A Shade of Vampire 24: A Bridge of Stars (17 page)

T
he apartment Rose
and I stepped into was dreamy. It was just how I imagined a suite in a castle should look like. Beautiful furniture, thick embroidered carpets, dusty tomes lining mahogany shelves, an enormous bed you just wanted to sink into … there was even an old grandfather clock. Rose and I wandered around in a daze, looking through the rooms, and then sat down on the bed. We caught each other’s eye and smiled. I still didn’t know Rose all that well, despite her being Ben’s sister. So much craziness had gone on recently, we’d barely gotten the chance to spend any quality time together. But it was something that I hoped would change in the coming weeks and months.

She reminded me of Ben in some of the things she said, the occasional turn of phrase. Her eye color was also identical to his, as was her dark hair. And she was tall, quite a bit taller than me.

“How are you feeling?” she asked.

“I’m soaring,” I replied honestly.

She chuckled. “That’s exactly how I felt before my wedding.”

There was a knock at the door. I went to open it to find my mother standing in the doorway, along with my two sisters. They had been housed in an apartment just a couple of doors away.

“Can we hang out with you?” Lalia asked.

“Of course,” I said, letting them all in.

My mom’s smile looked like it had been tattooed on her face. She hadn’t stopped grinning since I’d told her I’d accepted Ben’s proposal. She pulled me in for a cuddle and kissed my cheek before we entered the bedroom.

I had to return to the door less than a minute later, however, as a group of dragon maids showed up. They all wore the same pretty blue smocks, their hair tied up in buns.

“It’s time to begin your skin regimen,” they said. “Your bridesmaids can come, too, of course.”

Bridesmaids. I realized I hadn’t even chosen my bridesmaids yet.

“I wanna be a bridesmaid!” Lalia gushed, zooming out of the door.

“I’ll be your bridesmaid,” Dafne said.

“And of course I will, too,” Rose said, coming to my side.

“Mom?” I grinned at my mother.

“I’ll be your matron of honor,” she said proudly.

“What about your outfits?” I wondered.

“Don’t worry about that,” Rose said. “I’ll sort it out with Corrine.”

The dragons led us down to an atrium of steaming, scented baths down in the lower levels of the castle. Here the maids scrubbed and exfoliated and massaged until my skin felt brand new. As I looked at myself in the mirror afterward, I’d never seen my face so luminous.

We dried and dressed in flowing gowns provided by the maids, then returned to our respective apartments. Since we still had some time before dinner, Rose suggested that we explore the castle a bit.

“Sylvia’s in there with Jeriad,” Rose said as we roamed the corridor outside, pointing to the door on our left. “It’s weird to see so many of my classmates getting married—”

“Hello.”

We turned to see Queen Penelope behind us. She had just stepped out of a dragon couple’s room, and she was carrying a bouquet of orange roses.

“Hi,” I said.

“Thank you for all of this,” Rose added. “It’s wonderful here.”

“You’re really very welcome. Theon has spoken to me so highly of all of you.” Then she paused. “Are you lost at all? I know how these corridors can be winding…”

“Oh, no,” I replied. “We were just wanting to explore a little.”

“Would you like me to give you a tour?” she offered.

I exchanged glances with Rose, not wanting to suck up the queen’s time. I could only imagine how busy she was. At the same time, a tour sounded amazing.

“We would love that,” Rose said. “If you have time.”

“I can make time,” she said with a grin. She led us away from the corridor and took us on a tour of the entire castle. She showed us the hall of trophies, the vast library, the treasury, even the dungeons. All the while, she recounted to us the story of how she and Theon had met, which Rose had been particularly curious about.

Her story truly was fascinating. And it was quite a revelation discovering how much I had in common with Penelope. She was just a girl like me. A girl who’d been plucked from the mundane world of humans and dumped into the wacky world of supernaturals… in the process losing her heart to one.

Yet when I looked at her, she almost struck me as a dragon herself… at least, she didn’t strike me as a regular teenage girl from DC. She spoke with grace and exuded a regal elegance, as though she were born to be a queen.

After she finished giving a thorough tour, she returned us to our apartment. Kissing each other’s cheeks, we parted ways until dinner time. We all gathered in the corridor, which was now crowded with other females and males intermingling. With a leap of my heart, I spotted Ben, standing in one corner, talking to Griffin. I crept up to him from behind and placed my hands over his eyes.

“Guess who?” I whispered.

