Page 59 of Autumn Queens & Shadows

My knees almost gave me away and I braced a hand on the wall beside us. “Isn’t this bad luck? I’m the bride and you’re the groom,” I said, stating the obvious, but I had to say it out loud to actually start believing what I was about to do soon.

“You haven’t looked at me yet and I've not looked at you, my pretty bride. But maybe we should. Why would we need good luck anyway? This marriage is doomed, whatever will come out of it will be doomed. You don’t just want me to look pretty next to your throne, do you? You wanted me. Wanting me comes with consequences. Ones that your enemies will pay, it seems.”

“Thought my intentions were clear when I picked you.”

“Were they?” He leaned in close again, his nose pressing to my hair. “I don't think they were until you realised you can use me however you want with no objection. Back then you just did it to punish me.”

“You owe me.”

“And now you own me.”

Elias cleared his throat and we both turned to him. “Marry first. I beg. A scandal is not on the list of things I am capable of dealing with.”

“You deal with whatever I ask you to deal with,” I said, trying to back away from Malik and failing when my back hit the wall.

My right-hand man let out an exasperated sigh and turned on his heels. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Ready to be wed, my bride?” Malik murmured, coming to stand close, his lips brushing against my brow before he left a little lingering peck right there.

“Are you?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Slowly walking backwards, he gave me one long once over, gaze fixing on my wrist where his necklace was wrapped around. “Perfect. Just perfect.”

Then he was gone, returning back to the small crowd occupying my throne room. Kilian was looking up at the balcony where I stood, that permanent worried scowl he always directed at me etched in all his features. I’d decided to walk to my new betrothed alone this time. With Erik, it had meant something, a union that I was going to respect and obliged to in every way a man and a woman would. What Malik and I were doing meant absolutely nothing at all. A simple contract. I wanted it to remain and feel that way. I had no intention of making a mistake twice—getting attached to him twice.

Strangely, Skadi had joined the others this time, sitting at the furthest chair from the altar, her attention entirely on Malik.

Not entirely sure why, but I noticed that I was seeking validation from her. I took her presence as one. Though we’d grown to be friends over the past ten years, she’d become a little more than that to me. And like every daughter, I too seeked a mother’s validation.

Every eye was on me as I walked over the rosy carpet to him. But I paid no mind to every eye. Only his. His eyes that were looking at me so strangely, with so much fascination that I had to take a glance down at myself to see what had caught his awe.

He helped me step in the altar podium, grinning ear to ear as he swivelled another look over my body. “Look how they wrapped you up for me. Hard to unwrap, but that’s where the fun is.”

The priest cleared his throat and Malik turned his charming smile to him. “Suppose you won’t be there for that part of it.”

Frustration and shock mixed in the priest's face. “I beg your pardon?”

“Begging, yes, I want her to make me do a lot of that soon. Hopefully in as many positions as possible.”

I choked, coughing, and he rubbed a hand down my back. More to taunt me than to relieve me of the cough. His fingers skittered over my spine, and I arched my back, standing even more straight as heat pooled in my belly and a little further below.

“That’s it, little bird. That’s it,” he cooed, rubbing my back until I could take a breath without coughing.

The priest rather took his time reading out the vows that neither of us two intended to keep. He drew them out, constantly throwing a menacing glance at Malik who had not stopped making crude comments in my ear but loud enough for him to hear, too. By the end of them, I wasn’t sure whether I or the priest were more flustered.

The whole way through, a buzzing noise had filled my head, and the moment ‘husband and wife’ were announced, all of it cleared. Malik slid my ring and then his own, his hand balling to a tight fist when it returned to his side.

This was it.

This was all it took.

“My queen,” he spoke, throwing me a serpentine grin that drew chills over my skin, leaning to nudge my nose with his.

My pulse was throwing an entire tantrum when his lips slightly grazed mine.

He was going to kiss me.

And then he wasn’t.