by J. R. Ward
Even though she had arranged everything, she had no idea how Wrath was going to react to this.
Glancing around her brother's big shoulders, she popped her brows again at Lassiter. At least her hellren would be spared the sight of the angel in that rig.
"You love it, right?" Lassiter asked, holding his Bible high. "I mean, you told me to go onto the Internet. I did. I even printed out my diploma or whatever the hell it's called."
Opening the cover of the King James version, he took out a piece of paper and wave it around. "See? Nice and legal-like."
Beth leaned in. "Wow."
"I know, right? Just like Harvard."
"Impressive."
"I'm totally framing that shit, wha-what." He put the thing away. "And after I was done, I researched human weddings. I knew I was going to need some ceremonial robes, and these were the ones I liked best. I found them at Gould's Costumes and More--boom! I'm nothing but a hound dog."
Beth rubbed her temples. Vishous. She should have asked Vishous to do this. "How'd you manage the hair?"
"Aqua Net. Hairpins. Cosmo December issue--for the holidays. Again, thank you, Internet."
Rhage shook his head. "Do you have balls? Or are angels born sac-less?"
Lassiter smiled slyly. "I do all right. Back in the Old Country, I used to chime noon and midnight."
Really, really, really should have asked Vishous. "Well, I appreciate everything you--"
As everyone went silent, she looked up to the head of the stairs. Wrath had appeared and was standing tall and proud, George by his side. Unlike John, he wasn't in a tux, but he had put on a certain suit she remembered.
It was the one he'd worn on their first official "date" at Darius'.
"What's the crowd for?" he said.
"Just come on down," she replied.
As he started his descent, her palms went sweaty--and then an instant later, the mother of all hot flashes hit, the heat searing through her.
Man, she couldn't wait until she was either pregnant or fully over the needing. Her inner microwave was driving her crazy.
As Wrath's only pair of non-shitkickers hit the mosaic floor, she thought that he couldn't have looked more magnificent. His hair was fanned all over his massive shoulders, the ends coming down to his hips, and with that tie at his neck ... he looked like a powerful businessman. Who could kill if he were so inclined.
And didn't that get the hormones cranking.
"What are we doing here, Beth," he demanded.
"We're getting married."
As he recoiled, she rushed in before he could go on any kind of tirade. "You said my human customs matter--that they're equally important. So we're getting married. Right now. In my way."
He shook his head. "But we're already mated. Why--"
"So you can divorce me and keep the throne." As his jaw dropped, she cut him off. "In front of our family here. With a real live minister."
Lassiter raised his hand. "Happy to be of service. I also do christenings. Just sayin'."
Wrath shook his head again. "This is--"
"Are you saying my human side is of lesser value?"
"Well, no. But--"
"So then if we do the ceremony here and now, we haven't lost anything, have we. You can divorce me according to vampire law, we're still mated, and we've managed to keep the throne." She kicked up her chin even though he couldn't see her. "Pretty good math, don't you think?"
There was a beat of hushed silence. And then one of the Brothers said, "I fucking love this female. I really totally fucking love her."
FIFTY-ONE
As Wrath allowed himself to get maneuvered around the foyer, George, as always, went with him.
Frankly, even if he'd had his sight, he would have had to be led around.
He kept waiting for an inner NFW to sound out. But Beth had boxed him in, in the best possible way--she was right: If her cultural norms were as important to them as a couple? Well ... if they were "married" in the human way, then they were mated. Period.
And yet, he wasn't sure how he felt. Then again, they'd done things according to his race's traditions originally--and although none of that had any resonance for her, she'd gone right along with it.
Seemed only fair that he do the same for her.
"You ready?" Lassiter asked him softly.
People were still shuffling about, moving around the great space of the foyer. "What are they doing?" Wrath whispered back.
"Forming two lines so there's an aisle that starts at the dining room and runs right to us. We're about five yards in front of the billiards room. She's disappeared--they've shut the doors so we can't see her."
