Page 62 of Viktor at Sea

My heart sank, and my stomach churned, making me feel like I was going to be sick.

“Please, Astrid,” I begged, rushing to drop to my knees in front of her. “I’m so sorry for all of this. I didn’t mean for all of this to happen and ruin our big day. Please don’t leave me. I’ll spend the rest of my life making up for this. Please, Astrid. Just–”

Astrid cut me off with a sorrowful look on her face. “You didn’t let me finish,” she smiled sadly, and the melancholy expression struck my heart. “I should have been clearer.” She cupped my face and stroked her thumb across my cheek, her touch soft and tender. “You need to leave because I need to finish getting dressed. We have a wedding to attend, after all.”

“Really?” I gaped like an idiot, unable to believe my ears.

“Really,” she grinned and nodded, laughing at my expression. “I’ll see you at the end of the aisle, husband,” Astridgrinned at me, immediately lifting my mood and erasing all the stress that had weighed me down these past couple of hours. “I’ll be the one wearing white.”

“And I’ll be the one waiting for you at the end of the aisle,” I promised before allowing Barden and Daewon to drag me out of the hut.

What did I do to deserve such a woman?

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

It didn’t feel real.

I was dressed in my wedding attire and standing at the end of the aisle. The music Astrid and I selected was playing, and the entire island had gathered as we awaited Astrid’s arrival, but it still didn’t feel real.

I couldn’t believe Astrid still wanted to marry me after what happened this morning. My nerves and fluttering butterflies in the pit of my stomach had been replaced by a wave of unworthiness which arguably, felt so much worse. Not only did I feel unworthy to be called Astrid’s husband, but I felt unworthy of her love. I felt unworthy of her, but the overwhelming feeling was overlooked when everyone’s whispering suddenly stopped.

I turned around and locked eyes with my bride walking down the aisle toward me, arm in arm with Daewon, and it felt like the breath had been knocked out of me.

For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.

I would say Astrid looked stunning, but no words seemed nearly enough to describe how beautiful my bride looked. Her raven hair was twisted into an elegant bun, held up by an ocean-blue pin. There were a few tendrils left loose to frame her face. There was a flush of colour in her cheeks, and her lips werepainted ruby red which I had always found very bewitching on her.

Ruby red and ocean blue. My two favourite colours.

With every step that Astrid took toward me, my heart hammered hard and loud as if it wanted to jump out of my chest and present itself to her.

What did I do to deserve this stunning, beautiful, angelic woman?

My bride.

My siren.

My Astrid.

Mine.

She smiled widely at me, enough to set my heart off into another frenzy of flutters. I felt like I couldn’t breathe until she finally reached the end of the aisle, but I was a little light-headed by that time. The blood quickly rushed to my head, and I squeezed my eyes tightly to rebalance myself. When a loud roar of laughter erupted from behind me, I shot them all a sharp glare over my shoulder, my gaze warning.

That taught me to have nine groomsmen.

The entirety of my crew were my groomsmen. I had attempted to ask only two of the men, but when I accidentally let it slip to Gustav that I was struggling to pick between them, word spread like quickfire. Somehow, by the end of the day, they had all, on an individual basis, managed to trick me into asking them to be a groomsman, and now I had nine of them.

My nine groomsmen outnumbered the two bridesmaids Astrid had chosen–Freja and one of her good friends, Hilda. To make up the numbers, Astrid asked three of her other close friends, three of her cousins and one fellow teacher from her school.

Daewon kissed his daughter on the cheek and placed her hand in mine. His eyes were hard and warning when he turnedhis gaze to me, but they softened when I gave him a reassuring nod filled with promise.

Astrid’s dress was soft eggshell white, and there were beautiful, intricate lace patterns covering her shoulder and chest, stopping only at the bottom of her bust where the chiffon skirt of the dress flowed to the floor, making it look as if she was walking on water with her every step, and not sand. The sleeves were long, flowy, and transparent with long slits through the middle where her arms peaked through. It gave off the illusion of a cape–made of lace and intricate floral designs–and the material of her dress appeared to dance with her every movement.

I had never seen a woman more angelic before. So perfect.

So mine.

“You’re not planning to run away, are you?” Astrid whispered when it was just the two of us. Hilda stepped forward to smooth out the back of Astrid’s dress, somehow making her look even more angelic than she already was. “Though seeing as we’re both standing at the altar in front of everyone, it might be a little too late for that.”

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