They had received their last peice of advice from an elderly couple and they stood ready to head to the wedding hall for the ceremonial dance.
They were in the first of many carriages. Women came out into the streets and tossed flowers in the road. Children threw down small fireworks. And merchants went to the open carriage windows and presented fine crafted metals to be sold. Nadine kept the blinds on the carriage window drawn.
Her stomach was tied in knots and she couldn't help but nervously fidget in her seat.
"Its customary for the blinds to be open."
She met his stare.
"I am aware. I just want to rest. I would not want to tire in the middle of such an important dance." She stared right through him and hot anger bubbled in his chest. He gripped her face.
"You've been down at the tea house this morning?"
"Your guards surely told you so."
He threw his glass on the carriage floor and it shattered. She continued to stare through him. He squeezed her face angrily before releasing it. The tea and the champagne mixed and made her bold.
"Careful dear, or you'll mark my face before the ceremony."
She gave him a cruel smirk and snapped open a small mirror case.
He gripped her wrist and she flinched at the pain.
"Make a fool out of me in front of our guests and rest assured I will have plenty of time to pay you back in private." He leaned to whisper in her ear.
"Some might say forever."
She closed her little mirror and looked at the closed window.
"Does your mother know you like to hit woman?"
He grabbed her by the throat.
"Keep words of my mother out of your filthy whore mouth."
His deadly whispers reached her ears as her airways slowly closed. He released her and she coughed on the seat as the air returned sharply to her lungs.
"Did you know that she badly wants grandchildren?" She said in a calm whisper.
"She mentioned it." His eyes were still dangerous his whole body fixed rigidly on her as she lay on the cushion not bothering to look at him as she spoke.
"I need your word that if we conceive you will not touch me while I carry my child, and after our children are born you are never to raise your hand to them the way you do to me."
He picked her off the seat almost tenderly and pushed her into the cushion. Fire and wrath burned in his eyes.
"Who are you to make conditions?"
"Promise me in our magic oaths. Quietly so that only I may hear you or I will tell your mother and a good friend of everything and you will be publicly shamed. You will never marry or hold any standing in Reavador again. Afterwards, I'll kill myself so that you won't even have a body to take your anger out on. Promise me. Or I will ruin you."
He smirked at her eyes that held such ice in them, "Very well little dove. I promise. In return you will not make any more bold little plans, or I will kill you myself."
The carriage rolled to a stop. It was time to dance.
***
Boren got out of the carriage first. He made a show of helping her down from the high step He held her hand, as was custom, and walked her through the hall up to the large platform. She froze. The entire hall was decorated with black roses. Millions of them decorated the tables and the rafters. She kept her face devoid of emotion as they continued down the teal satin walk. They unjoined their hands and headed to two seperate stair cases. The winding metal was also decorated in black rose's and green leaves. It was all very elegant she thought as she took a seat.
No one would know they shouldn't be here except...
Her eyes found Boren's mother in the crowd gathering below. She looked around in distress until her eyes met Nadine's.
Nadine smiled and nodded softly. The woman relaxed somewhat. Her eyes scanned the crowd frantically and came to rest in the very back. A man stood in a cloak, bright blue eyes peircing her where she sat. Her breath held. It was dark in his hood but she could make out the familiar line of his strong jaw and straight nose. It was without a question Scarface Sylvador.
Her heart hammered in her chest. She had to speak with him.
The guests had begun dancing to the music, it was a beautifully choatic scene. Children ran wild, men and women eagerly went for drinks and took partners to the floor. Waiters spun and twirled through the crowd with silver dishes of delicacies.
She pulled her eyes from him as he exited into the small garden area outside the pavilion.
She could not get up after just being seated but her body itched to walk straight across the room.
When Boren had a few drinks and wasn't watching her like a hawk she excused herself, her voice mellow and careless. She made her way to the refreshments table. Many eyes watched her.
She drank a glass of champagne making sure to keep an eye on her betrothed in case he decided to leave his seat. She finished her champagne and set her glass down heading for the restroom.
