“One end just means a new beginning,” I finished for him, a shiver running down my spine as the same voice from before seemed to whisper the words to me on the wind.
Leodegrance blinked at me with surprise, his brown eyes widening. “That is exactly what she said. How can you remember such a thing? You were but a babe!”
I didn’t have the words to explain that my mother had said the same things to me when she died only a year ago—not when I was a small child.
Whispers from the crowd filled my ears making me remember where we were and what we were doing.
Leodegrance’s lips pulled down into a frown, like he wanted to keep me here and ask me just how I knew my mother’s dying words, but then he glanced up at the waiting wedding guests and finally let out a heavy sigh.
“Shall we?” he asked, giving the hand tucked into the crook of his arm a pat.
I nodded, my mouth suddenly dry as the reality of what I was about to do hit me like a hammer.
The crowd seemed to part like the red sea as we approached and at the end of all of the staring faces was Arthur, his expression calm and confident—a harsh contrast to what I was sure was pale horror on my own face.
If I thought his clothing had been opulent the night of my arrival, it had nothing on the deep red tunic with ornate gold embroidery along the edges of the hem and neckline. The man exuded royalty in a way that made all those around him seem to look and feel smaller in comparison.
Each step that brought me closer to the alpha made my heart thud in my chest like the gong of a bell.
As panic filled me a light rain began to fall overhead, causing the people to murmur and glance up at the otherwise blue sky. The coolness of it did little to calm my frayed nerves and Leodegrance pulled the cape of the mantle he was wearing over my hair to keep my flower crown from getting drenched by the rainfall.
“Odd,” he muttered as we drew closer, his eyes shifting briefly upwards. “Not a cloud above us and yet it is raining?”
“A blessing from the gods!” a familiar voice crowed from behind Arthur as the much larger alpha stepped out of the way to reveal the officiant of the wedding to be none other than Merlin.
The crowd began to clap as they continued to stare up at the falling droplets of water that seemed to sparkle in the afternoon sunlight.
Then we were directly in front of Arthur and he was offering his hand to me. Everything seemed to come crashing down on me all at once as his warm fingers wrapped my own clammy ones and he gave them a comforting squeeze.
“Be at peace,” he murmured, his voice a soft purr as he examined my face with concern.
I tried to school my features and failed utterly as the ceremony began with a flourish.
“We gather here in front of the life of the valley to witness this union blessed by the gods,” Merlin began, his voice seeming to bounce off of the hills in the distance—like the entire world was ringing with his words.
Merlin began to tie brightly colored cords around our joined hands—there were four different colors: blue, green, red, and white, which were the symbols of tying our fate together and what I assumed were the four elements as I remember exactly how this story was supposed to end.
I had been putting off thinking about Arthur’s end for days, trying in vain to tell myself that those legends had been changed and twisted to suit whoever was telling them for hundreds of years, so it couldn’tpossiblyhappen here, right?
However, there was just one thing that never seemed to change with every iteration and retelling.
At the end of Arthur’s story, Arthur and the rest of his pack would die in a blaze of glory leaving Queen Guinevere all by herself to mourn for the rest of her days.
Which would be fine if this was all some kind of story in a book. But no, they weren’t going to just leave Queen Guinevere the fake mythical figure. IwasGuinevere now and I was so afraid to let myself actually like any of them because at the end of this story they were supposed to die and leavemebehind.
And I didn’t even know how to stop it.
Chapter Nine
Guinevere was quiet and somber as the wedding guests toasted to our wedding, clinking overflowing cups of mead together as lively music filled Leodegrance’s great hall.
Her demeanor was a far cry from the fiery woman who had challenged me in the forest and it seemed I was not the only one who had noticed it.
Bedivere stood behind us guarding his new queen just as I had asked, and every glance I shot back at him showed that he also noticed the shift in the omega’s mood.
As the group of musicians wound down the jaunty tune they were playing, I turned to her with a frown. “Are you well, my queen?”
Guinevere jumped at the new title, her light brown eyes widening with surprise as she pursed her full pink lips as if she was trying to measure out the words she wanted to say.
