Heart of Radiance | Eternal Bonds: Book 3

Chapter Fifteen

AN: Hello and welcome to Chapter Fifteen! We'll begin in Gabriel's head and stay there throughout the chapter. Hope you all enjoy! Be sure to drop some comments as you read! Now onward and forward to Chapter Fifteen!

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*Gabriel*

The next day went by quickly. The meetings, last minute preparations, they were all a blur. And then before I realized it, it was evening and I putting on my suit, getting ready to marry Melisande. Leon was with me and he was trying to keep me calm.

"You look like you could use this," Leon told me as he handed me a glass of wine.

"Thanks," I told him.

"I still can't believe they kept the Drakes off of guest list," Leon said as he crossed his arms.

"They had to," I replied, "Tatiana won't risk me backing out and she knows that my family will be able to convince me to."

"They haven't this far," Leon replied, "Something did change your mind though. What happened?"

"I finally stopped lying to myself," I admitted, "And I suppose I have you to thank for that, Leon. That argument we had, made me see things differently."

"Well...you're welcome...I guess," Leon replied, unsure of how to respond, "So what do you want me to do? I can sneak you and Raine out of here." He was getting desperate and he wanted to save me from this contract. I knew that and so did he.

"You and I both know that if any one of the three of us sneaks out of here, the guards will be all over us," I replied, "There's no safe way out of this palace for us. Besides, sneaking out is going to cause tension between vampires and faeries and none of us can afford that."

"So then what do we do?" Leon asked.

"We wait for Damien's plan to unfold," I replied.

Leon groaned.

"But we don't even know what it is," he protested.

"I know," I replied, "But we'll know it when we see it."

Leon sighed.

"Okay," he relented, "Just promise me that when it comes down to it, you'll choose Raine. You owe it to yourself and her to stop living this charade and just be with her."

"That's probably the easiest promise I'll ever have to make, Leon," I told him, "But I promise."

Leon nodded, satisfied with my answer.

There was a knock on the door and Leon opened it to find Raine. She quickly entered and Leon shut the door behind her. She walked right into my arms.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, worried that she'd get caught. Women weren't allowed to see the groom prior to the ceremony in faerie culture. There were no exceptions to that custom.

"I had to see you," Raine replied.

"Did anyone see you come in here?" Leon asked her.

"No," she assured Leon, "I made sure to be careful."

Then Raine turned to me.