CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The Wedding

I could already hear the music as I followed Elise out of the front door of the palace. The musicians had either managed to arrive hours early, or someone was playing a record on a player through a speaker. I couldn’t see either way because at some point in the night a white fabric tunnel from the house to the wedding venue had been erected just so that no one could see me before I walked down the aisle.

I wanted to ask my father if there were Magi outside already, but I knew it would be fruitless. My heart thumped as we walked through the tunnel, and yet, all I could hear was the music and the sounds of thousands of people cheering. Unlike the televised events from my dates where the public had been invited into the grounds, the public was to be kept outside and the wedding broadcast on huge screens erected on the tops of the palace walls. Only a few people, who had been camping out for days, would actually see anything in real life through gaps in the palace gates.

Still, it hadn’t stopped anyone, judging by the noise. I tried to make out whether any of the noise came from the Magi and if the screams and shouts I could hear were happy noises or ones of fighting. It all sounded happy, but it was so loud that screams of distress could quite easily have been hidden.

My mind was whirling with thoughts of Cynder. Was he on the other side of that wall right now, surrounded by other Magi who were protecting him? I fingered my bracelet, twisting the carriage charm around nervously in my fingers. Was I the first bride to walk down the aisle thinking of another man to the one I was marrying? Surely, I couldn’t be the first, but unlike the others, I didn’t have the luxury of calling the whole thing off at the last minute. I couldn’t run away and leave it all behind. Where would I go? As we rounded the corner, a couple of guards opened the end curtains slightly. I got a peek at the rows of chairs, all decked out in beige ribbon with pretty pink flowers on the backs of each, matching both my dress and bouquet. Daniel had done an amazing job. They looked wonderful. They were surprisingly full of people. Amazing, as most of the guests had barely had any notice.

Elise turned and kissed me on the cheek before stepping out. If I thought it was noisy before, it was nothing compared to the rapturous applause and whistles that Elise’s appearance elicited. The orchestra began to play the wedding march although it had trouble being heard over the crowd.

I stepped forward and breathed deeply. I was marrying a man whom I not only didn’t like, but deep down despised. He stood for everything I hated and yet, the people needed this. They needed to see that the monarchy was still strong. Didn’t they?

The curtains had been placed back after Elise had walked out so I couldn’t see a thing. In just a moment, I was to become someone’s wife. I began to panic and yet feeling the charm bracelet around my wrist was enough to keep me calm. Cynder was with me in spirit, if not in real life. And as the curtains opened to my future, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was somewhere just over the other side of the wall.

The screams of the people elevated, and the orchestra increased their volume once again so I could keep step with the dum dum di dum of the wedding march. It turned out that it was an orchestra after all. I could see them now, to the side of the seated area, playing violins and cellos and all the other instruments that made up a full orchestra. Every seat was full. All the guests, the majority of whom I didn’t know, had made it in time despite the early start. The sun was shining, and my mother had done a magnificent job of organizing everything. If it was anyone else’s wedding, I would have called it perfect. Glancing up at the one screen I could see, I saw a petrified girl staring back. It took me a second to realize that it was me. I was not the brave woman my mother had talked about earlier, but I needed to be. I stood up straight and smiled my widest smile, transforming the scared looking girl on the screen into a happy woman on her wedding day. If I couldn’t be her, I could at least pretend to be, the way I had done for the last few months.

I smiled at everyone, the guests, the cameras, and the priest who would be conducting the ceremony. The only person I didn’t smile at was Xavier. He didn’t deserve my smiles. At the front, I noticed that Luca, Daniel, and Leo were all there. They had been seated together in a prime spot for the cameras. All three beamed at me as I passed. If only things had been different. I would happily have traded Xavier for any of them, but right from the start, the whole thing had been rigged by my father. It didn’t matter who sat in those chairs, I was always going to be walking towards Xavier.

At the front, my father took his seat, and my bouquet was handed to Elise who stood to the side. Xavier took my hand and gave me a sickly smile. As usual, his hand was cold and clammy, and I cringed as I held it. The thought of us producing an heir together someday was enough to make me sick. How had I ever thought him good-looking?

The crowd died down as the priest spoke.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today...”

