The Target of His Heart (An Assassin's Creed Fanfic)

Ch. 27: The Wedding

“Forgive me, my dear,” he pleaded in a low tone so others would not hear him. I did not look at him nor did I respond. He continued, “I wish there was some way...that I could earn your forgiveness and start over.”

“Stop this...” I muttered a response to his words. “Stop all of this once and for all, and maybe...I will consider forgiving you.”

He remained silent after the suggestion, making my head fall a bit. That was all I needed to know when it came to how much he truly cared for his daughter. It gave me the impression that he was not even going to try to do anything at like I had requested, just like I had anticipated. It only gave me the idea – one that I had known from the start – that he just did not care at all about the happiness that he had sought for his own daughter. Glancing forward in order to remain focused, I noticed the maids, Diana included, had already lined up near the priest; Abel and the priest were waiting for me. Each one had a smile on their face, all except for the auburn haired French woman, whose smile disappeared as soon as she looked at me. She simply watched me, her eyes filled with something I had never seen before: pain and regret. Green eyes narrowing, I looked away from her. I no longer wished to look at the woman who had betrayed me, who had betrayed her friends after doing what they felt needed to be done in order to stay safe.

As my father and I walked to the center of the aisle, my bridesmaids slowly lined up, with Diana at the front. I chewed on the inside of my cheek, resisting the urge to growl at the pathetic sight. My father did not notice my frustration, which was good enough for me, or he just tried not to worry about it and keep his eyes forward. I, then, sighed as the music started to play. My arm slowly linked with my father’s, yet I still refused to look up at him. Instead, I simply decided to look forward, keeping on the façade that I was just as happy as ever to be married. Everyone immediately got to their feet, turning to face us in near unison. Each and everyone wore an excited smile, happy to see that their future was turning for the better – or that was what they thought, anyway. After a moment, my father and I slowly began our trek towards the altar while I quickly faked a smile to the people I knew.

As much as I wanted people to know I did not want to be here, marrying an ungrateful man who had very little sympathy for the people, there was nothing more that I could do now. Unless my father spoke up, unless he called everything off for good, I could not stop it all by myself. Even if I could say no, Abel had a way to convince me: he had my friends, he had Altaïr, and he would use them against me should I refuse to marry him. My father, now, was the only one to stop of this. Yet, even he refused to do anything despite not outwardly saying so. He may have said he was doing what he thought would make me happy in the future, but he did not truly mean it. He still could not see the evil in Abel’s heart nor could he see the pain that had overwhelmed me over the fact that not only that I was marrying a man I did not love. As I said, there was nothing I could do to escape it. The only thing I could hope for at the present time...was a miracle. A miracle that Malik would reach my friends in the nick of time. A miracle to see my beloved Altaïr again.

Before I knew what was happening, I soon noticed that my father’s arm was gone and I was standing next to Abel by myself, all alone once again. A smile was on my fiancé's face, yet even I knew it was fake. Glaring at him for a brief moment, I chose to look away, only to find myself looking at Diana’s apologetic expression staring at me. She seemed to be trying to send me some sort of message, but I did not want to hear it. Now, I glared over at her, mouthing a small “Traitor” in her direction. She reacted by lowering her head and looking away from me, the guilt once again playing on her features. Instead of glaring at her for any longer, I looked away from her, staring at the ground in front of me instead of anything else.

“You seem...distracted, Cynthia.” I slowly glanced up at Abel, who simply smiled as the priest started to speak. Obviously, he did not notice him speaking to me, or he did not mind at all.