The hall that led there had a cloak room for guests across the way. She snagged a heavy cloak and bolted the door shut behind her. Quickly she pulled her heavy lace train up her body and tucked it into her thong. She donned the cloak and stuffed her curls behind her head letting the cloak fall over her bare feet. She tucked her shoes in a back corner and went out the back near the trash carts.
She reentered the hall slowly, sticking to the outskirts of the room. Boren was missing from his seat as well now.
She searched for him frantically until she found him talking to a group of men in the back. His guards.She likely did not have very long before he became suspicious.
She walked calmly to the gardens. He had his back to her.
She whispered, "Scar?"
He turned and her heart plummeted as she got a good look at him. She couldn't help the small gasp that left her lips. His eyes were shadowed the skin beneath them sunken in. His cheeks sunken in.
'What had they done to him?'
She couldn't think of what she had meant to say to him.
"I thought I requested you to stay away from this shit bag, Boren."
She gaped, it had only been a few long weeks since she saw him, but he had changed so much, and yet not at all.
"What are you doing here?"
He inspected her closely with eyes that were cold and hard as the daggers they were selling in the streets. He stepped up to her and put a gentle hand against her face. Cupping her cheek as she leaned into his calloused touch and met his icy stare.
"Your drugged. I can tell by your eyes. Why, would you be drugged so deeply on your wedding day?"
She looked at his eyes which had begun to warm to a deep ocean blue,
"My father never paid a randsom. Did he?"
He hesitated, "The day after you left my father tore apart the cabin looking for you. I suspect they wanted you at the Sylvador Manor, where I couldn't protect you as well. It wasn't safe for you there. It is now. I paid the randsom as if the money came from your father. "
He took a step closer his thumb messaging her cheek gently.
"Come back with me."
Her heart leapt and she looked at the deep hollows beneath his eyes. The memory of him bleeding on the floor rose unbidden into her mind.
She had put him in danger the last time she had selfishly thought to change his path and align their futures. Somthing told her his father didn't want him at home, with her. She would not be the cause of his future suffering. She stepped out of his grasp suddenly.
"I'm not used to the lifestyle you lead." Her gaze was hard, strong. The same face she gave the rest of the world.
"Boren came to me when I got home. Offered me an arrangement I couldn't refuse."
Her words were strong. He dropped his hand and looked at her in confusion.
"I accepted his offer. Not my father, Me."
He looked at her silently for a moment and then stepped closer putting his arms around her. She melted into him.
Her heart burned and she went straight backing away from him.
"I don't believe you." He said softly.
"I asked you once what kind of life it would be, in your position. Well I have the answer."
She put a hand on his chest and stepped away. His arms fell to his sides.
"It will never be enough. You. Will never be enough." she said firmly.
"I can't go with you, and you have to leave now."
His eyes turned back to the icy frost daggers and he walked past her to the exit.
"Scar." she whispered, and he halted hopefully.
"Don't come back."
He froze for a moment and then dissapeared like a shadow.
She waited a few moments her head spinning as she tried and failed to put her emotions back into a sealed space. She took a shaky breath and headed back for the cloak room. She had no choice but to head back now.
When she was again seated beside Boren she was distracted.
Her thoughts kept wandering. It came time for their dance. A dance that would last two hours. They were each given a energy booster, and the ceremony music was brought to life in the form of strings and winds. It started soft and light and became a vigorous twirling and spinning. It was meant to be passionate, but she felt her body drag somewhat sluggishly. Soft touches became skiddish encounters and abrupt departures. She tried again and again to compose herself. Reavadorian children all learned this dance no matter their birth from the time that they were four years old. She could perform the dance with her eyes closed.
And so she did. She took a slow breath as she spun lightly. Imagined blue eyes and sharp handsome features. The hands that touched her were too big too harsh and abrupt and too soft to the touch. Slowly she began to dance with actual passion. She lost herself until her eyes opened at the last and she saw his sinister face. A singular tear slipped down her cheek.
Everyone watching would assume it contained her overwhelming happiness. Nobody would see it for what it was. The tattered remaints of her broken heart. Nobody except Boren, and the man that still stood watch in the back of the crowd. His blue eyes burning with hate.