Then they disappeared. Along with the glass prison. Along with the floating blade.
The silence that followed felt heavier than the chaos had.
Oye landed on her feet and straightened, stretching her back. “Ah, my back.” She stared at herself in the mirror on the opposite wall and sighed. “Should we just cancel?”
“Oh, hell no. We planned way too long to cancel this,” Sabina said, dusting her dress off before pausing at the large stain across the back of her gown. “God, I hate them.”
Eliza stood with Oye’s help; the McLaren tartan she’d been wearing was in tatters on the floor. “He’s going to kill me.” She covered her face and sniffed.
“Ladies…” Lanias motioned to her dress. Stones were missing and one sleeve had been completely ripped off. “I will not say how much this dress cost, but this. This is a travesty.” She exhaled hard, steadying herself. “But let’s go. They didn’t mate with us because we are perfect.” She rolled her wrist, a bouquet appearing in her hand. “Let’s go.”
“Yeah.” Oye held her all-metal bouquet in her hand, iron roses shining. “Let’s get this over with.”
Eliza sniffed, tapping the toe of her shoe to the floor. The pieces of tartan twisted into flowers and hopped into her hands. “Yeah.”
Sabina sighed. “I’m here.” She waved her bouquet into existence.
When the fourmen saw their brides, all of their jaws dropped. From the torn dresses to ruined hairstyles, they weren’t sure what had happened, only that all four women were smiling far too brightly.
Raijin took Sabina’s hand and decided that if she was smiling like that, he would not ask questions.
Castian narrowed his eyes at Oye, already calculating revenge for whatever she had done.
Malcolm saw the redness in Eliza’s eyes and knew the night would be spent soothing her. He could not say he minded.
Meanwhile, Alek looked down at Lanias and caught the faintest shadow in her expression. Not fear. Not exactly.
“What is it, love?” he murmured.
She averted her gaze and muttered something too low for anyone else to hear.
He grinned slowly as he straightened. “Earlier than expected.”
After the vows were finished, the bouquets thrown, and the crowd turned toward the party room, Oye leaned over.
“Hey, Lanias?”
“Yes,” she answered as Alek helped her over the threshold.
“How did you make a bouquet when your magic wasn’t working?” Oye demanded, eyes sharp.
Everything stilled.
The other two brides looked at her.
Lanias offered them a sheepish smile. “Um. I might have wanted to teach them a lesson.”
“I knew it,” Eliza muttered.
“Die for me,” Oye said flatly.
“What?” Sabina stared at her, betrayed.
Alek wrapped his arms around Lanias just as Oye began removing her shoes in preparation for violence. The two of them vanished in a cloud of red mist.
They landed roughly on a bed, Lanias bursting into laughter as the adrenaline finally drained.
“They’re going to kill you one day,” he said, amused.
