The Bride Wore Blood

Lana

Light streams through the stained glass window of the chapel. The bright yellow and gold of the sun that it shows, throwing warmth and flashes of light across the crowded benches of the nobility. A bold red dragon circles around the blazing centre. Nose to tail, as though it sleeps. With some of its scales picked out in rubies, set in the glass by magic.

The King, Thade Madden, waits for his Bride at the end of the aisle, a shadow against the sun. Dressed more for a funeral than a wedding. I wonder if he knows I’m going to kill him.

I don’t often argue with my parents, but last night they broke me.

___ The Night Before ___

My mother held my hands, peering down at me with dark grey eyes and a hopeful smile. The corners of her eyes pulled into light crows feet.

‘You’re going to marry the King tomorrow. You should be excited, Lana!’ She squeezed my fingers as though her excitement could be catching but I just feel numb. Detached.

‘I’m not going to do it,’ I fought to keep my voice calm, reasonable. I can’t stand being called hysterical, even if it’s how I feel. ‘Mother, I refuse. I’m not going to do it - I’m not going to help that man keep his throne!’

‘Lana,’ my Father didn’t shout but his voice was like a whiplash through the air. Harsh and unyielding. It stung. I flinched, pulling away from my Mother as I turned to him.

‘He’s not the man you think he is!’ I protest, my heart beats far too hard against my chest. My stomach contracts, tight with fear.

‘He is the King,’ my Father stares at me and I hold his gaze, defiant. I clench my hands at my side. Frustrated. My relationship with my parents has always been, and it hurts to lose their confidence.

‘You’ve got to believe me,’ I shake my head, ‘he shouldn’t be - I’ve seen-’

‘He is the KING!’ The word shatters the room and I stare at my Father; Duke Nix.

I open my mouth again, struggling to explain my fears but he grabs me. I pull away but his grip tightens on my arm.

‘He is the King,’ my Father repeats as he leans closer to me, almost whispering, pleading. His eyes fixed on mine. ‘Any word against him now, is treason Lana.’

‘Then-’ I’m ready to accept treason, I’m ready to embrace it.

‘Vow,’ he interrupts my defiance and I blink. Vow? My mind is racing, he wants me to make a promise? If I make a promise, can I still escape? I’ve been pleading with my parents for weeks about the arrangements they made, and the betrothal that was signed. I’ve been begging them and I thought that I’d try one final time tonight. I have evidence of the so-called King’s wrong doing, even if they don’t believe my word anymore.

‘I need you to believe me,’ I fight to keep my voice even once more. I can see my Mother approaching from the side. She gently touches my Father’s shoulder but he doesn’t release me. Tears burn the backs of my eyes, it hurts. It hurts my soul more than my arm, all through my body I feel torn in two. ‘Please…’ I whisper. He has to listen to reason, to evidence. I can’t marry the King.

‘You’re going to make a Vow,’ my father insists, his voice still low and firm. Unbreachable. ‘You will vow, on the Otherworld, you will vow now - to marry that man tomorrow.’

I can’t breathe, the air won’t feel my lungs. A vow is unbreakable. If I make that promise, I’ll have to do it. I’ll have to marry him. By the Otherworld and all the gods, I don’t want to do it.

‘Nix,’ my Mother is firmer this time, pulling at her husbands arm, ‘she can’t have bruises tomorrow.’ Her voice sounds strange to me, tinny, distant.

I pull away from his grip and step back. I’m so confused by his determination to see me married. Married to a monster.

‘Father-’

‘You have been indulged for far too long, Lana,’ he shakes his head, ‘you’re going to do this.’

‘I can’t -’ It means I won’t be able to run away tonight. It means all my plans will be undone. I flex my fingers, trying to think.

‘You will marry him.’

I swallow, a single thought rising crystal clear through all the panic. Okay.

‘Okay,’ it comes out as a whisper.

MMake the vow,’

‘Darling,’ My Mother interjects again, laying a hand on his arm but he shakes his head again. I want to thank her for trying, but I feel so far away. As though the shadows of the night are closing in around me.

‘I vow,’ I reach out my hand to my Father’s and he curls his fingers around mine, gently despite his frustration. ‘On the Otherworld, I vow. I will marry the King tomorrow.’

A faint white light glows around our hands and I shudder. The Otherworld was listening. I can’t back out now. It’s my Father that takes a step back from the intensity. He looks me over before reaching out, patting me gently on the shoulder as though I’m a child again.

‘Get some rest Lana,’ he offers a smile, as though it could be an apology. My Mother wraps her arm around his before pressing a kiss to my cheek.

‘I’m so proud of you,’ she whispers, ‘you’ll be a wonderful Queen. We’ll see you in the morning.’

They left me. I stand in the dark of a cool spring night and listen to the sounds of the city beyond the open window

‘That was intense,’ Rune stands up from the chair beside the fire. She glances between me and the door, ‘you’re going to go through with the wedding?’

I can’t remember a time when Rune and I weren’t friends. We were both born into noble families, but Rune’s family no longer holds their hereditary lands. We grew up together, with Rune living in Castle Nix whilst her parents maintained their business interests in the city. She knows me better than anyone, and almost all of my secrets.

‘I made the vow,’ I reply softly. She knows that a promise on the Otherworld is unbreakable.

‘But I don’t like that look in your eye, Lana.’

‘I’m an Investigator, I’ve got no business being a Queen,’ even Rune doesn’t know my history with the man.

‘You’re a noble woman, I think that’s all anyone really cares about.’

I made the vow. I’ll marry him. I’ll stand in the chapel and make promises in front of all the nobles. Then I’ll kill him.