London, Present time
"Stop fidgeting" David commanded.
"What if they don't show up?" Aria asked, worried that he might not go through with this wedding if her father doesn't show up to give her away.
"Under such circumstance, it shall be I who shall be giving you away," assured the elderly man who had arrived the day before, introducing himself as David's uncle. Joshua and David looked nothing alike. David's six-foot-seven frame dwarfed Joshua's five foot nine though Joshua had a much wider build. Joshua sported several tattoos on his body all credited to serving in the different divisions of the army of the East European country where they hailed from, a country, whose name they assumed, she would have never heard.
Joshua looked closer to an older brother than a father figure to Aria. Her best maid on the other hand was her nanny who looked the part. When Nanny Scar started looking after Aria, she was twenty years her senior. Now at forty-five she looked the part of a matron. Her best friend Rayne couldn't be reached as her phone was constantly out of network coverage. She knew that being a wild life photographer her life involved a lot of sudden travel plans. Rayne would be pissed to know that Aria got married. It was a displeasure she would have to live with however.
Nanny Scar and Rayne's mother were twins. They lived next door to one another and Rayne would often come over while she visited her nanny. It was something unheard of-a dependent going to the governess's house but while her parents travelled the world they left their oldest daughter behind.
"Scar, do you have no idea where Rayne is?" Aria asked for the umpteenth time.
"You know that her mother doesn't talk to me. She can't forgive the Noravian incident yet." Nanny Scar reminded her.
It was a story she had grown up on, how there is a Noravian monster that kidnapped girls on the day they turn sixteen and how Scar had escaped by hiding in the basement while the Noravians whisked away and tortured her twin for over a month. When she returned, she was a changed woman. The thought of the Noravian monster had given Aria nightmares throughout her adolescent years.
"Can you not mention Belshazzar on my wedding day. I really do not want to think of anything satanic on a day of a Holy Sacrament." Aria urged at which Scar smiled.
Unbeknownst to them, vampire hearing had picked up the discussion across the old house and a deep sigh was followed by a pat on the back. They did not have all day for the wedding preparations to be made. Daniel was supposed to arrive any moment to be the best man though Davina had denied to make the trip. Daniel promised a surprise, however; that surprise was a spitting image of David, only with blonde hair.
"Sammy?" David greeted his youngest brother.
"Hello Belly," greeted the young man, crushing his eldest brother in a bear hug. David flinched more from the name than from the hug.
"Can everyone promise to refer to me as David from now on? I am going to step down next week and I want to leave that life behind for good," asked the retiring sovereign ruler of Noravia to his heir and his brothers.
Daniel nodded knowing the pain associated with the crown that the brother had carried for millennia.
"So when do I get to see your chosen mate?" asked the youngest of the brothers.
"All in good time," David promised. His nerves had unsettled at the mention of Noravia, a name he had hoped Aria would be unfamiliar with altogether. He had confessed to her his crimes but not what he was. How would a human girl with some extraordinary powers accept the existence of aliens in their midst and that they played such a major role in shaping the world as it is? David didn't want to imagine. At that moment he would do anything to be human like his chosen mate.
"She is not human", David informed his brothers.
"What do you mean? Is she a witch or a were?"
"She is a human-born fae. It doesn't make sense. But we have completed all four bonds. That would be impossible if she were anything else. But she is human-born." David explained.
"What if she had witches in her family and the genes manifested in such a way that her Aether side is dominant?" Daniel Bernini asked his brother.
"Aether DNA is recessive in a witch. Myrina was an exception because she was a first-generation witch. Even then she received her powers at the age of ten. Aria received hers at the age of eight, exactly the age when a Aether receives their power. Myrina's power increased after the power bond. With Aria, the power bond only broke the concealment spell placed by a witch- a Renarian witch."
"Hush, I think they are ready," Samuel warned.
David took a deep breath. Aria's parents weren't here yet but they couldn't wait forever.
Aria came down the stairs of the three-story mansion which officially belonged to Jessie or Joshua, as he introduced himself.
Daniel was officiating the wedding. "Let's cut to the main part, ok?" he said, turning to David.
"Do you, David Belshazzar Bellini, vow to take Aria Dumont, to be your wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death you do part, according to God's holy law?" he asked.
David winced at his middle name as he saw his chosen mate jerk. "I do" he said hastily before she had time to process it.
"Do you, Aria Dumont, vow to take David Belshazzar Bellini, to be your husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death you do part, according to God's holy law?" he asked.
Aria took a staggering breath before whispering "I do".
"Then I, as the Prince Regent of Noravia and member of the Paranormal council, now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride," Daniel concluded.
David could have punched his brother just then. He did not because of the lull that had spread in the room at the mention of Noravia.
"You are a Noravian royal?" It was Aunt Scar that asked in horror.
"Yes, you mind, Renaria Scarlett, I believe? You are the witch who gave up her ability to have children to avoid being with David. You are a stuff of Noravian folklore." the Prince Regent greeted.
"You are Belshazzar?" It was Aria who whispered the question.
"I was," David admitted.
Aria picked up her veil and stared wildly at the man who was now her husband.
"I married a monster." she proclaimed.