I zoned out as the reality of my situation finally hit me. Without realizing it, I’d been hoping that something would happen that would stop this moment. First, my proposing to Daniel, then to Luca. Just as late as an hour ago, I was hoping that Cynder would somehow leap over the wall and save me from it. But there was no one left to help me. Daniel was sitting next to Dean, their hands entwined. Leo and Elise were not seated together, but I could almost feel the love radiating between them. It seemed everyone had found their happy-ever-after except me. Actually, there was one person who looked as miserable as I felt. Luca was smiling, but like me, it masked pain. He was hurting. Maybe he really was in love with me. My heart broke a little more at the thought of it. Why had I listened to my father? If I’d have pushed a little harder with Luca, maybe it would have been him standing here instead of Xavier. I didn’t love Luca, but I liked him a lot, and I liked his vision for the future of Silverwood. He was a good man, a man I would be proud to stand beside as his wife, a man I could see making a great leader.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate...”

I wondered what kind of leader Xavier would make. I was honestly surprised he’d managed to turn up in clothes to the wedding, so I wasn’t holding out for much, and yet he’d managed to manipulate the king into marrying his eldest daughter, so I guess I wasn’t giving him the credit he deserved. He was cleverer than he looked, and this terrified me more than the thought of marrying an airhead.

I barely knew the guy at all. Nothing he’d told me in our brief conversations was the truth. I didn’t know who I was marrying at all.

“If anyone can show just cause why this couple cannot lawfully be joined together in matrimony, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.”

I held my breath. This is the point where Cynder would jump over the wall or where Luca would stand up and declare his undying love for me. I found that I was hoping for literally anyone to stand up and give the priest a reason, but after a couple of seconds of silence, I realized that there was no one left to speak up. I was up here by myself. There was only one person I could count on to stop this wedding, and that was me.

“Xavier Simon Gallo, do you take Charmaine Elizabeth Mary Annesley to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“Yes!” Xavier replied impatiently. He couldn’t even be bothered to say I do.

The priest turned to me. I could feel my stomach tying itself in knots.

“And do you, Charmaine Elizabeth Mary Annesley, take Xavier Simon Gallo to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

I held my breath while the world came to a standstill. The once overly exuberant crowd outside had now hushed to complete silence as if the thousands of people were waiting to hear my reply.

“I...”

The seconds dragged out to a minute, and still, I was yet to give an answer. I could feel the eyes of hundreds of thousands of people boring into me and the weight of the decision.

“I...”

“She will,” said Xavier, aware that I was causing a scene.

“She has to answer for herself,” reminded the priest.

“Do you, Charmaine Elizab...”

There was a noise by the gate. One of the guards was shouting and running towards us.

“The Magi...” He toppled forward, and that’s when we all saw the knife in his blood soaked back.

Somewhere, someone screamed. The image that had been on the screen of Xavier and I had panned around to show the toppled guard.

Outside, the rumbles of panic began, and the wedding guests dispersed, running in all directions. The gates that had once been our border to the outside world now had people climbing all over them into the grounds.

I watched in horror as the same could be said for the walls. The grounds were filling from all angles. I could hear the screams of terror from outside the walls, and scarier still, gunshots being fired.

Someone grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowds of people. In the chaos, I was being buffeted around as people crashed into me. I couldn’t tell if they were wedding guests or the Magi. The gunshots were more frequent now, filling the air with a staccato beat, to the chorus of wails and screams.

I was pulled, not towards the house, but to the back part of the garden, but I could see we weren’t safe here either. The Magi had already pulled the back gates down and were swarming through. My savior swerved, pulling me back towards the house. I couldn’t see who it was – I could only see their back, but it was either a wedding guest or someone else in a suit.

I wanted to stop him, to tell him that the Magi were our friends, but, of course, I couldn’t. The Magi were not my friends. Just the handful that I had known knew I’d never hurt them, but how could I expect the rest of them to know that?

I was pulled towards the servant’s entrance. I had thought we would be safe inside, but I could already see people fighting down the long corridor that ran the entire length of the palace. The person holding my hand tried pulling me right, but this time I finally did stop him.

“The safe room is through there,” I said motioning to a door directly in front of us that would take us out to the main hall.

He turned around to see where I was pointing, and that’s when I saw who had saved me

It was Luca.