Page 4 of Wicked Vows
I’ve barely had a moment to myself when my mother comes barging back into my room along with the glam team that was meant to prepare my sister for the ceremony.
There’s no time for tears.
No time for second guessing.
My mother’s assistant scurries past me, dragging my luggage with her.Wordlessly, she packs my things, not bothering to ask what I wish to take and what I prefer to leave behind.
“Odette,” Mother shrieks my name.“Focus.Cassandra needs to alter the dress.”She claps, and the seamstress steps forward with the wedding dress.The one I helped my sister pick out six months ago.Did she know then that she would never wear it on this day?How long did she have this planned?
“Odette,” Mother screams my name and snaps her fingers.
There’s no room for modesty as I strip down to my underwear.The woman lays the garment bag across my bed, carefully unzipping it.
I stare at the opposite side of the room.The side that belongs to Lynette wishing I could manifest her before me now.Force her to explain why.She could have been honest with me.I may have volunteered willingly had she given me the option.I could have tried to help or something.It cuts me to the bone to know that she didn’t trust me.
Realization that she drugged me last night rears its deceitful head.That’s why my wine tasted off.Why I slept the day away.
“There’s nothing to worry about.”My mother reads my expression.Pinched brows and lips.On the verge of tears.I don’t know if I’m mourning the life I will never get to live.The one of my own choosing or the loss of my relationship with Lynette.My sister was my best friend.Now I can never, ever trust her again.“Chop.Chop, Odette.Cassandra doesn’t have all day.Neither do you.”
The silk fabric hangs heavily on my body, swallowing my petite frame, drowning me in the expectations I now carry.Lynette was blessed with long legs and thick hips.I, on the other hand, am short and slim with a decent bra size.
Disappointment hangs in the air between my mother and me.I’ll never compare to her precious Lynette, and she’ll never be the mother I need or the one I desperately want.
The seamstress pulls the fabric tight around my midsection.
“Can’t I wear something else?”I tug at the drooping bust.“I look like a clown.A child playing dress-up.”
Cassandra makes a tsk sound, jabbing me in the hip with one of her pins.
“Don’t be so dramatic, darling.Cassandra can work miracles.”
It’s going to take more than a miracle I’m afraid.
She works tirelessly.Each pin is a jab into my heart.A painful reminder of my sister’s betrayal.A reminder that my parents do not care about me.
“Smile, Odette.You’re going to make a beautiful bride.Nico will not be disappointed,” Cassandra tells me.
I smile because I am expected to.
The dress comes off, and she scurries away with it.I’m shoved down onto my vanity chair.Three women crowd around me.One tussles with my hair.Another plucks at my brows.The last kneels next to me and starts on my nails.
My mother beams in the background before fading away to get ready herself.
They all make it sound easy to pretend that today is the happiest day of my life.Don’t they realize they are dressing me up for my funeral?
As promised within the hour, I’m groomed and am as ready as I can be for what comes next.
The car pulls around the front, and I fold into the back with my parents and younger sister.
The lock clicks.I’m trapped.Bound by duty and honor.I won’t disgrace my family like my sister chose to do.My friends will think I disappeared into thin air, but the truth is heavier and darker than that.I’m being traded to protect my family.I’m a game piece.
Property.
I don’t even feel like a person.
I suppose it could be worse.I could have been sold to the Lamb Society.
No one speaks at first.I close my eyes and lean back against the seat.The leather is too smooth, too cold, as if it resents my presence, too.A steel, icy hand wraps around my heart, squeezing the air from my lungs.How long did it take her to decide to leave without a word to anyone?To decide that the fallout didn’t matter.Was it easy to leave me behind?To mark me as the sacrificial lamb.