Wrath thought back to when they'd been mated. The Scribe Virgin had been around then. Beth had worn Wellsie's red gown--and had nearly fainted as his brothers had carved her nine-letter name into his shoulders. John Matthew, Blay, and Qhuinn hadn't been in the picture then. Neither had Rehv and Xhex, Payne, Manny, the Shadow brothers, and others.
Or Xcor and the Bastards.
And since then, they'd lost Wellsie. No one else, however.
From out of nowhere, music flooded the foyer, a classical ditty he'd heard before, usually in chick flicks that involved ... weddings, natch.
"Ready?" Lassiter asked.
"Yeah." Jesus, this was not what he'd expected to be doing.
"I just nodded to Fritz," the angel whispered. "And he's opening the doors."
Wrath cleared his throat and leaned in. "What ... what is she wearing?"
"White. Calf-length. Loose. She's escorted by her brother and carrying a pink rose that Rhage took from a bouquet on the mantlepiece." There was a pause. "Her eyes are right on you, and that smile of hers? Million bucks, my friend. Million fucking bucks."
All at once, the shit about the throne and the other reasons they were doing this went away: As he caught the scent of his leelan, all he thought of was that she was everything to him--and not just because she might well be saving his throne, right here and now.
Oh, and holy shit, she might be pregnant, too.
"Dearly beloved," Lassiter began, "we are gathered here to witness the joining of Elizabeth, daughter of Darius, and Wrath, son of Wrath."
So they were leaving the formal vampire names out. Cool. Made it seem more human.
"Who gives this female--ah, woman's--hand in marriage?"
Wrath expected one of the brothers to translate John's response. Instead, the male communicated his reply loud and clear: He whistled an ascending note that declaratively announced he was the guy presenting his sister.
On instinct, and because he had no idea what the ceremony entailed, Wrath thrust out his palm. As it was clasped by John Matthew, the two of them squeezed hard, a vow given and acknowledged in the shake, an I'll-take-good-care-of-her exchanged with a You'd-better-fucking-do-that.
Cue the throat clearing. Like maybe a couple of the brothers were getting emotional.
Lassiter coughed a little and there was the sound of pages being flipped back and forth. "Ah ... okay, look, I'm just going to wing it, all right? Is there any reason you two can't do this? No? Awesome."
Beth laughed. "I think you're supposed to wait for us to answer."
"All together then, shall we? And you guys in the peanut gallery, too--any reason this won't fly?"
The entire household as well as his shellan and himself shouted, "No!"
"Man, we're doing great." More flipping. "Yeah, they go on and on here. Wrath?"
For some insane reason, he started to smile. "Yeah?"
"Do you take this incredible woman who's just saved your ass as your wife? Will you love and comfort her, honor and keep her in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live-- crap, I was supposed to do you before him, Beth. How about you answer?"
"No," Wrath cut in with a big grin. "I'll go first. Yeah, I do."
There was a sniffle from the crowd. At which point, Rhage's voice hissed, "What. This
is beautiful, 'kay? Fuck all y'all."
"Now, Beth, do you take this hotheaded PITA as your husband? Will you love and comfort him, honor and keep him in sickness and health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," his Beth said. "Absolutely."
"Niiiice." Lassiter flipped some more pages. "Okay, rings? We got rings here, people?"
"Put my ring on her thumb," Wrath said, taking off the massive black diamond his father had worn. "Here."
"And he can use mine," Beth chimed in. "It's his mother's."
"Aww, that's some sweetness right here." Lassiter took Wrath's ring. "Okay, let's rock this out. I hereby bless these rings. Beth, take yours back and place it on any finger you can fit it on. Or, like, the upper knuckle--there ya go.
"Okay, repeat after me. Oh, shi--I mean, crap. I was supposed to do this with Wrath first, I guess."
