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"You agreed to this, Viola. Now go. They can't start without you." Plume pushes me towards the door again.
"I don't even like weddings," I say, grumbling now. I'm grasping at straws to get out of this, but she's right, I did agree to this.
"Now, go."
She rips the door open, and I take a deep breath. It'll be fine. It's a short ceremony, then it's basically just a festival. Drinking and food and dancing. And I've always liked the food at weddings. So this is fine.
I walk through the line of chairs stacked with people from Rainworth and beyond. I spot Orda sitting up front, grinning madly. She's been in Rainworth for the past year when many of the elderly came to take advantage of fae healing.
I step onto the platform and take a deep breath before I turn around. I can do this.
It's just a wedding.
No big deal.
"Nice of you to join us," Morrow says from my left, looking incredibly handsome with sleek braids that fall to his shoulder blades and a long red tunic that is piped with gold. His feet are bare, his black trousers rolled up to keep them from dragging on the ground. "You barely beat the bride."
"I'm here, aren't I?" I snap back.
When Tulip and Morrow asked me to officiate their wedding, I said no immediately. But they wore me down, and now I am here, wearing a dress because that's what Tulip wanted.
How was I supposed to say no to her?
Mace stands behind Morrow, looking so good it makes my tongue go numb. His dark hair is freshly cut, long on the top and shorter on the sides, similar to how Zeph used to wear his. It suits him well. His bright green eyes sparkle like he knows what's in my head as I drift my eyes over his body. His tall, lithe frame is clothed in all black, but like mine, his has glints of silver throughout. He's shoeless as well, his pants rolled just like Morrow's. He hands me a gold and red cord for the ceremony and then steps away, sitting in the front row. He mouths something at me, probably along the lines of "You got this," but I'm just going to pretend it was somethingfilthy.
If I have that to look forward to, this will be easier.
Tulip appears across the courtyard and walks towards us, Taegan on her arm. The two have grown incredibly close over the past two years, and looking at them side by side, they could be siblings. He kisses her on the cheek, and she steps onto the platform in front of the Equinox tree.
Her dress is incredible. It is a tight-fitting cream sheath topped with an almost see-through pink organza. Gold is piped across the bones of the corset, and chains of it keep the cap sleeves from falling down her arms. The bottom of the dress darkens as it runs down her body, fading from the lightest pink all the way to black, and gold swirls twist through it, moving with her and reaching up. Mace winks at me when I look at him, and I know he's controlling the movement of the gold in her dress. When I focus, I realize it's fireflies on the black, like they're lighting up the night sky.
"Wow," Morrow says, out of breath. "I cannot believe I am lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Neither can we," I reply. I forgot we had an audience until they laugh loudly at my comment. "Shit," I say, looking at Tulip, who's fighting back a laugh. "Sorry."
"Just marry us, Lola," she responds, reaching out for Morrow's hands.
So I do.
It's not like I've seen many weddings. I always tuned them out as I waited for the food. Instead, I speak from the heart, telling everyone gathered what these two people mean to me andhow I've watched their love grow.
"The first time Tulip saw Morrow, I thought she was going to fall out of her chair," I say, getting a laugh from the crowd.
"To be fair, I had just been kidnapped!" she says loudly.
"By my brother," Mace adds with a shrug.
It's been almost three years since we lost Zeph, and while we still grieve him, it's also easier to joke about him now. Now that Tulip, Morrow, and Mace are high priests themselves, they understand a bit more how Zeph lost his mind a little bit. Tulip said Morrow almost swam to Feria when I was there for two weeks. I regularly visit all the towns throughout Krillium, and Mace always comes with me, and sometimes Cirrha, but someone has to keep Rainworth running, so Morrow and Tulip always stay behind.
I take the red and gold cord and wrap it around their bodies, ending by tying their hands together. I look at my two friends, my family, and smile. "Your relationship was forged in fire and war. It did not follow the normal path to love that so many are familiar with. Like a good blade, heat and brutality can make it stronger."
"Wow, this is the least romantic ceremony I've ever heard," Tulip snarks.
"You're the one that asked for this," I remind her. "Regardless, so many bad things happened after I made the decision to be the vessel back then, but this is not one of them. Ask anyone, and I'll tell you I don't believe in fate. But I believe you two would have always found one another. You are two parts to the same whole.You bring out the best in one another, and anyone who has been on the receiving end of a Tulip-Morrow gang-up will tell you that you are more fierce together than the worst griffon."
Again, the audience laughs, and I grumble under my breath, "At least someone finds me funny."
"Macemace was not funny, Shadowweaver," Morrow answers and my face heats.
