#Chapter 21 Rejection Day

Day of the Ceremony

Selene’s POV

My fingers anxiously trace the flowers embroidered into the bodice of my wedding gown. It’s a delicate white confection, so weightless and ethereal I look more like a wood nymph than a bride.

I remember the day we chose it, Bastien and I. It was the first dress we found that did not completely overpower my waifish frame three years ago. We tried countless others first, but the moment I stepped into the gossamer fabric I knew, and Bastien’s face said it all.

This is the way of rejection ceremonies: Marriages end as they begin.

We will wear the same clothes, meet at the same moonlit altar with friends and family looking on; we’ll even play the same music. Yet instead of vows to love and keep each other we will vow to part. Instead of exchanging rings we’ll remove them, and instead of shifting to run together beneath the stars, we’ll divide, forging new paths in directions of our own choosing.

Of course, Bastien and I never ran together in the first place