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Classes are going well, Channing is almost completely healed, and Bexley and I are engaged. We’ve decided not to get married until after we graduated. Besides, we’ll be joined in other ways.
“Here, let me zip you up.” Sasha slides the zipper up and over my shoulders, smiling at me in the mirror. “He’s going to die when he sees you.”
“You think?”
“Oh yeah, it’s going to give him serious wedding day vibes. Right, Bel?”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs around a grin.
“I still can’t believe they agreed,” I say, inhaling a shuddering breath.
When Bexley announced he wanted to disband the tradition of the Eligere, the remaining members of Q weren’t happy, especially Tim’s dad. After a lot of back and forth, they finally conceded, agreeing that future heirs can choose their own partner—of course with some provisos: the person must be vetted, and the Coglio must be upheld.
So here we are. The first couple paving the way for a new chapter in Gravestone’s legacy.
It’s my second Coglio, but this time I’ll be walking out of the sanctuary bound to a man I love.
A man I plan on spending the rest of my life with.
The girls give me some space to stand and begin fluffing out my dress. It has a ruffled tulle skirt that falls over my body like a waterfall. It could easily be a wedding dress, but I wanted to make an effort because, in a way, this does mark the start of our life together.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Sasha retrieves her purse and digs out a small pouch.
“What is that?”
“Just a little sparkle.” She pulls out the diamond-encrusted hair brooch and slides it into place, at the crown of my curly ponytail.
“It’s beautiful, thank you.”
“I almost got you a tiara but thought that might be a little too much.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.”
Sasha chuckles. My new nickname between our friends is Queenie, since Bexley made the fatal error of calling me his queen once around them. Ashton loves to give me crap about it. He and I have struck up an odd friendship over the last month, but it gives me a strange satisfaction knowing that he’s with us, and Cade is out there somewhere alone.
I don’t let my mind go there a lot, but sometimes his name creeps into my thoughts, reminding me how close I came to losing everything and everyone I care about.
It’s why I’m determined to stand at Bexley’s side, to make sure Quinctus don’t ever allow something like that to happen again.
“Ready?” Sasha asks, and I take a small breath, glancing back at the mirror one last time.
Only mere months ago, I was getting ready for the Eligere. A naïve girl who didn’t understand the world she was about to inhabit. I’d been starry-eyed that night, seduced by the opulence and refinery.
I’m not that girl anymore.
I’m a fighter.
A survivor.
I brush a stray curl from my face, taking one last lingering look at myself. I was a girl the night of my Eligere. A scared, meek little girl. But tonight, I enter Gravestone Hall, a woman. Tonight, I will walk among the men who run this town and hold my head up high.
I settle my eyes on Sasha and Annabel and smile.
“As I’ll ever be.”
Bexley
"Dude, will you stop smiling? It's freaking me the fuck out," Alex laughs as we stand in the bar at Gravestone Hall, waiting for Mia and the girls to arrive.