“Oh… That is a difficult question,” he muttered, even as his hands reached down and clamped around my thighs. “River. Definitely River.”

I giggled, letting go of his eyes. He turned to face me. “You look… rather sparkly,” he said, running a hand through my freshly washed hair.

“You look quite clean, too,” I remarked.

“Dinner is about to be served!” a voice boomed over to our left. “Please make your way down to the grand court.”

Arms around each other, we headed down to the hall. Long tables now lined it. A feast had already been laid out. I was practically drooling as I sat down at the table with Ben. Theon and Nell sat at the head of our table, and other dragons sat with us too. A lithe man with coal-black hair and piercing gray-blue eyes pulled up a chair next to me, giving Ben and me a pleasant smile.

“Welcome to The Hearthlands,” he said, pouring himself a drink. “I suppose it’s your first time here.”

“It is,” I replied.

“And you are a couple to be wed?”

“Yes,” Ben said.

“Ah.” He winced slightly, before taking a swig from his glass. “My name is Lethe, by the way. Congratulations on finding love.”

“Uh, thank you,” I said.

“I’m yet to find it,” he muttered. There was a melancholy expression on his face as his eyes traveled over each of the guests, particularly the females.

Before Ben or I could say anything more to him, Theon and Nell stood up and called for silence.

“Thank you all for gathering here,” Theon said. “This dinner is to celebrate the weddings of many fine men and women whom we wish will share strong and prosperous lives together. Now let us eat, drink and be merry.”

Theon and Nell sat down again, and dinner was served. I was shocked to learn that there were fifteen courses to this meal. I thought that I had misheard but I had not. I thought that I would make it through the first three courses, maybe the first five if I really paced myself, but by some mysticism, I was able to try every single one. There was something special about the food; as delicious as it was, nothing felt heavy in my stomach; it felt light, and left me salivating for more. By the end, I was well and truly satisfied. I had no stomachache from overeating, I just felt comfortably full. I truly felt sorry for the vampires among us, being unable to taste even a slight bite of this wondrous food.

Lethe proved to be chatty throughout the meal. He seemed to be quite a pleasant soul, asking me things about The Shade, the human realm and particularly about romance and love—which I found rather sweet. In the end I suggested that he come to visit The Shade, if he had no luck finding a female here in The Hearthlands. To my surprise, he seemed delighted by the idea. “Maybe I will,” he said.

After we all finished eating, we stood up and bade each other good night before heading for the exit. As we arrived back in our corridor, I stood on my tiptoes and kissed Ben good night. Then Rose and I retreated to our apartment.

After brushing our teeth, we changed into the silk pajamas the dragons had laid out for us, then slid into bed. We chatted for a while—Rose was telling me how she’d managed to speak to Charis and apologize to him—before we both thought it wise to get an early night and switch off the lights.

But I still lay awake long after Rose drifted off to sleep.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be Mrs. River Novak.

R
ose did not look surprised
the next morning when I told her I’d barely gotten a wink of sleep that night. She just smiled and said, “You really shouldn’t have expected to.”

People began knocking at our apartment early. First Corrine, arriving with the finished dress to check that it fit right in case she needed to make some last-minute adjustments. As I slipped on the white dress and looked at myself in the mirror, I truly did feel like a princess. It had a heart-shaped neckline and clung to me in just the right places, augmenting the curve of my waist and hips before thinning toward my legs.

“Sheer elegance,” Rose said, admiring me.

“Thank you, Corrine,” I said breathlessly. “It’s more beautiful than I ever thought it would be.”

Corrine smiled before saying, “Now, I suggest you take a shower.”

I did as she suggested, and by the time I was finished, the dragon maids had arrived. First they massaged moisturising ointments into my skin until I was practically glowing. Then, after I slipped on the dress, they began to do my hair and makeup. The makeup was unlike any I’d ever seen; kept in ceramic pots, it appeared to be made from all-natural materials, and yet it looked more natural and flattering on application than any expensive makeup brand you’d buy in stores. It perfectly complemented my face and looked almost a part of it, rather than painted on.

Then Sofia arrived, carrying a bouquet of roses and a bunch of fuchsia cherry blossoms. Sofia and my mom wove the blossoms into my hair while keeping the bouquet aside. I’d never thought that I could look so beautiful. I could hardly wait for Ben to see me.

Rose and my family changed into their own outfits, and soon Jamil was knocking on the door to inform us that it was time. He looked dashing in a dark gray suit, which I guessed had been provided by the dragons.

