dress to make sure Lilliana looked perfect. She then kissed theair on either side of Lillian’s cheeks and disappeared into the kirk.
The darkness lasted only a moment, but it felt almost suffocating. It was Kayden’s eyes that pulled her from the shadows, and her eyes adjusted to the bright light. By his side sat the massive hound she had met that morning, and behind him was the man he had sat next to at dinner.
Jacob, was it not?
She walked between the chairs, her heart racing, her eyes on the tall, enigmatic man waiting for her next to the priest. Everything seemed surreal, as if Jane or Cecily might jump out at any minute and declare all this an elaborate prank.
But her sisters were not here, and looking at the crowd, she could not find one familiar face. Her breath hitched, and her vision blurred.
This is not how I envisioned my wedding day.
She almost stopped, feeling the tears well up in her eyes, but she swallowed past the lump in her throat and kept walking. She reached the archway, where Kayden took both her cold hands in his, engulfing them in his warmth. She suppressed a shiver, lashes fluttering as she avoided looking up into his piercing eyes.
The priest began to speak, but she hardly heard a word he said. Her ears were ringing, and she felt light-headed.
“Blood of me blood. Bone of me bone…”
She heard those words before her mind drifted away again. She was nobody’s blood—her own blood had thrown her away, given her to these barbarians like she meant nothing.
Then Kayden was tying their hands together, and the priest was intoning more words over them. Lilliana felt like she was watching her own wedding from afar. She saw her own mouth move, repeating the words she was told to say. She saw Kayden lean in towards her, his gaze intense, piercing, making her shiver.
Before her body could tense even further, he pressed his lips briefly to the corner of her mouth before straightening up and looking her in the eye. Her breath hitched.
“Are ye alright?” he asked.
His words returned her to her senses.
She gave him a wry smile. “Too late to be asking that, is it nae?”
