Hands Stained Red

Twenty ~ Rya

I cant even force a smile on my face as Irina curls my hair into waves. She sighs as she lets the last curl fall and grabs my shoulders, leaning down to look in the mirror.

"This is shit," I tell her in her native Russian because I know how much she hates English. Irina likes things to be done properly, which is why she's so good at her job, and her lack of fluency in English irks her.

She laughs and kisses my forehead, "It may be, but you look like a goddess." She pushes herself up and I groan as she walks away and unzips the dress bag, "Your gown awaits."

I stand up and turn to look at the dress. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't dreamed of my wedding dress before. I wanted a proper ball gown, maybe with some long lace sleeves. The dress in front of me is nothing like that and maybe that's why I chose it.

As I stand here, I realise that after today, Rya Guerreiro dies and Rya Flynn is born. The dress is very like something that Rya Flynn would wear as she's in charge and looks fucking incredible there.

Rya Prescott, the impossible fantasy of a girl, would wear my dream dress. Rya Flynn gets this incredibly low cut dress with an extremely long train.

I put it on and smooth out the fabric with my hands, rubbing my finger along the neckline which goes from my shoulders nearly to my waist. Irina pulls the train out behind me and I slip on my heels.

I turn and look at her in her grey suit trousers, black lace bralet and a match grey blazer. Her blonde hair is slicked back against her head and she looks amazing.

She claps her hands together and presses them against her mouth as she looks me up and down, "Why did you ask me to help you get ready? Why not your mum, or Kira?"

I sigh, "I know how much my Mum hates today and seeing her worked up would set me off. And Kira is too nice to tell me how it is."

She steps back and nods, sitting down on the bed, "Well today looks to go ahead without a hitch but this is a Guerreiro wedding so I'd expect a few hiccups. Your dad has been telling people not to mention Quinn to you but once people get a drink in them that rule will probably go out of the window so be prepared for that. Your mum's parents showed up even though we didnt think they brought gifts that might actually be legal in this country so that's nice of them."

I roll my eyes at her, "I give it until the first dance until something kicks off."

She laughs and then frowns at me, "Have you and Kaden ever kissed before? And I mean other than when bumping uglies."

I scowl at her crude words but then I realise that we havent. Kaden and I have never just kissed for the sake of kissing and I've never wanted to. Now we're going to have to for the first time in front of a ton of family members.

The door opens before I can tell Irina this and Kira gasps as she sees me, "You look amazing."

I smile back at her because she sounds genuinely happy, "Thank you for telling me about this place. I never would've found it and I love it?" Honestly I hate the idea of getting married in the middle of fucking nowhere surrounded by cabins in a forest but I'm not going to tell Kira that.

She nods, "It was actually Poppy you should thank. She was telling me that her family has a cabin here but it's getting renovated at the moment and when I looked into it I saw they did weddings. Only 20 minutes from where you've been staying too."

"What can I help you with?" I ask her.

She freezes for a second as she tries to remember what she came in to tell me, "Oh yeah, that's everything set up and your Dad is waiting for you by the front door. I came to get Irina so that everyone would be seated."

Irina nods at me as she walks out and Kira runs over to hug me, "You're going to be great," she whispers in my ear and then pulls back. I put a smile on for her sake and keep it there until she leaves.

I give myself a second to collect my thoughts. Mainly to remind myself that I'm doing this for Mylo, without this marriage he'll have to go back to New York and he'll be killed. Also, if I pull out of this marriage it'll be a massive fuck you to the Petrovs and I'll lose all the respect I've fought for during the majority of my life.

When I've regained a sense of composure, I scoop up my bouquet of roses and head out to where Dad is standing.

He looms more nervous than me and it makes me laugh. He turns at the sound of me coming and he grins, "Minha, you look beautiful."

Tears prick at my eyes as I can nearly hear Alexander, knowing exactly what he would say, "Let me take a look at you, passerota. Just what I thought, perfection."

It's what he said whenever i dressed up as a kid. Even when I got older he would say it whenever I decided to dress up a little, or even whenever I was feeling a little low. I had always thought that it would be him to walk me down the aisle.

I feel fingers on my face and Dad smiles down at me, "If it makes you feel any better, my first wedding was a bit of a disaster. My new step mother showed up, I fell out with my father, got embarrassingly drunk and then fell asleep in my mistress's bed and threw up on her."

I start to laugh and he chuckles, pulling me in for a hug and nearly toppling me in my heels.

He hooks my arm in his and we turn to the door where I can hear bagpipes playing and I start to laugh again, "Was that mum's idea?"

Dad nods, "She guessed it would piss off the Petrovs. Well that's what she told me anyway, I think she just wanted a piper because we didnt have one at ours."

I take a deep breath and hold my bouquet by my chest, "Right then. Let's do this."