My stomach twisted itself into knots with each step I took down the aisle. Quandary perched on my right shoulder, the miniature drake’s tiny claws poking through the fabric. He kept fidgeting, which meant my companion sensed my reluctance. His sapphire scales caught the light from the floating fairy lanterns overhead, and he released an anxious chirp.
Something feels wrong,Quandary’s thoughts brushed through my mind.Your heart is beating like hummingbird wings.
Just nerves,I silently replied, the familiar telepathic bond between us vibrating with my tension.Stay calm. No flame bursts today, please. There are too many vampires in the vicinity.
He snorted.That’s a good way to send them scurrying, now isn’t it?
No singeing anyone, both here or at our new home.
I’ll try not to,he grumbled, though a wisp of smoke escaped his nostrils.But you’re scared. Can I bite him if he’s mean?
Absolutely not.
A nibble?
Not even a taste.
He sighed, a puff of blue smoke curling toward my veil.You never let me have any fun.
I bit back my smile.Let’s wait and see what he’s like.
The ceremony was taking place in Grandmother’s sprawling garden, transformed for the occasion into something that belonged in a fairy tale. Lights twinkled among the periwinkly bushes, and the tiny faces of the pixies holding up the corners of my train beamed with excitement.
Even migratory bats had been enlisted. They hung upside down from the flowering arbor with silk ribbons tied around their necks. They’d been bribed with fruit compote, according to Grandmother. Nothing said love is eternal like slightly tipsy bats in bow ties.
It should’ve been magical. It should’ve been beautiful. Instead, it felt like a funeral. Mine, most likely.
Adele sniffled somewhere behind me. My sister was crying for my sake, probably torn between hope that I’d find happiness and horror that our grandmother was handing me over to a vampire king. And knowing Sasha, my oldest, protective sister, was wringing her hands and shooting glares at Grandmother. She’d fought this match like a firecat defending her kit,demanding explanations that never came. The woman who’d been like a mother to me since our parents died was probably calculating how quickly she could spirit the youngest of us sisters—me—away if things went badly.
I couldn’t believe how quickly it had happened. Barely a week had passed since Grandmother announced the match. The vampire king had requested—no, he’d practically demanded—an expedited ceremony. Something about diplomatic urgency, though it felt more like an ambush. One moment I was crafting joy lanterns in my workshop, the next I was being measured for a wedding gown.
Twenty more steps. Fifteen. Ten.
Too late to fake fainting. I’d missed my window. Soon I’d have to look up and face the stranger who would become my husband, the vampire king who would whisk me off to his gloomy castle.
Five steps.
Dread pooled in my chest. Quandary’s scales grew warmer on my shoulder, a sign he was getting agitated. Pray to the fates he didn’t start sputtering flames.
In a moment, I’d have to lift my head, smile politely, and pretend this was what I wanted.
Three steps.
Two.
I stopped at the altar and finally, reluctantly, lifted my eyes to meet my soon-to-be-husband. The air froze mid-breath. Even the fairy lights paused, as if they were waiting for me to scream.
The world tilted sideways.
Oh stars above. Absolutely not.
The Fates were having a good laugh tonight.
But those pale blue eyes, that strong jawline, and the way his black hair caught the light…
I’d dreamed about that face for six years. His shoulders were broader now, though his waist was still narrow. Everything about him looked sharper. Sterner. He looked like the kind of man who filed away his emotions in alphabetical order.
The gentle man I remembered had been replaced by someone who appeared to have forgotten how to smile.