"No," Beth said with another laugh. "Actually this is perfect."
"Perfect," Wrath agreed.
It was all just so ... right. It was natural and real--and the lack of formality so worked, especially in light of the aristocracy's ridiculous value system.
Hell, Lassiter was a living, breathing antidote to all that.
"Okay, so, Beth, follow me. 'I, Beth, a totally awesome chick...'"
Beth barked out a giggle. "I, Beth..."
"Where's the 'awesome chick' part? What? Come on, I have a license from the Internet. I know what I'm doing."
Wrath nodded at his leelan. "He's right. You are, in fact, awesome. I think we need to hear it."
"Can I get an amen!" Lassiter shouted.
"Ammmmmmmmmen!" echoed throughout the mansion.
"Fine, fine, fine," she said. "I, Beth, a totally awesome chick..."
"'...take this meathead, Wrath...'"
"...take this meathead, Wrath..."
"'...as my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward...'"
"...as my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward..."
"'...for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer...'"
And suddenly it wasn't a joke. The further she went, the more serious Lassiter got, and the shakier Wrath's shellan became, as if the words she were speaking were ones of great value and meaning.
This was tradition for her, he realized.
She continued in a rough way, "...in sickness and in health..."
"'...to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow.'"
"...to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death. This is my solemn vow."
Lassiter turned another page. "'I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.'"
Suddenly, Wrath gritted his molars to keep his own emotions in check as she repeated the words, and slid the ruby on his pinkie.
"And now, my lord," Lassiter said smoothly. "Recite after me..."
Beth had never been one of those girls who'd imagined her wedding. Acted it out with Barbies. Bought Bride magazine as soon as she hit her twenties.
She was pretty sure that if she had been, though, none of the hypotheticals would have resembled this in the slightest: surrounded by vampires, possibly pregnant, with a fallen angel in an Elvis costume mangling the ceremony from the Book of Common Prayer.
And yet as she stared up at her soon-to-be husband, she couldn't have pictured anything she would have liked more. Then again, when you were facing the right person? None of the things they talked about on television, no Vera Wang dress, no champagne waterfall, no DJ or place setting or party favor mattered.
"'I, Wrath, take you, Beth,'" Lassiter started.
"I got this," her husband said in his booming voice. "I, Wrath, take you, Beth, as my beloved wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part. This is my solemn vow."
Cue a serious case of the misties.
As Beth sniffled and smiled at the same time, Wrath placed the gigantic King's ring on the top of her thumb. With grave sincerity, he said, "I give you this ring as a symbol of my vow, and with all that I am, and all that I have, I honor you in the name of your Father, and your Son, and your Holy Spirit."
There was a round of applause, spontaneous and loud. And Lassiter had to shout to be heard over it, "By the power vested in me thanks to Google, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may kiss the bride!"
The clapping got louder as Wrath put his arms around her and bent her backward so far, the only thing keeping her from the ground was his strength.
It was a move he did on a regular basis, an unconscious way of asserting and proving his physical ability to take care of her.
"Take my sunglasses off," he whispered as the curtain of his hair fell all around, giving them privacy. "I want you to see my eyes even if they can't see you."
Beth's hands were shaking as she reached up to his face. Sliding the wraparounds from his temples, his extraordinary stare was revealed, and she thought of the first time she had seen it: in the underground guest suite at her father's house.
They were exactly as they had been. Brilliant pale green, they glowed from within to the point where she had to blink, and not just from the tears in her vision.
"Beautiful," she breathed.
"Useless," he countered with a smile--as if he were remembering the same exchange.
"No, they show me all the love in your heart." She touched his face. "And that is very useful."
Wrath's mouth came down on hers, brushing once, twice. And then he kissed her deeply and slowly.
When he finally started to right her, she put his sunglasses back into place, and facing the household, she flushed as she looked at them all. So much love all around.
It made her feel invincible against whatever came at them.
