Look Beyond What You See

Piecing the Puzzle

 Deafening silence. Where is Dmitri? Anxiety floods my consciousness, which has been set quite ill at ease by the disappearance of my necklace. Within me swirl shards and broken fragments of things I used to remember. My arms are around Kyla, whose face looks like she's feeling the same thing I am: Something just broke. I gently release her and rise unsteadily to my feet. I have to find Dmitri.

"Aerys?" a warm, velvety, anxiety-tightened male voice questions. I turn towards the voice and my eyes are captured by a pair of flaming orbs.

"Dmitri," I breathe, relieved that he is close by. For a moment, we just stand staring at each other, taking each other in. There's a hole in his tuxedo shirt, which is stained with blood. His eyes reveal tightly coiled anticipation, desire, anxiety. All I want is to set him at ease.

The next moment, we're in each other's arms, clinging to each other as though we're each afraid that the other will disappear. His lips find mine and my knees buckle as all the shards and broken fragments in my mind suddenly fuse back together. Xenia de Poitiers is gone. I'm free. We're all free.

Thunderous applause coincides with my thoughts and befuddles me greatly. Dmitri and I separate to look around with similar confusion and irritation to find that we are still at the front of the chapel, with all of our guests clapping wildly. Whether they clap for our show of affection or the deaths of the hated de Poitiers couple, I am uncertain; the MacKenna sisters, far more sure of the situation, are bowing elaborately and blowing the crowd kisses, accepting the adulation as gratitude for their fiery doings. A shuffling noise behind us catches my attention and I look to see the priest creeping out of his hiding place behind the altar. Then the applause abruptly dies down as Wesley, easily the individual with the most commanding presence in the room, rises to his feet. All eyes turn to him, but I can't help noticing Zinaida, in the spot next to him, surrounded by maids who are trying desperately to revive her from her swoon. Typical.

"Ahem. Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please," Wesley begins. I'm sure he makes this request to buy a little time to figure out exactly what to say, seeings as he already has the attention of everyone in the room except his unconscious wife. "Due to this...unexpected but entirely welcome turn of events, we will all take some time to collect ourselves. A second attempt at the holy union of Dmitri and Aerys will begin sometime this afternoon, when everyone has sufficiently recovered from our unexpected deviation from the established plan of events. Some sort of luncheon will be provided on an open-scheduled basis in the main dining room, and our staff will alert you to any changes in this plan as they are made. You are all dismissed."

The room begins to buzz with conversation and activity as everyone begins to process the disruption of our wedding and the change in plans. Many leave, undoubtedly to take a nap and find respite from the room where malevolent wisps of purple smoke and the smell of burning flesh still linger. The MacKenna sisters come directly to Dmitri and me, with Kyla trailing close behind them.

"Ye 'ave a bit o' explainin' to do, Aerys," one of the twins prompts me. Kyla's eyes meet mine, pleading for us to be alone. I need to take care of this quickly.

"We're mighty glad yer plan worked, as I'm sure ev'ryone is, but why did it work, and how did'ye know?" the other continues.

"Wait. You knew....?" Dmitri questions, dragging my attention back to him. Oops. I should have known I'd have to explain everything. "Why didn't we get rid of them before, then?"

"I found out yesterday, after my nightmare," I reply softly. All of them gather around me to better hear what I have to say. "I stole some time before bed late last night to flip through one of the genealogy books in the library. The one about my family. I thought maybe that evil witch would show up, and I was looking for anything I could use to our advantage in negotiations if she did. I never expected to find the full story of how she and my grandfather ended up together."