|
“DO YOU THINK we left the reception too early?” I
wondered aloud, although I didn’t really care if we’d been a
little rude. Our party, held in a clearing high in the
Carpathians—a spot that I sometimes saw in dreams—had
been wonderful, but I’d been ready to go . . . well, almost as
soon as it had started. I’d appreciated the endless
congratulations, but—with the exception of our first dance—
I’d hardly had a chance to even see Lucius since the wedding.
Apparently, royalty couldn’t afford to overlook anybody when
mingling. “We were okay to leave, right?”
Lucius looked down at me, but I could barely make out
his features. We were walking hand in hand through the dark
forest, heading back to the estate, where we’d spend our
honeymoon. “I think that decorum was abandoned entirely,
by everyone, sometime around midnight,” he reassured me.
“I believe it started with your father’s dancing.”
“That was some tribal blessing thing he learned...
somewhere,” I defended Dad, even though I couldn’t help
laughing at the memory of the awkward moves he’d attempted.
And the spectacle had gotten worse when he’d drawn in my
uncle Dorin, who’d apparently had more than one glass of
wine that evening.
Yes, my father’s unconventional way of wishing us good
luck had probably marked the beginning of the end of the
“stately” part of the reception.
“And then my best man—and your maid of honor—
seemed to disappear without even a goodbye,” Lucius noted.
I stopped laughing. That actually worried me.
Had they really gone off . . . together?
Before I could ask Lucius, for at least the tenth time, if
maybe we should go search for them—to which he would
inevitably reply that I underestimated Mindy’s good sense
and Raniero’s trustworthiness, in spite of the latter’s bad taste
in pants—he added to my concerns.
“And last but not least, there was Claudiu’s inexcusable
behavior toward you throughout the entire evening—for
which he will answer to me, at a more appropriate time.”
“Lucius . . .” I didn’t want to think about Claudiu right
then, even if he had pretty much snubbed me at my own
wedding. “Let’s just let it go, okay?”
Lucius didn’t make any promises, and all at once it didn’t
matter so much. At least not right then, because we had
stepped out of the woods and were crossing the last few yards
to the castle.
I stopped for a second and just stared, trying not to be
intimidated. I’m no longer a guest here.
Then, feeling Lucius tug on my hand, because he hadn’t
paused to gawk, I kept going, and when we reached the
massive door, one of the guards, who’d probably never been
too far from us, materialized to open it.
“Lucius! What the . . . ?” I cried out in surprise as he bent
down and swept me up off my feet. “Are you actually carrying
me across the threshold? ”
“That is what grooms do, correct?” he joked, hoisting me
higher, so I settled against his chest. “This is proper etiquette,
I believe.”
The gesture was completely clichéd, but I secretly loved
it. It seemed in character for a vampire who’d once lectured
me on the merits of chivalry in a high school cafeteria. “Well,
thank you,” I said, nestling against him as he carried me
inside the castle walls.
I expected him to put me down once we got into the
foyer—where he’d taken me prisoner not too long before—
but he continued holding me, moving into the maze of
corridors, and soon both of us got quiet. And when we were
deep in the heart of the castle, my heart started to pound a
little with anticipation—along with a growing case of nerves.
My chest was against Lucius’s, and I could feel that his heart
was beating harder, too. But I seriously doubted that he felt
any fear, like I did.
Should I tell him that I’m getting a little scared?
No!
He kept walking, his footsteps echoing in the otherwise
empty hallways, and although Lucius had shown me the
room that was his—soon to be ours—as always happened in
the estate, before long I was completely lost, until he stopped
at a door that was bigger than most, and which I did recognize.
“We’re here,” he announced softly.
My pulse started racing then, way too fast for a vampire’s,
and I looked up and down the dark hall. This time, there was
no guard in sight.
“Lucius?” My voice was quiet too, but it sounded higher
than usual, and my arms tightened around his neck, as if I
didn’t want him to put me down.
“Yes, wife of mine?” he asked, sort of teasing. But I could
hear that his voice was changing, too. Getting softer and
lower. “Do you need something, before we cross this threshold?”
I was the one who’d started the conversation, but I had no
idea what I wanted to say or ask for. I was still completely
happy—but also very nervous. It wasn’t that I thought he’d
ever hurt me, or that the old plot to take my life might be
back in motion. It was just that we were about to...
“Nothing,” I told him, getting control of myself. “I just
wanted to say how much I love you.”
Lucius nuzzled my neck, and I could feel his lips turn up
into a smile. “I love you, too, Princess Vladescu.”
Then my new husband bent slightly to reach for the
doorknob, twisted it, and opened the door. Carrying me into
the room, he set me down and drew me to him, saying quietly,
“Welcome home, Antanasia.”
I didn’t answer him. All of the sudden, I couldn’t speak,
for too many reasons to count, as the fantasy of our wedding
already started to fade and a beautiful, exciting, terrifying
reality sank in.
This is my home. I felt Lucius’s arm around my waist, and
looked up into his dark eyes. This is my husband. Then I
peered around the cavernous chamber, with the fire blazing
even in summer, and the huge bed, and the leaded windows,
and the stone walls—all of which I’d only seen once before.
This is my life now. There really is no turning back.
I was thinking that just as Lucius reached behind himself
with one arm, still holding me with his other, and closed the
door behind us, sealing us in together and shutting the rest of
the world, and the life I used to know, out.
SIGN THE GUESTBOOK!
|