Over the din, Lassiter shouted, "A-thank you, a-thank-you-vera-much."
Wrath bent to the side, flubbled George's ears and took hold of the dog's harness; then the three of them were walking down the aisle toward the dining room.
Somehow Fritz had managed to pull a banquet of food out of thin air, the table magically set during the ceremony with a simple but ample spread.
But first there was business.
As Rehv came in past the arches, he nodded to Beth and she leaned into her husband.
"It's time to sign," she said.
It was painful to watch her husband's unrestrained happiness tighten right up.
"Just the same, right?" she whispered. "We're married. We're covered."
"Yeah..." There was a long pause. "Yeah, I can do this."
Except he took his time going over to where Rehv was unrolling a parchment that had red and black ribbons streaming off its lower half.
"I have a blue pen for the signature line," Rehv said, taking the thing out of his mink coat. "This document has been prepared by Saxton, and it's been predated to three weeks ago. He's assured me that the wording is ironclad and nothing that they can dispute in any way."
"Ironclad," Wrath muttered.
Rehv put out the pen. "Sign it and I'll take care of the delivery--with pleasure."
Beth dropped his hand to give her man some space--but he didn't want that, clearly. Gathering her palm back, he stood over the parchment.
"What does it say?" he demanded roughly.
Beth looked over the symbols and saw nothing but patterns of blue ink.
"It says..." Rehv leaned in. "That the union is annulled."
"Like it never existed?" Wrath muttered.
Rehv tapped the parchment. "This is a political statement. A political function. This is not about the two of you."
"My signature's supposed to be on it. And her name's on there. So it is about us."
Rehv backed off, too. Then it was just Wrath and the writing he couldn't see.
All the Brothers and t
he members of the household hung in the periphery, everyone quiet.
He wasn't going to do it, she thought. He just wasn't going to be able to do it ...
FIFTY-TWO
Watching Selena take from his vein, Trez was totally content to blow off whatever was going on down in Caldwell for this.
He'd still been at the club, finishing up some accounting shit that should have been taken care of days before, when he'd gotten the group text about the gathering. And he'd immediately headed home--expecting to see Selena. When she didn't show, he'd told himself to chill, let her come when she did, blah, blah, blah.
He'd lasted about a minute and a half with that shit before ghosting out, leaving iAm looking grim in the foyer with Goddamn Cat, as he called the animal, back in his arms.
As soon as Trez had gotten up to the great camp, he'd sensed Selena's presence and become juiced--but that had all changed when he'd found her in the kitchen, in the middle of some kind of collapse. Come on, though--when was the last time she'd fed--
From out of nowhere, his cock and balls roared at the thought of her sharing this with anyone else, and to get himself back on the side of the angels, he focused on the pulls against his wrist, the sight of her lips against his skin, the reality that he was, in fact, the one taking care of her.
For how long, though, a part of him wondered.
"Shut up." As her eyes flipped to his, he shook his head. "Not you."
Tracing her hair with his fingertips, he marveled at the difference in them, how soft everything about her was, how she smelled like fresh spring air even though it was winter, how her lashes were long against her pale cheeks as she closed her lids.
He could have stayed like this forever.
But eventually she released him, retracting her fangs and her mouth. And then it was time for a little torture: Her pink tongue snuck out and licked at the puncture wounds, closing them up--cranking him up.
Reclining in his arms, her eyes were fuzzy under those heavy lashes, unfocused from satisfaction.
"I haven't stopped thinking about you," he said softly. "Not for a second."
"Yes?"
"Yeah." He nodded as he brushed her lower lip with his thumb. "And not just because we have ... unfinished business."
Her smile would have knocked him on his ass if he hadn't already been sitting down. "That we do."
God, he loved the quiet here. No loud music, no humans cluttering the room, no pressures from the outside world--or the s'Hisbe. Not even the Brothers and their mates, as cool as they all were. Just the two of them.
