Paper Promise: The Substitute Bride Novels & Stories

"I want the entire continent under the Sterling-Ashford banking grid by midnight, Julian. I want these kings to realize that even their crowns are leased from your estate." ‎I stood up from the chair, slipping out of Victor's grip only to step around the desk and press my body flush against Kael’s broad chest. My hands locked onto the star-shaped scar on Kael's palm, while Victor stepped up right behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist to anchor us all together. ‎ ‎The Blood Oath in our veins answered the proximity, a soft, beautiful wave of violet-gold fire rippling across our skin. ‎ ‎"Tomorrow night," I whispered, looking from Kael’s fierce amber gaze to Victor’s calculating gray eye

He spoke with his voice dripping in sarcasm. “I didn’t see anything like that.” There was a tick in his jaw and his muscles clenched in annoyance. “Really? Where is your phone” Iris didn’t like the glee in his eyes but still pulled out the phone from the pocket of her sweatshirt. “Go to the browser and type in your name” He instructed and Iris silently followed his orders. She gasped when numerous articles poured out, all with admiration for Luca Rutherford’s stunning new bride. “Go on, open one and read” Luca urged and Iris obeyed. She read a lot of them until she realized why she had been asked to read them.

The hanging crystal chandelier mirrored the light that came from the moon outside, casting slivers of subtle colors around the bed. This almost felt romantic, but I knew better than to think like that. My childhood innocence and dreams had long been gone, taken away by the cruelty of my world. I knew there was something better somewhere. But I’d be too naive to think this marriage was going to give me that. After all, I was just a trade off for peace. I’m not even sure if I’m a worthy trade off. The lycans didn’t bargain for me. I was just the substitute bride.

Ava's worked best when she refused to let panic become policy. "Fair." Ava pointed the knife at him. "Explain first." The judge's blindfold tilted toward her. Paper under the altar should not have been there. Grandpa Lu had hidden it behind a loose board and three useless grocery receipts. The paper was thin, yellow, and addressed to me in my mother's English handwriting. "The Bride Law is not merely marriage. In broken underworld courts, it is a descent protocol. It assigns a companion to a threshold bearer so the gate can recognize two-sided consent."

Eleanor sat beside my empty seat, her cane resting against her knee, watching me with an expression I couldn’t quite read, something between pride and grief. Isabella Blackwood sat across the aisle, elegant in pale blue, and when our eyes met she gave me a small, warm nod, like she was welcoming me into something instead of witnessing a transaction. Lucas stood beside Damian as his best man, and even now, even at his brother’s wedding, there was a restless energy in him, like he wanted to say something and knew better than to say it here.

I wanted to run away, to escape everything, and to go back to where I am, writing novels just to achieve my dream most simply, but I knew it was too late, especially when I saw his face. He didn’t even dare to look away when the door opened and met my eyes. I didn’t even know if he was clenching his jaw and his eyes became intense, as if he was examining my soul and mind or I was just hallucinating. I’m not sure, but all I did was follow everything in the contract that I’d agreed to. ‘Annalise Ysia Villareal ought to marry Zeno Myer Mercedes and use Rose Vergara as her name since she offered herself to be the substitute bride of Zeno Myer Mercedes.’

My wedding back then was just a joke. I stood at the hindmost and watched the two of them walk to the front of the priest. The priest asked, "Bridegroom, Patrick Cowell, are you willing to accept Kelsi Clark as your wife?" "I'd like to." Patrick answered with no hesitation. Then, the priest asked, "You should be gentle to your wife. And respect and care for her and her parents. You should ensure that your body and mind will belong to her only. Can you promise her these in front of everyone?"

That was not the name of the bride. “I do,” Chris answered, his voice aloof as always. The priest gleefully nodded and asked Paige, “Paige Quirk, do you take Chris Jewell to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to be faithful to him in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and honor him until death do you part?” Paige looked at the priest and replied, “I do.” With a faint smile, the priest announced, “Now, you may exchange rings.”

I looked at her as she drew closer, I saw it was Sophia, she had a plastic smile as she came closer standing by the bride's side as her bridesmaid. I was in no way surprised by her presence, I have been fully informed of how she and Cassandra planned on getting married to me and then killing me after so that they can have my properties. That is why I made Erica sign the marriage certificate and property transfer documents, should in case anything happens to me by accident. The priest started the ceremony by first addressing the crowd before turning to us. “Will you take Damian Anderson as your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to hold, till death do you part?” the priest asked directing h

Who then gave them that impression that the runaway bride latter came back? Rohan? No! Rohan only instructed his assistant to get a wedding gown that has a heavy vile, which eventually covered the face of the bride, the body features of the two girls were almost the same only their faces were different. So the congregant in the church auditorium including Madam Hamati got the impression by themselves or from the social media that the bride latter came back. Madam Vivian Hamati was not only confused because of the apparent change in bride, but was also confused because to her ‘the young woman looked so much like madam Julia Bon-Hwa’ she was thinking this in her heart.