Heart of darkness

Chapter Twenty Seven

The next few hours went by faster than I would have liked them to. Daphne finished up my make up and started to put on my corset.

She was right, the corset was extremely tight and I could barely breathe, let alone eat. It seemed I would be going hungry today, which isn't a good thing. I need my strength if we are able to escape today.

"How long until the ceremony?" I asked Daphne as she finished tying up the laces of my corset.

"About an hour." She stood up and walked to gather my dress. "Though before you go in the guests will have to be seated and everyone has to get in place. So that means we are behind schedule, by a half an hour."

"How do you know so much about this?" I questioned, I hadn't thought of Daphne as the type of person to remember such a long schedule.

"A sheet of paper was handed to me the day I got here. It had all the dates and time on it. The head of staff told me to memorize it 'or else'." She stated, placing my gown up and over my head.

I nodded and let Daphne fix my dress so that it fit perfectly around me. The white seemed to be even paler than the last time I wore it. The thought of me walking down the aisle to Damian made me nauseous. Though as I thought more and more, the person waiting for me seemed to change.

Instead it was now Cas. The look of complete happiness covered his face and I could feel myself sharing his joy. My cheeks began to feel warm as my imaginary self reached him and the priest began to say his speech of how love is something you can only find in the most special of places. My heart soared. He said you may now kiss the bride. I leaned in and felt my lips connecting with his.

"Aurora." Daphne said, waving her hand in front of my face. "You're drooling."

Snapping out of my daydreaming. I quickly swiped my hand over my mouth. There I could feel the wet saliva that had slipped from my mouth.

"You're going to ruin your make-up." Daphne groaned and pulled me back over to the vanity.

"Sorry." I apologized, though I silently vexed her for ruining my dream.

"It's fine. You didn't do much, just messed up your lip stick a bit." She said to running a cloth over my bottom lip before applying more of the deep red colour to it. "What were you thinking about anyway?"

"Oh nothing." I sighed, getting up and moving to the window when she finished fixing the small error I had created. Through the glass I could see the gates of the castle. Carriages were being pulled through the entrance and people began to make their way into the ballroom. I barely recognized any of them. Though I could see a few dukes and duchesses with whom I had met at the engagement ball. Much like that night, they all seemed oblivious to the true horrors of what was going on behind the scenes.

"That's fine, I already know anyway." I quickly turned to Daphne.

"What?"

"It was about Cas, wasn't it?" She said, innocence covering the knowingness in her voice.

"How do you know that?" I asked, picking up a pillow and threatening to throw it at her.

"Well, I've seen the way you look at him and also how you've been constantly nagging me about his return for the past week, it's starting to get annoying." Daphne giggled

I rolled my eyes and went back to staring out of the window. Despite my daydream being interrupted, my stomach still fluttered at the thought of his lips against mine. My heart began to ache all over for him. For the future I wished to have.

The time seemed to fly as I continued to stare out onto the people walking into the castle. I didn't even hear Calia enter the room.

"Aurora, it's time to go down." She said, placing a gentle hand on my arm.

"Right." I nodded and folded my arm into hers. Since my mother and father weren't here, Calia and I had decided that she should walk me down the aisle. "I'm ready."

I walked past Daphne, her head tilted a bit to signal that she was ready as well. Ready to escape this castle, even if Cas didn't make it in time. I gave her a knowing smile and walked out of my room, hoping this would be the last time I saw it.

"My lady, the guests are all seated and we are just waiting for the princess." A servant said to Calia as we reached the staircase. This was the first time I had heard someone call me princess, my younger self would have loved to hear that. Though now the word has lost its meaning. Now my hatred for it burned like the wax of a candle.

"Go and tell the orchestra to be ready, we will be down in a minute." Calia told the servant and he ran down the stairs.

Though I hated it, I forced my legs to move to my unwanted wedding, until I felt Calia's hold on me tighten as if she didn't want to leave.

"Aurora, I want to say that if anything goes wrong, I need you to escape. Don't worry about me, Daphne or even Lizzy. You get out." She said, her voice shaking with force.

"Calia, you can't expect me to just leave you here. With him." I said in a lowered voice. "And I can't leave Daphne here-"

"Aurora, I will be fine here. I just want you to be safe." Daphne piped up. I stared at her with fear, I didn't want to leave my best friend here. She hasn't been in this hell to know the horrors.

"But-"

"No, you will not think of me, you think of yourself for this once. I don't care what happens to me. Aurora, Lizzy told me to get you out, no matter what. And if that means sacrificing myself, then I will gladly fall." She interrupted, and I could see a small tear slip from her eye.

I wanted to say something, anything that could explain my need for her to escape, to be free of this prison. But I couldn't. Calia wanted, needed me to escape and so did Lizzy and I hadn't the slightest clue why.

So I just gave her a forced nod and continued down the stairs, Daphne close behind me.

Dread coursed through me as I descended into the entrance. I could see the castle's staff rushing around to get the food that will feed hundreds of people out onto the terrace.

"There you are, we were starting to get worried you had run off." A flower girl said, her young smile seemed to bring a bit of light into my heart. Though it was quickly snuffed out by the thought of her being here.

"I would never." I lied and gave her an empty smile. I wanted to seemed happy in front of the young girl, I didn't want to ruin her innocence with my own troubles and the terrible truths of the castle.

"Well, we should probably hurry, I looked into the ballroom and the Prince did not look happy." The girl said, grabbing my hand and pulling me over to where a line up was forming of all the people in the wedding.

She pulled me, along with Calia who still had her arm linked in mine, to the back of the line. I watched as Daphne walked in front of me to where strangers stood who seemed to be more 'bridesmaids'.

"We're ready!" The young girl yelled at a man who held the door.

I watched as he opened the doors and the orchestra began to play. Nerves surged through me as everyone began to walk.

"Ready?" Calia whispered to me as it became our turn to walk down the aisle.

"Ready."