My lips tightened as I was tempted to jerk my arm free from his grasp. Instead, I pulled out as much grace as I had left. “Thanks.”
“This is quite the place, isn’t it?”
“It’s dark and dreary.”
“Rain is coming. A storm is rolling in from the south.” Jace stayed one step behind me, his hand constant on my elbow.
“This isn’t a masked ball. Aren’t you worried about—you know.” I tilted my head to indicate his goat horns.
“No.” He scowled. “Not all can see them.”
And I got it. But the fact Jace had been willing to risk taking me up these stairs with Damen ahead of us gave me confidence there were good intentions in this dark-skinned satyr.
At the top of the stairs, we came into a courtyard. What I expected to be a small gathering of people seemed to be a crowd of over a hundred. Arthur must have invited every distant cousin in the country. I couldn’t imagine Marisol had a family to attend.
Overhead the clouds thickened, and the air carried a cold bite. At the doors inside the monastery, I spotted a woman my age. She carried an armful of lilies that draped down over her hand. The white flowers blended in with her olive gown.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jace asked.
I paused, realizing I had started to follow the girl. “I’ll be only a moment.”
Jace shook his head.
“Did you see these heels?” I pointed to my feet, and Jace smirked.
“I need to see the bride. Think of it as a last request.”
Jace frowned. “He won’t like that.”
“Nothing anyone does today is going to make him happy. Please. You can stand outside the door. Please.” I blinked and fluttered my curled lashes at him. It was a trick I’d seen Hope do when we went into the coffee shop near our home. The barista was one of the prettiest dudes in the world. Seriously, he made my sister blush until she was as red as Christmas velvet.
“Five minutes.”
Jace glanced at the doors where the monastery’s sanctuary doors were open, and people started filing in. “You’re tempting fate.”
“I’m asking for five minutes to give the bride a gift.” I turned and hiked my dress up. It was risky, but it was all I had left.
Jace’s eyes bulged, and I thought I’d have to go catch them if they popped. “Is that what I think it is?”
“Yes.” I pulled my skirt down. My heart skipped a beat, and I looked. Damen had lifted his gaze from the crowd entering the sanctuary and was searching for us, for me. “It belongs to Marisol. I need to return it to her. It’s important, Jace. Pleeaase.”
Okay, so maybe this wasn’t my finest hour, but it seemed to unlock his objection. His nostrils flared, but he nodded. “But you're not leaving my sight, and if this is some kind of trick of yours to escape again, I’ll hand you to Tartarus myself.”
“Fine.” I started walking. I’d lost sight of the woman, but another bridesmaid came down the hall, and that must have been where the bride was preparing. I hurried, dodging around a group of men all clustered around one another, showing pictures on a phone.
Inside, the floors were slick marble made of white and dingy gray. I spotted a man standing in front of a set of doors. He pulled back his shoulders and pulled at his wrist cuffs. I approached with Jace beside me. “Is Marisol ready?”
The man, who grunted at my words, shrugged. “How am I supposed to know? Not like I’m going in there.”
Okay… I plastered on my smile. “I’ll just check and see if she needs anything.”
The guy stepped aside. Surprised no one was stopping me, I went inside. True to his word, Jace was at my back. He stood inside the large room. It was bare, and the paintings hanging on the walls were all of the monks. Some of them had seen better days. The paint was faded, and the canvases were torn or fraying.
“They are self-portraits of the monks who once lived here.” Marisol stood in the middle of the room, and two women fussed around her. She looked beautiful, and I couldn’t keep the tears from prickling in my eyes. I felt it. Love. Not any love. The love and anticipation flowing from Marisol.
But I saw how frail she’d become. Her skin paler, and her hair recently dyed, trying to maintain its natural color. Her eyes had a heaviness to them, but she opened her arms to me. “I’m glad you came, Joy. I am so sorry that Damen is doing this.” She sighed, and I came closer.
She glanced at Jace. “Where is he?”
“Ginevra.” Jace relaxed and walked up to Marisol. “You look lovely, Mistress.”
