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Saffron dusted her hands off on her skirt as she stood to her full height, which still barely reached my chin. I tipped my head down to look at her, my eyebrows raised.
“You know if you feed him too much, he’ll become insufferable,” I grumbled, nodding my head in the direction of the cell. Saffron laughed.
“He was always the hungrier of the two of you.” She smirked, “For food, of course. You have always been hungrier in other ways.”
“Enough,” I snapped, my skin crawling at the mere mention of our relation to the prisoner in the cell. “Did you feel it?”
“Would I be down here if I had not?” Saffron asked, linking her arm through my own and turning us away from the cell and starting us towards the dungeon doors. “You have not got long. People are starting to remember.”
“The wedding is tomorrow,” I sighed, trying to ignore the sweat that had started to run its way down the back of my neck. “I have worked as quickly as I can.”
Saffron nodded, waiting for me to haul open the heavy dungeon door and let her pass through first. The two guards that were standing on watch dipped their heads to us, which we returned. I felt almost sorry for them, working a twelve-hour shift guarding these doors and then expected to come upstairs for a wedding security briefing.
Anxiety at the fact that every guard in the castle would be patrolling the city and castle grounds tomorrow for the event and no one would be down here stabbed at my mind uncomfortably, but I shook it off.
Saffron hummed, low in her throat, as we made our way up the stairs away from the dungeons.
“I fear it may not have been fast enough. There has been whispers in the city.”
Her words made my blood run cold, and I tightened my grip on her arm, pulling her to a halt before we passed through the door at the top of the stairs. Her eyebrowsshot up as she looked up at me, a small smirk on her face. The walls of the stairwell began to close in on me as panic settled uncomfortably at the base of my stomach.
“What do you mean, whispers?”
“I mean every time there is a lapse in our magic, someone remembers who he is. Someone realises how wrong this all is. Someone wants things to be put back the way they were.”
My teeth slammed together with anger, and I closed my eyes, my grip on Saffron’s arm almost bruising.
“We have been able to keep it under control so far, but the increase in lapses is concerning.” Saffron’s voice was quiet, but the heaviness behind her words made my heart stammer in my chest. “With the wedding so soon and the up in security in the city, it should be easy to handle over the coming days.”
“Will the wedding stop it?” I asked, pushing the door open and releasing us from the closeness of the stairwell.
“That is the hope.” Saffron smiled, her voice brightening as we stepped out into the busy castle hallways.
Staff were running in different directions, flowers were being hung from the ceiling beams and banisters, and the smell of food cooking was wafting through from the kitchens already. While the celebratory party was not for another week, the ceremony was still enough for everyone that worked in the castle to put together anevent.
A handful of local noblemen and their wives had already arrived, ready to stand witness to our union and my crowning. The thought of my crowning being mushed in with the wedding still made my blood boil, but it was Kira’s will against mine, and until tomorrow, she was still more powerful than I was.
Saffron walked in front of me as we passed through the castle lobby, the large, stag-shaped topiaries being wheeled through the marble floored hall and placed along the front entrance. I had rolled my eyes when I had first seen them, knowing they were picked as a nod to Kira’s home, but I thought they looked tacky. I was beginning to regret giving her free reign of the decor for the ceremony, but I knew that next week would be better. I had organised a spectacle of the greatest proportion — people would be talking about it for years.
I nodded a quick goodbye to Saffron as she made her way up the stairs, towards the higher floors of the castle. I did not want to leave her unattended, but I had to go and pick up my suit from Ed, and make sure the crown that had been delivered was, in fact, the right one.
My crown had been designed by the royal Crownsmith. His family had been working for us since before the separation of the nations and had promised it would be delivered today — and while he had never let me down before, the worry that it would not be perfect was still enough for me to be taking the steps to the chapel two at a time. The courier had stopped me right as I was goingto find Saffron so I had told him to place the crown in the chapel, ready for tomorrow.
As I pushed open the heavy double doors, I was hit with the smell of flowers.
The dark oak wood of the floor had been covered with a white runner between the pews, which themselves were covered by the same white fabric. Garlands of orange and green were wrapped around the standing pillars, and an archway of matching flowers stood in front of the large, stain glass windows.
The large, velvet pillow that was made to house both of our crowns were sitting just to the side of the window, out of the way of the sunlight that was struggling its way through the clouds, but I barely got the chance to glance at it, before Kira and Gracie, and a woman I somewhat recognised, spotted me.
“Oh, Cyrus.” Kira’s face was surprised for a second, before she plastered on a smile that I could see through from a mile away. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to make sure my crown was delivered safely.” I said through a forced smile of my own, “What are you lovely ladies doing?”
“Kyanne thought there was a fault with some of the garlands,” Kira explained, gesturing towards the woman standing next to her. Recognition clicked in my head, and I nodded.
“Kyanne, good to see you again.” I smiled politely, making my way down the aisle to where they three women were standing. “Where is the fault?”
“I can’t see one, really.” Kira said, stepping to the side so I could take up the space she had been occupying. “What about you? Can you see it?”
