Slowly, Byn nodded towards the platform, silently encouraging me to keep walking. I could hear the crowd murmuring, but his eyes never left mine. As if I was the only person in the room that mattered to him in this moment.
I knew I couldn’t trust him, and I hardly knew him, but somehow he was the only one getting me through this right now.
Without taking my eyes from his, I slowly placed one foot in front of the other again. My steps began to gain confidence the more of them I took, and soon I was stepping up the few stairs that led to the top of the wooden platform.
In the span of a few heartbeats, I stood in front of him, staring into his deep, green eyes, which only looked brighter when he was dressed in forest green. He wore a soft smile on his face as he continued to make eye contact, never breaking it.
What is he playing at? Is this all just for show?
I could feel Teagan carefully laying out the lace train of my dress behind me, then from the corner of my eye, I noticed her sit in thefront row of Byn’s side of the aisle, next to Margo and four other people I didn’t recognize.
I could hear the officiant asking everybody to please be seated and began speaking, but my heartbeat was pounding so loud in my ears I couldn’t make out much of what he said.
My eyes drifted to stare at a spot behind Byn, trying to focus on the words being said and failing. I could feel the mental walls in my mind starting to crumble. I shifted my hands to be in front of me and started moving them in a fidgety way, my mind filled with anxieties and needing an outlet. I rung them out and picked at my cuticles, and likely would have made them bleed if Byn hadn’t reached out to grab my hands.
My instinct was to rip them out of his grip, as I had to Teagan, but when I attempted to move, he held firm and gave a gentle squeeze.
My eyes snapped to his, and so quiet I knew only I could hear him, he murmured, “Just keep your eyes on me.”
If we weren’t in front of what was probably hundreds of people, I’d have gaped at him. I still didn’t trust him, but his expression was so open. That’s when I felt like I was really seeing him for the first time.
He was likely not many years older than I was, maybe twenty-two-years-old or so. If what I’d heard around Gatlyn Castle was correct, then both of his parents had recently passed away, I believe in battle. He must still be grieving, and yet here he is, marrying a stranger. The daughter of the male likely responsible for the death of his parents. He probably hadn’t even had time to grieve before being thrown into becoming a king and taking on all the responsibilities of an entire kingdom.
I can’t even begin to imagine…
I wondered how long he’d known he’d become king. Some children are late bloomers when it comes to their zirilium, like I assumed Margo was since I didn’t see any sun stones on her, unlikeTeagan who wore a bracelet with two stones on it. Sun stones, the equivalent of a Northerner’s moon stones, helped to shape and control the Southerner’s zirilium. The long sleeves Byn wore blocked my view of any bracelets he could be wearing, and none of his gold earrings had any stones that looked like Teagan’s. I couldn't guess how many zirilium he could wield, but it had to at least be more than two, since obviously Teagan wasn’t the heir.
In Inphis, the way an heir was decided was by which child could wield the most zirilium. If the children couldn't wield any, then the male was automatically picked, and if there was no male, then the oldest of them was chosen. But royals often breed for the sole purpose of having children with multiple zirilium, so I imagine Byn could wield quite a few.
This was also, I believed, why my father had hidden me away—so nobody in the North would know thatIwas my father’s true heir, and not Dimitri.
“My lady?” I suddenly realized somebody was talking to me, and snapped back into the present moment.
The moment of mywedding.
“Repeat after me, please,” the officiant said.
Looking back into Byn’s eyes, I nodded, taking an ounce of comfort in his openness. I might not trust him or any of his people, but right now I had a role to play.
“I vow it,” I said, repeating after the officiant. What he had said I was vowing to, exactly, I wasn’t sure.
“Now you, King Thorntier. Repeat after me: ‘I vow it.’”
“I vow it,” Byn responded, not a bit of hesitation in his voice.
“By word and deed, you are now husband and wife,” the officiant said, making my heart race all over again. “But there is one more step: action and law. Now, the ceremony will conclude with both King Robyn and Princess Aviva receiving the other’s family crest on their inner left forearm. If you both would…” hesaid, trailing off as he motioned to the small table and chairs set off to the side, placed directly in front ofRobyn’sside of the room.
Together, we moved to the side and sat across from each other, Teagan standing only to position my dress train just so, then returning to her seat. Robyn didn’t let go of my hand as we sat, and only let go once he moved to shrug off his green jacket and roll up the sleeve covering his left arm.
A young male dressed in various shades of brown and yellow walked onto the platform from the second row of the audience, carrying a box of supplies. Within moments, he was set up, and looking at me expectantly.
“Actually, Kent, I’d prefer to go first,” Robyn said, cutting in.
I looked from Kent back to Robyn in shock. Usually in these types of things, the female would get tattooed first. But by offering to go first, Robyn was putting his trust in me. If I wanted, I could fly out of the open ceiling after he got his tattoo and never look back, leaving him branded forever.
But where would you go?a quiet voice from deep inside of me asked.
“Alright, Your Majesty,” Kent said hesitantly, then turned his attention to Robyn.