A dark-haired girl fussed with the white tulle behind the gown, and the other picked up an armful of lilies. “Yvonne. Mary. Go. I’ll see you in the hall.”
The girl fussed over the dress, paused.
“It’s okay. I need this. One moment, s’il vous plait?” She spoke in French, and the girls obeyed.
When they’d gone, Marisol held her hands in front of her. “I am afraid I get so tired easily these days. I didn’t think I would ever get out of that hospital to see this day come true.”
Jace moved closer, reached for her wrist, and she waved him away. “There is nothing you can do. I have made my decision.”
“Joy wanted to bring you a gift. I fear we don’t have much time until the Count comes searching in fear she has escaped him again,” Jace said.
“You escaped him? It is true then. He’s forcing your company until he gets what he wants.”
“More than that, but it’s no matter now.” I wasn’t about to spoil this woman’s day with my sob story even if she was the reason my inevitable fate into darkness awaited. No, in the end, it would be as it was to be. I pulled out the arrow, and Marisol’s sharp intake of breath caused me a moment’s alarm. She breathed, and I breathed in relief. For a minute, I feared she might not have breathed again. Jace too, for he tensed.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“My father gave it to me, but I believe this belongs to you.” I held out the arrow, a gleam traveling down the length as Marisol stared at it. A small glittering of moisture collected in her eyes. “I can’t. I asked for this. I can’t take it back.”
“Have no fear. What had been done couldn’t be reversed if what was in your heart was true. The arrow only strengthened what has always been there.”
“I love him. I do.” Marisol’s eyes searched mine. “He saved me, and I owe him my life. But I wasn’t in love with him, and I tried. I tried. And he would have given me the world if I asked it.” Her fingers inched closer to the arrow. “The one thing I always wanted, I couldn’t have, not because of him. It was me.” She glanced over at Jace. “There isn’t enough time in the world to soothe the soul when hope is lost.”
“There were ways,” Jace said. “Damen always understood.”
Marisol shook her head. “He’s not my true love.” Her hand wrapped around the arrow. “I knew the moment I met Arthur at the hospital. I will forever be in Damen’s debt, for without him, I would have never seen so many lifetimes as to have found Arthur.”
“Have you told him?” I asked.
“Not quite all of it, but he accepts our time is short, as is his.” Her gaze fell to the arrow. She took it from my hands and tilted it one way, then the other. “I don’t feel any different.”
“It’s a blank arrow.” I suspected when my father gave it to me. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given it to me. It was against his code. When one was struck with an arrow, the arrow dissipated—vanished in thin air—and my father must have had Giles or himself construct new ones. They’re extremely valuable.
Oh, Father. I closed my hand over Marisol’s. He knew. He saw their hearts and the arrow never had anything to do with these two people falling in love. They’d done that on their own.
“You should tell Damen the truth. He deserves to know my father is innocent in this.”
Marisol’s eyes widened. “Of course, he blames Cupid. No matter what I say, he won’t listen.”
“You have to try,” I pressed.
>
“What she is saying is that Damen plans to—”
I interrupted him, “Make my father’s life miserable for the rest of his immortal days if you go down that aisle.”
“Oh.” She paled even more. “I had hoped. I wished. When I saw him with you, the way his eyes seemed to lighten at the hospital with you around, that he’d found his true heart’s desire.”
“Marisol, it’s time.” A girl stuck her head in the door.
Jace cleared his throat, giving me an annoyed look at having cut him off.
“We should go, too.”
I gave Marisol a hug, and kissed her cheek, giving her my last boost of happiness left in me, which wasn’t much. It was hard to pull that kind of energy from within you when your tank was on empty. “I wish you and Arthur the best for all the time you have. Cherish it always.”
I turned and walked out, Jace behind me and the man outside in the hall turning to go inside for Marisol.
“Arthur’s brother,” Jace said.
By the look on his face, we were all doomed.
24
“Where were you?” Damen hissed to Jace as we were seated in the pews in the sanctuary. There was a golden cherub near the altar. Small, a little chubby, but strangely I found comfort in seeing it there. Bold organ music started, and a trio of black-suited men stood up from the first row to take their places. Arthur walked over, facing the guests, and waited.