As Sofia and my mother bustled me out of the room, I was already picturing myself walking down the aisle. I felt a twinge as I thought of my father, who should have been here to give me away to Ben. He almost seemed like part of another life. I wasn’t even sure exactly where he was right now. Still locked up in some Texan jail—that was if he was even still alive. I had drifted apart from my father ever since he’d left my mother, but now, it truly felt like we inhabited separate universes.

I looked up at my brother and looped my arm through his.

“Will you walk me down the aisle?” I asked him.

He looked down at me and smiled. “Of course, sis.”

Kira and Helina were also in the corridor looking gorgeous, along with the dragons’ brides. We all looked excitedly at one another as we made our way down to the royal court. A number of maids were waiting for us outside the court entrance and they greeted us with smiles.

“The grooms await you inside,” one of them said. “You can take it in turns to walk down the aisle. It’s up to you who goes first and last.”

Hanging back with Jamil, I decided I wanted to go last. The doors opened, and the first bride walked through—Sylvia. Once she had reached Jeriad, the second bride walked through, and so it went on until I was the last girl standing.

My heart pounded. It was my turn to walk through with Jamil. My mother kissed my cheek and whispered good luck while Sofia gave me a gentle hug, careful not to mess up my outfit. She handed me the bouquet of roses and put down my veil.

Then, with Rose, my sisters and mothers behind us, Jamil and I emerged in the glittering court. All the orange and red decorations had been replaced with white, and flowers were scattered everywhere. A haunting organ played as I walked.

My eyes fell on Ben, standing at the end of the raised platform where the thrones had been, now where all the couples had gathered. Wearing a black tux, he looked so tall and handsome, I felt quite breathless. Reaching the platform, Jamil let me go. I stepped onto it and arrived before Ben, trying to steady my uneven breathing. I gazed through my veil into his deep green eyes.

A dragon priest who introduced himself as Einhen climbed to the platform with us once all the couples had gathered, as did Theon and Nell. They went through an odd ceremony of Theon and Nell “approving our coupling” before retaking their seats in the crowd. Einhen was handed an old, heavy book by a maid as well as a goblet of shimmering golden rings. He walked to each of us, handing them out. Then Einhen opened his book and he began to recite: “You will be one flesh, both human and dragon, werewolf and werewolf, vampire and vampire, fae and half-blood. You cannot wish the other ill, or act against them, for to do so is to act against your own body. When the husband fights, so shall the wife; when the wife labors, so shall the husband. There is no difference between these two anymore. They are one. They are complete. Now, recite your own vows and exchange rings, before we seal this decree with the fusion of lips, never again to part.”

The first couple on the other side of the platform, Jeriad and Sylvia, exchanged their heartfelt vows, and then the next. My palms were growing sweaty around my bouquet as it got closer and closer to our turn. Soon Helina and Matteo, who stood next to us, were gazing into each other’s eyes and swearing their love, and then it was our turn.

Ben, holding my gaze more steadily than ever, cleared his throat and began in a deep, slightly hoarse voice:

“River, no words can adequately describe what I’m feeling in this moment, but I’ll start by saying thank you. Thank you for choosing me. As your husband. As your life partner. As your friend. You committed yourself to me even when you didn’t have to. You followed me to places you never should have gone. You were there for me in my darkest hours, even when you didn’t realize it. Of everything that I may have done, you are my greatest accomplishment. My greatest pride. I vow to love you, protect you, and dream with you for the rest of my existence.”

I had to reach up to brush away a tear. My throat felt so tight. I took a deep breath, trying to prevent my voice from cracking as I began:

“Ben, you so quickly became such a crucial part of my life. Anything that you might have seen as a sacrifice on my part honestly was no sacrifice at all. I did it because I wanted to, because there was no other way I could think to act. You own a piece of me, now and forever. The barrier of physicality
is
no barrier to us. I promise to respect and adore the man you are, for all time… in whatever form that might be.”

Even as I said the words, they felt painfully insufficient. I wasn’t sure there was any way I could truly express to Ben what I was feeling inside right now.

We exchanged rings before Einhen exclaimed, “Now, seal your oaths with a kiss!”

Lifting my veil, Ben lowered to me and, taking my waist, he pressed his lips to mine in a soft, tender kiss. A kiss I wished would go on forever. As everything faded into the background, we were lost in a world that only Ben and I inhabited. A world that we would make brighter for each other each and every day.