The Heirs

CHAPTER 01 - RUNAWAY BRIDE

As the make-up artist politely requested Cyane to close her eyes, she did so and the first thing she thought about was her unhappy future.

When she was twelve years old, she was betrothed to Prince Gian Alfonsi of the Alfonso Clan. Now, ten years later, their wedding day had arrived. Except Cyane knew so much had changed in these ten years.

At twelve, when she was a child, she liked the idea of being engaged and eventually getting married to her prince charming. At fifteen, she had weaved fantasies of their love and eventual wedding. At eighteen, she realized she didn't really know Gian. At twenty, she began to question her engagement and at twenty-two, merely days before her wedding, Cyane realized Gian was in love with another woman.

No. He didn't tell her that. But she had seen him.

In the crowded ball room, seconds after their engagement was officially announced by her grandmother, Gian's eyes kept scanning the room, when Cyane had stood quietly beside him, accepting the congratulations from esteemed dignitaries. His eyes, which were dull and disappointed up until that moment, brightened and shone when they met the beautiful chocolate brown eyes of his secretary Lucinda Bianchi.

Even when the realization struck her, Cyane wondered how it felt to be loved liked that. How it felt to be that person, who could light another one. How it felt to simply be in love.

Cyane never had that. She never loved another person, who was not her family. She never got the chance. After her parents passed away, she was brought to the palace, where she was raised by her grandmother, the queen of the Sylvan Clan.

She knew the queen loved her, but she never got over the loss of her daughter Eleni, Cyane's mother, to a terrible accident that happened in the 'outside world'. In order to make sure something like that never happens again, the queen had made sure Cyane never ventured into the outside world, where everything was corrupt.

To which, she had obliged, because she never wanted to know. Until now!

In this moment, she couldn't stand here, pretending to be a happy bride in love with her to-be husband because she knew it would be a sham. She wasn't a happy bride and she had never been in love with Gian. She had known it from the start but had hoped that she would eventually grow to love him.

Her engagement ring already felt heavy on her finger and without doubt the wedding ring would be heavier.

She didn't want to marry Gian. But what else could she do? How else could she escape?

"You can open your eyes now" the make-up artist told her and hesitantly, Cyane opened her eyes.

"My, what a beautiful bride you make" her aunt Soraya gushed as she stared at the mirror. The make-up team did manage to make her look beautiful by giving peach complexion to her otherwise pale skin. Her waist length dark brown hair was curled and styled in a braided updo that simply looked elegant. But her voilet wedding gown was the show stealer because hundreds of people worked for three months to make it perfect and with thousands of gems hand sewn into the bodice, the sunrays filtering through the windows had it shining and brightening the whole room.

She did look a bride, but she didn't feel like one.

"Gian is a very lucky boy and I hope he appreciates that" her aunt carried on, wiping the tears in her eyes.

A sob got caught in Cyane's throat but she refused to let it out. Instead, she closed her own eyes.

It was too late.

Too late to do anything because hundreds of guests had arrived and within an hour, she had to walk down the aisle to keep the promise long made between her and Gian's family.