Oh, to have a man look at me the way Arthur looked down that aisle. It took my breath away. Slowly, one by one, three bridesmaids made their way to the front. Jace squirmed beside me, and a second later he excused himself as the music changed and everyone stood up.
Damen’s hand grabbed mine. Did he really think I’d try to run at a time like this? No, I tried to slow my speeding heart. It was more than that. His sweaty palm pressed against mine, and I slipped my fingers between his. A pleasant warmth radiated up my arm and I dared give his hand a little squeeze as a vision of white started to pass us.
“She’s beautiful. I always imagined she would be,” he said, more to himself than me.
“Why didn’t you?” Sometimes my mouth got away from me. Damen’s hand squeezed tighter in mine, to the point it brought pain. “I’m sorry.”
He eased his grip, his eyes never straying from Marisol. He muttered something, but no one around us paid any attention. Where was Jace? Then I saw the priest step out as Marisol and Arthur turned to the altar. It wasn’t any ordinary priest. Cupid? My father was marrying the couple?
Suddenly, a dozen fireworks went off inside me. My father was here. He wouldn’t let me fall into Tartarus’s pit. And where my father was, so was Giles. No wonder Jace got out of the pew.
Damen’s eyes narrowed as we all sat back down.
I held my breath during the part where Cupid asked, “If there is anyone who has an objection as to why these two should not be married, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”
Marisol dared a glance our way. Then Arthur said something, and her head turned, and her eyes were back on him. It had grown so quiet in the room that if God were to sigh from above, we’d all have heard it. Cupid looked around the room; he saw me, but he didn’t linger. His focus was on Damen, and I noticed many others were all looking to him.
Damen tensed, and his hand squeezed a bit more. I placed my other hand on his arm, unable to pry my hands away from his. “If you love her, let her go,” I whispered. “It’s all she wants.”
“Is it?” Damen rolled back his shoulders and glared at Cupid as he proceeded with the ceremony.
All the while Marisol and Arthur said their vows, Damen sat stiff as a statue. I chewed on my lip, taking off my lipstick, and my heart filled with love for the couple exchanging rings. At the same time, I absorbed Damen’s grief—not grief so much as anger. It brewed and brimmed and when he said, “Stop,” I sat and stared ahead.
Stop what?
Stop wanting to make him feel better? Stop loving?
Hadn’t I told him I wouldn’t? Didn’t he know I was there for him? I was created to love him. Always.
“You may now kiss the bride.”
Arthur reached up to push Marisol’s veil over her head, and tears slipped down my face. He treated Marisol so gently, like rearranging the clothes on a porcelain doll, to lift her veil. He took her hands, kissed each one. He kissed her, chaste, sweet, and filled with more love in that second than I’ve experienced seeing between two people in my lifetime.
I missed hearing the part where Cupid announced them, man and wife. Filled with this euphoria of giddiness, it made me lightheaded from its heady perfume. I bent forward, touching my head. The happy couple came up the aisle. Damen rose, people gasped, but I’m sure it wasn’t me they were concerned with. I glanced over and Marisol was in Damen’s arms. “Give her some air.”
“She fainted,” the man sitting behind me said.
“I’ve got her.” Arthur took her from Damen’s arms and his eyes went pitch black, and it caused a sinking feeling in my stomach.
People gathered around them in the aisle. Behind me, someone tugged me, and I glanced up. My vision had gone spotty.
Jace said, “This way.”
I stood, not bothering to look over at Damen, and I headed away with him and weaved around the people. A little tipsy, my head felt like it was filled with helium and I could float at any moment.
“This way,” Jace directed me. I reached out and held onto him, letting him lead me out of the sanctuary. Others were filing out behind the bride being carried by the groom. They disappeared down the hall.
Damen.
“I can’t believe he let go of me.”
“Take her and get out of here.” Jace took my hand and put it in another. I squinted and looked up. “Giles.”
“Hello, sis. What is this goofy grin of yours about?”
