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Chapter Ten
VERA
I stare out through the window of Rhys’ bedroom, staring below at the budding flowers. A few weeks have passed and the snowfall with it, bringing us to the start of our spring and all the new life that comes with it. Beautiful orange yellow flowers are growing from the ground, accenting Rhys’ home. He’s even hired gardeners over the past couple of weeks to manage the grounds, keeping them in tip top shape. I was surprised at first because he did not hire ‘professionals’. No, instead he hired two homeless men who needed the money for food, and is offering them a place to stay at the guest house out back. It’s not anything grand and needs a bit of work itself, but it’s better than being on the streets.
Today is a bit different. It’s not like a typical day at all. This is the day where Rhys and I will make our alliance official and become united as one through marriage.
Our ceremony will take place any minute now and instead of waiting downstairs for someone to tell me it was time I opted to sit in this chair and stare out the window, looking at my beautiful Ukraine. All night I was tossing and turning, questioning myself on whether or not this is the right thing to do for my people. I don’t know why I thought for a bit that I was somehow being selfish but I’m not. This is the right thing to do, possibly the only thing that will make change happen here.
I skim my fingers over the gold sequined dress that I chose to wear today. I’m not the type of woman who’d ever stick to tradition and wear white, especially after all I have endured. White is a color of innocence, and surely I am anything but that. Gold is the color of power in my eyes, and so I’ll wear something that shows everyone I make the choices here.
“It’s time,” I hear a voice tell me from behind.
I stand up from the chair and turn to face Fredrig, giving him a half smile. “It’s okay. I have not changed my mind on going through with this.”
“Oh, I know you haven’t. I wasn’t even thinking like that.” I’m sure he was and is just lying to me. “I haven’t seen her as of yet, but I will let you know when I do.”
I nod at his words, my heart sinking into my stomach wondering where Olena is. She’s supposed to be here for me today. It’s only been three days since she’s been out of rehab and this morning she didn’t show up here like she was supposed to. Inside of my head I curse at myself, wondering why the fuck I even thought it would be a good idea to not keep her in rehab longer. She needed to be there for as long as possible, and at the end of the day it’s my fault that she’s AWOL right now.
“Are you ready, Vera?” Fredrig asks me, interlinking his arm with mine. I imagined this day, and what I thought would happen is my best friend Olena would walk me down the aisle to Rhys. Not Fredrig...but I’ll make due with what the day has brought me. Fredrig escorts me down the stairs and into a large room, lined with chairs on both sides and a makeshift aisle runs down the middle.
Rhys stares at me from afar and shoots me a smirk in my direction just as the music plays, signaling Fredrig and I to ascend. I’ve never practiced this walk in my life and out of nowhere nerves hit me, wondering if I’ll just make a fool of myself. But Fredrig walks slower, showing me that I shouldn’t be running down the aisle to my fiancé.
“A little eager, are you?” Rhys chuckles into my ear as he takes my hands, bringing me closer to the priest.
“Oh, shut it. It’s not like we practiced this shit,” I snap back at him lowly.
The priest laughs and begins his proceedings, going through all of that boring shit that they do at every wedding. We have the vows, and then the emphasizing that this is til death til we part shit...but I know I can divorce him whenever I feel like it. So does Rhys. It’s not like we’re in this for love anyways, and the priest is most definitely not privy to that information. If he was, he most likely wouldn’t have ordained this ceremony. In the Ukraine, our priests are very strict on their values. While everyone else in the room knows this is a political arrangement, he doesn’t have the slightest idea.
Rhys and I share a small kiss for show until I pull away and plaster on the fakest smile I can muster up to the priest and turn back to look at my now husband. Rhys’ eyes are burning, almost like they were that night where we both gave into our desires. He takes ahold of my hand and leads me out of the room, offering smiles and nods to certain members in the crowd. They’re obviously the important ones. Leading me into a small room, he shuts the door behind us. “We haven’t gone over this yet so it’s best to do it now. All of the head Clan members are in our home right now. Most of them barely hold any significance, all but Mariana and Ion, our King and Queen. Ion is the tall one with dark hair, he looks like he’s worth a million bucks because he is. On his arm is his wife, Mariana, she has the soft, blonde hair and is wearing that off the shoulder black dress.”
I raise my eyebrows at him, “You just said everyone is insignificant except your King and Queen.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, why did I just marry you?”
“Shit. That’s not what I mean. I just mean that they’re insignificant to us, to you and I. The two of us can do mostly everything ourselves.”
I don’t bother speaking in response, simply nodding once to show I’ve heard him. I can’t help it, but my mind just keeps going back to Olena. Wondering what she’s doing, if she’s alive, if she’s overdosed in an alley somewhere. I’m worried sick about her and don’t know if I’ll be able to stop. There is nothing harder in life than where you’re loved one is an addict.
“Where’s your friend, Olena?” Rhys questions me, “I didn’t see her in the crowd.” I roll my eyes at him and huff. The fact he thinks Olena would be anywhere but by my side is ludacris.
“I don’t know. She wasn’t where she was supposed to be this morning.”
His eyes go wide, knowing that she’s in recovery. “Do you think she’s getting high?”
“I don’t think she is, Rhys. I know it’s the only thing that would explain her not being here for me today.” His eyes drop to the floor, and I think it’s because he won’t be able to find the right thing to say to me right now, but he shouldn’t feel bad. There is nothing he can say to me that will make me feel any better about my best friend not being here.
In all honesty, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive her for being absent today. The saddest part is the day isn’t even over with, and now I don’t know how I’ll be able to get through it, even with my strong will and fiesty temper.
We’ll see how it goes, though.
