“Your highness?” Brenna asked again, prodding for an answer from me.
Apparently, Brenna had been with me for years and I couldn’t help but notice all of the similarities between her and Trini, my friend from the future.
They had the same bright red hair, though Brenna kept hers braided and pinned closely to her head. Their eyes and noses were also similarly shaped, though just different enough that I knew they were two different people.
But looking at Brenna now, I realized she and Trini could be sisters if they lived in the same time.
“I’m fine,” I told her quickly, straightening my spine and shaking away all of my panicked thoughts. “Is it time?”
Brenna nodded as the other maids looped a long string of the same freshwater pearls from my hair around my neck three times, creating a stacked look. It was far simpler than the burnished gold pendants that were in the drawers in my chambers, but apparently the pearls were one of Carmeliad’s biggest exports and represented my new kingdom in ways that I wasn’t sure if I would ever understand.
I stared into the polished metal mirror perched on the dressing table in front of me and the slightly distorted image showed a nervous, but beautiful bride that I hardly recognized.
As always, I was surprised at how much they were capable of doing in this century.
I wasn’t sure what they were using to rouge my cheeks or make my lips shine (and frankly I probably didn’t want to know), but now as I accepted Brenna’s hand to help me stand, I smiled at her. “Thank you, Brenna, you did a wonderful job.”
Brenna’s blue eyes widened at the praise. It was clear she wasn’t used to being complimented for her work and I made a note to do it more often as she was supposed to come with me when we left for Camelot. “Of course, your highness.”
There came a knock at the door and one of the maids opened it to reveal a surprising figure.
Sir Bedivere stood in the doorway, left hand resting on the pommel of a sword at his hip.
“Your highness,” he bowed. “I have been ordered to escort you to the wedding.”
Surprise filled me as I stared up at the man. I wasn’t sure just how much older he was than Arthur, but his long nose was framed by a pair of silver-gray eyes that had lines in the corner from what I could only assume were frown lines as I’d never actually seen the man smile. Also, his dark hair that he worescraped away from his face was streaked with a pale silver that made him seem more severe as we stared at one another.
But, even still, he was handsome. Anyone with eyes could see it. Just the sight of the alpha sent the maids in the room whispering as they fluttered eyelashes in his direction, their cheeks flushing prettily in a way that made the quiet little presence of my inner-omega in my head stir with irritation.
“He did?” the question rippled out of my mouth before I could catch it, my words full of the shock I was feeling.
After that night in the corridor, I had only spoken with Arthur a handful of times at dinner, but the other three alphas that were meant to be a part of the pack that Merlin spoke of had given me a wide berth—practically avoiding me as much as Merlin had been.
I assumed it was due to Arthur, but now he was suddenly asking Bedivere to escort me to our wedding?
“He did,” Bedivere confirmed, his silvery eyes taking in what I was wearing before he glanced up at my face and offered me the crook of his arm.
I took it silently, trying to gauge the man’s emotions but utterly failing. There was nothing. No twitch of his lips or furrow of his brow to tell me what he was feeling, and frankly, it was a bit off-putting.
But while I could not tell what he was thinking, Icouldsmell his scent. It was the first time I was close enough to him to catch a whiff of it and I blinked up at him a bit dazedly as it danced across my senses. Where Arthur’s scent had been sweet and spicy, like a mix of cinnamon and cloves, Bedivere’s was much more natural. It was like the smell of freshly chopped wood, smooth and warm.Sandalwood, I remembered, thinking of my favorite candle back in my flat.
There was nothing more comforting than coming home after a long day and lighting the wood wick candle before sitting with acup of tea and now the man next to me smelled just like it and I found that it actually soothed my frayed nerves.
I leaned in closer for a better sniff but paused when he stiffened, my face flushing with warmth as I forced myself to straighten and look ahead even though I still wanted to smell him.
The castle was quiet as we walked through the decorated corridors, and aside from the occasional servant running around getting everything prepared for the feast later on, no one was around.
All of the guests who had remained after the night I’d fallen, quite literally, into the 6th century equivalent of an episode of theBachelorwere now outside waiting for the bride to appear for the most hastily thrown together wedding in years—or at least I assumed so. I was pretty sure everybody in this time got married quickly. It was like I was living in a perpetual episode of90-Day Packwith no way out.
About halfway through the walk through the castle the awkward silence that was hanging between us finally got the better of me and I turned to stare at Bedivere’s profile. “You are one of Arthur’s knights, yes?”
I’d heard his name before when my mother told me the story of King Arthur as a child, but the information was fuzzy after so long that I wasn’t sure what sort of role he played other than one of Arthur’s packmates.
And one of my future alphas,my brain reminded me unhelpfully and almost gleefully.
The subject of the three other men that had been there that night hadn’t come up since my conversation with Arthur that night, and now as I glanced over at the taller, incredibly stoic alpha I wasn’t sure how to even bring something like that up to him.
It also didn’t help that he was currently escorting me to my wedding to his king.
