Lord Beast

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The woman staring back at her in the mirror was a different woman than the one she had been two weeks ago. Hollow, empty blue eyes returned her forlorn stare while inside, her body quivered with the urge to flee, to run away, to escape the horror she now found herself in.

Danielle Carmichael was about to marry a man who hated the very air she breathed.

There was no denying that now and she had tried persistently hard to tell herself that Rhys would come round, that he'd be the wonderfully sensuous man she had fallen in love with.

But he hadn't. He'd grown even more distant and colder with each passing day, spurning her attempts to rekindle the spark that had existed between them with a chilling, emotionless fury that made Dani fear him.

What should be one of the happiest days in her life was turning out to be the worst. She couldn't understand her fate, why someone would want her to be utterly miserable, and as she expressionlessly took in her appearance, the urge to scream out a hysterical sob nearly overwhelmed her.

The gown was beautiful, lovingly designed and moulded to her exact shape. White, with silver and gold threading, it swept down to her feet in shining waves. Dani had never been privileged to wear something so wondrously exquisite and she mourned the manner in which the man she was wearing it for would appreciate it not at all.

Victoria smiled approvingly from over her shoulder. "You look... breath-taking, Dani," she said gently. "Truly lovely."

Her eyes filled with tears and her throat constricted with agony. It was already raw from crying almost consistently for two weeks straight. It was ridiculous that the human body could produce so much liquid. Surely she should have dehydrated by now? Anything, anything, to quell the flood of sobs that wracked her body on an increasingly regular occasion.

"Oh, dear," Victoria mumbled sympathetically and reached for a

handkerchief from the vanity inside Dani's chambers. Silently, she walked over to her and dabbed at the tears beginning to squeeze out the corners of her eyes. "There now. You don't want to look splotchy on your wedding day, do you?"

More tears squeezed out at the show of kindness from the person closest to her and Dani sobbed, "I don't want to have a wedding day!"

Vicky sighed and relented, allowing the tears to slip down Dani's cheeks.

She was not a delicate crier and for days her face was swollen and red. When she walked down the aisle to meet Rhys, she would certainly not look the part of a happy bride.

"Things will turn out for the best," she told Dani tenderly.

"I wish people would stop saying that to me," Dani retorted bitterly, the flow of tears somewhat subsided now as they were replaced by her frustration and anger. "I'm sick of it. Things are not alright now and I am marrying a man who clearly doesn't want me."

She glared at her reflection heatedly, fervently wishing the dress would disintegrate into flames on her very body. He did not deserve her to look so pretty for him on their wedding day. He deserved to be as miserable as he had made her. Oh, it was all so horrible and Dani vividly recalled, with humiliating clarity, her many attempts at reconciliation, right up until last night.

Each time she had come away feeling worse than before. But last night... last night had been the worst.

Having come to the conclusion that Rhys might warm up to her again if she were to approach him alone at Falmouth, she had done just that and had come across Grayson asleep against the stairs.