“I want to save you. I want to protect you, but it feels like this is the only way…” I feel his pain inside of me. We knew this day would most likely come.
“I know, Dad. But you can’t. I need to save you all by going through with it.”
He pulls my head into his chest and just holds me until the music strikes up.
“If he doesanythingto you…you tell me. And I’ll take care of it. Xavier. Levi. Me. We’ll make it all disappear. Understand?”
I nod. “I understand.” Sighing, I wipe my eyes. “Let’s go. Just…get it over with.”
He nods and threads my arm around his giant bicep.
The doors fling open, and I gasp at the crowd that we’d hastily gathered for the ceremony.
Typically, the rituals involve members in robes and chanting by the elders. Something strange always happens at the altar, or so I’ve heard. But since the POT wanted a spectacle, they allowed us a version that looks like a wedding. Something palatable. Something pretty.
Something fake.
Except the license waiting at the end is very real.
Our family and close friends fill one side of the room. Apollo’s massive family crowds the other, shoulders brushing, heads turning as I pass. Gasps and tears in eyes. Faces I recognize. Faces I don’t. All of them watching.
It was kind of them to come. Especially on such short notice.
My steps slow as I reach the middle of the aisle, the weight of it pressing in. The sound dulls—voices, movement, everything swallowed by the pounding of my heart.
I search for him. Like I’m looking for an anchor. Someone to steady the ground beneath my feet.
A shoulder blocks my view. Then a taller guest shifts. A flicker of a black tux. Gone again. My breath catches, snagging in my chest as I lean slightly, trying to see past them.
Where is he?—
And then, I find him.
Apollo doesn’t just take my breath. He steals it and doesn’t give it back. Not because of how helooks, which is utterly stunning in his crisp tuxedo that was hewn out ofstone for his athletic figure. Not the slicked back hair that’s been freshly cut and shaved jaw. Tattoos peeking out from his collar.
It’s the way he’s looking at me. Like I just walked out of a dream he didn’t think he deserved. As if me, Scout Lee Turner, isenough. Not my brains or my body.
Justme.
And that expression…
That’s what holds me there. Locks me in place.
If I had to survive the rest of my life on a single moment?—
It would be this one.
Somehow, I end up at the top of the stairs with my childhood friend, Amelia Joseph, holding my bouquet of white lilies and colorful tulips. It’s the only time I break eye contact with the large man in front of me.
He swallows hard, then takes my hands in his. They’re sweaty. But he doesn’t seem nervous. Just radiating heat.
We go through a bunch of speeches by the elders about pairings. Nothing about love, though. Or commitment. Because, let’s face it, this is about continuing their society, not anything else.
Instead of a ring, I’m given a weird silver bracelet with a counter on it. Though, Apollo follows it up with a gold band on my finger. I shake when I slide his onto his finger and notice his matching bracelet.
“And now? The vows…”
I’m startled when one of the elders rings a bell, indicating I need to kneel before Apollo.
