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Campbell had also left with a gift. A hefty sum that spoke of gratefulness for his care toward Jess, Cal, and Skittles. He’d left with my blessing. He no longer thought of me as something to exterminate and I managed to accept his reasoning for his betrayal.
I’d expected his departure to be our last interaction. However, he’d requested if he could return in a month. Now that elixir had been destroyed, girls released, and no future imprisonment planned, he’d second-guessed his retirement.
Regardless of our amicable respect, despite the treason and tragedy we’d both caused, I couldn’t make up my mind if I’d welcome him back. He was still the reason Serigala was bombed and so many animals crucified. But he’d redeemed himself by saving others’ lives.
Ah well, that decision could be made another day.
Today was my wedding and all I wanted to focus on was my wife-to-be.
Cal sucked in a breath as Jess continued her laboured stroll toward us. She shared most of her weight with Arbi, her face tight with strain. Determination to keep going and not give in sparkled in her gaze. Her blonde hair had been coiled and pinned, complete with a sprig of jasmine in the fairness. Her lips glistened with gloss and her smile seemed to stop Cal’s heart as he jerked beside me.
Jaya had done well, choosing a golden dress that skimmed Jess’s ankles with a floaty hem, adorned with just enough lace and decoration to be perfect without overshadowing the bride.
Not that anything could overshadow Eleanor.
She could wear kelp from the ocean, and she’d still look exquisite.
Speaking of the bride…where the fuck is she?
I fought the urge to fidget, clasping my hands around the cane wedged into the sand in front of me. I’d managed to walk unassisted. My endurance increased each day. However, my balance still came and went and I had no intention of falling on my ass as Eleanor walked down the aisle.
Pika sensed my building tension, nibbling at my ear with his beak. “Jinx. Jinx!”
I stiffened, looking at the tiny parrot on my shoulder. “Another new word, huh? Decided to expand your vocab, little nightmare?”
Pika narrowed his black eyes, that cheeky look that always heralded mischief appeared. He squawked and stomped his claws on my blazer, kicking up a fuss. The ribbon where I’d tied our wedding rings dangled preciously in his talons.
“Don’t you dare drop that.” I growled as he fluttered around my head, the silver ribbon in question swinging wildly.
Three rings hung from it, clinking together with flashes of flawless Hawk diamonds as Pika continued to zip and dip. The glitter reminded me of the first diamond I’d given Eleanor. Disguised as a guest’s payment for the cave fantasy, but really, it’d been a troth of my love for her even then. Eventually, I’d commission that stone to be turned into a bracelet or necklace—another piece of jewellery for the woman who owned me in every way.
“It was a mistake giving that damn bird a fortune in rings. What if he flies out to sea and drops them, just to piss you off?” Cal muttered, his gaze locked on Jess as she continued to close the distance between us.
“He wouldn’t.” I held out my hand, keeping one fisted on my cane and the other acting as a perch for the chaotic caique. “Would you, Pika?”
He chattered and chirped, sitting on my forefinger and spearing his wing into the sky to preen. The rings continued to swing, almost as if he’d been a thief and pilfered them, instead of being my ring bearer.
Soft waves licked around my ankles, soaking the linen suit I wore.
I’d stood in my walk-in wardrobe for longer than I wanted to admit, staring at the racks of severe, regal, and CEO suits that hung on hangars ready to be worn. Ties of every colour waited to be chosen. My uniform of my past felt familiar and appropriate for an event as special as a wedding.
But…as I’d reached for the usual dark and dense fabric, I’d stopped. The man who wore suits for power as well as protection had died in Geneva and not come back. I was marrying Eleanor today with a much lighter soul and not nearly as many sins that needed to be hidden within a stifling suit.
Today, I was free and I’d chosen simple linen trousers, rolling up the cuffs to reveal bare feet that patrolled the sands of my Elysium. A white shirt tucked in with buttons undone around my throat to let humid air lick around my chest, and a blazer that held a simple orchid pinned to the breast pocket.
I was underdressed for my own wedding but it felt like the perfect choice because I was underdressed in all manners when it came to Eleanor. The only decoration that’d felt appropriate was the dangerous purple flower that’d started me on this journey. A path full of deceit and corruptibility, using sex against women and possession against life, but it’d ended with four hundred bottles of elixir being destroyed by Mrs. Bixel in Geneva at my command.