Then I frowned. Or I thought I did. I was confused. One moment I had these overwhelming feelings of giddiness and sadness and love and it was like an ocean broke open inside me. My shoulder itched and I reached back to scratch, turning and turning until I made myself dizzier.
“Joy. We got to go.” He was as anxious as when Cherish said she had cherry bites in the oven, or when Marcus sent sweet water wine for one of our birthdays. He’d have to wait. I needed to get these shoes off. I reached down and started to tug them off.
“No!” He bellowed. “Leave them on.”
I jerked back, the movement sent me off balance, and I teetered back and forth. “I need them off.”
“No.” Giles took my arms in his hands and held me steady. “You need to leave them on.”
“I can’t go down these stairs with shoes.” Silly half-brother, half-goat. “You try wearing them.”
“Joy, you got to leave your shoes on.” He tugged me downstairs. My feet had to turn sideways on the narrow stone steps, and as I tried to keep up with him, I twisted my ankle. Crying out, I went down and Giles held onto me, keeping me from tumbling down the never-ending stairs to my death. Who gets married in a monastery?
“This entire place is a death trap.” I’d said it out loud.
Shocked, Giles muttered, “Those shoes are death devices. Have you seen the length of those spikes? Really, Joy.”
“That’s why I’ve got to take them off.” I reached down and plopped one off.
Giles sucked in his breath like I’d punched him. “NO! NO! You have to leave them on! Leave them on!”
The shoe was tumbling down the staircase, and I felt sick.
Oh yeah, my stomach churned with the clatter of my shoe down the stones.
Giles picked me up and started down after it the best he could. He was about as good as a woman in stilettos with his goat hooves for feet, even if he’d wired his human disguise. As he carried me, I reached for the other shoe; the bugger had to come off. It hurt my ankle. Giles juggled me to keep me in his arms. “Joy, don’t touch that shoe. We’re lucky we’ve gotten this far since you’ve lost the one.”
“
I didn’t lose it,” I said. “I took it off.”
“Well, don’t take off the other one!” He huffed and puffed, trying to get down the stairs. No one else was around us. They must all have stayed in the courtyard waiting for the bride and groom to come out, to congratulate them.
“It was so beautiful, wasn’t it?”
“What?” he grunted.
“The wedding. Did you know Cupid would being performing the ceremony?” Oh yeah. Like he’d missed that one. Giles hefted me up. I was sure I was no light baby cherub. I glanced down at my curves. Oh yeah. I’ve got curves. Not as many as my sister Cherish, but definitely more than Faith. I let go of my shawl to try to lighten things for Giles.
Letting my head hang back, thinking it would help clear the fuzzies filling in my brain, I spotted the darkening sky and the lightning flashing in the distance. It was afternoon, or it had been. The wedding hadn’t taken long.
We were in for a storm. A big one.
Giles wouldn’t like it if it rained on us. Giles. My half-brother. The one rescuing me. Oh no! He was trying to save me. He took me from Damen. He couldn’t do that! The thread!
“Cupid is waiting?” Why does it sound like an echo of a voice in my head?
“Faith. Hope. Cherish. You there?”
“You’re going to be okay, Joy. Dad said it would happen like this. Of course, you’d have to pick a time like this!” His shoulder brushed down the side of the stone wall. We were almost halfway down the stairs. Wiggling my feet, inching the toes of my right foot against the ankle strap of the left, Giles tightened his hold around me.
“We just need to get to the bottom of the stairs.”
I wanted to help him. I wanted out of these shoes. Funny. I had wanted to keep my shoes for weeks now and Damen kept taking them. Wouldn’t let me have them. Well, I was about to be free now. Free of him. Free of Tartarus. Ha!
Except that didn’t make me happy. Why wasn’t I happy? Above, the skies continued to darken. The clouds thinned, spread out, and thunder rumbled. I glanced up the stairs, but he wasn’t there. Damen De Santis wasn’t coming after me.
It sent a splintering pain down through my heart.
Joy In Love (Daughters of Cupid Book 1) Page 13
