ONE MONTH LATER
Alori woke up and rolled over, seeking the familiar comforts of warm skin and cinnamon. But Taelan wasn't in bed with her. She peeled her eyes open and glanced across the room. A sumptuous lavender gown hung suspended in front of her wardrobe, the intricate beadwork in the tulle skirt catching the soft morning light and glimmering with iridescence that reminded her of her shield over Ville-Saseum.
Liahfey had outdone herself this time, designing a wedding dress fit for a future queen. It was both elegant and understated, qualities Alori hoped to emulate.
The clock on her side table confirmed it was too early for anyone to be knocking, but that wouldn't last long. Since relieving her maid of her duties, Alori had enjoyed attending to herself. At the Conservatory she'd learned that it didn't take an excessive amount of magic to tighten a corset or pin her hair back, and she was disinclined to wear the type of dresses that required much fuss, anyway. There was also the fact that Taelan had been with her each night, eager to lend as many hands as needed, for as many purposes as she could name. The privacy was nice, and Alori was starting to think she might not need a dedicated lady's maid. But things would be different today. The knocks would come, eventually. The hustle and bustle of assistance was inevitable on one's wedding day!
The past several weeks had been a welcome respite after the drama that had enshrouded her fateful trip to the Conservatory. Life had started to feel normal again. Better than normal, in fact. The days had been lovely, almost surreal, like she was living in a happy dream. Alori couldn't wait to see Taelan at the altar in his traditional Ville-Youan suit. The rigmarole was all a bit tedious and over the top, but it would be worth it. At the end of the day, they would be wed.
Not that the law needed to recognize their union. Every official in the Ville-Realms could have refused their marriage license, and Alori would still have chosen Taelan to walk beside her down the aisle today, and forever afterward.
Her pulse quickened as she passed the chaise longue on her way to the washroom. Steamy memories had her regretting that her fiancé had spent the night downstairs with Reeve and Yuka, catching up on everything the latter two had missed since they'd returned to the Conservatory.
Their visiting bard friends didn't know it yet, but Taelan would be offering them roles in Alori's court. After a lengthy discussion with her father and his advisors, Alori had decided to appoint Reeve and Yuka as Bard Liaisons to the Crown. If they accepted the promotion, they would begin working under direction of the future queen and bard prince as honorary council members. Some within the court were bound to find the appointments queer and unorthodox, as a few of the sitting councilors had done. Bards weren't traditionally members of the queen's advisory, aside from the bard prince, but Alori couldn't forget how well they'd worked together in Ville-Tokki, and it seemed like a missed opportunity not to maximize her strengths. If a war with demons was brewing, they needed to be prepared. Even if that meant her new liaisons would have to push through any awkward lingering tension.
Alori wasn't overly worried. There was already more positive than negative energy between the four of them. Taelan meant the world to her, and Yuka was finally starting to show Reeve the respect their relationship deserved. The rest would hash out sooner or later. Like anything else, it would just take time.
The first knock sounded on Alori's antechamber door as she was finishing up her bath. Was it ten already?
She smoothed her hands down the length of her robe, took a steadying breath, and went to greet Taelan's mother.
Mrs. Lee had been at the palace eight days now, and planned on making the move permanent once her affairs were settled. Alori had come to find out Taelan's mother ran a successful florist shop in Ville-You, and the palace had used her talents on occasion. Prior to a week ago, Alori hadn't realized just how many plants and flowers were native to each realm. Taelan's mother had insisted on lending a hand in procuring floral arrangements for the wedding, and Alori was grateful for the help, but none of that made her less nervous as another knock came at the door.
It wasn't everyday your mother-in-law stepped in for your late mother to help you dress for your wedding.
"Good morning, Mrs. Lee."
"Good morning, Your Highness, or should I say, dear daughter?"
Alori allowed herself to be pulled into the petite woman's embrace. Taelan's mother was small and slender like her son, with the same dark hair and expressive gray eyes. She wore an elegant wrap-style dress with large red flowers embroidered on a cream base. Her silky hair was twisted into an elaborate bun and secured in place with decorative pins that came dangerously close to taking out Alori's eye.
Alori stepped back, ushering Mrs. Lee into her apartments with a question.
"Have you seen Taelan yet this morning? I meant to remind him not to go walking in his new boots. Yesterday he was halfway out the door before I noticed."
"I believe half the staff has reminded him." Mrs. Lee's pretty smile accentuated the few fine lines around her eyes. She must have been nearing forty, but it was difficult to tell. Age had been kind to her.
"I hate to be a mother hen," Alori huffed teasingly, "but those boots are white! Who goes out in dark trousers and white boots?"
Truth be told, she found her fiancé's recent foibles sweet.
Mrs. Lee chuckled. "It's nerves. Tae always was a bit shy, not big on attention."
Should she have known he was anxious? Taelan hadn't said word one to indicate he was uncomfortable with their impending nuptials. Not that it was particularly surprising, but she'd assumed he'd have told her if he was overwhelmed.
"There will be hundreds of people in attendance today. Do you think it's too much?"
"No, kit, don't you worry over it."
The first time Mrs. Lee had called Taelan kit, Alori assumed it was a pet name reserved for her only son, but it turned out Taelan's mother used the diminutive on anyone under a certain age. Kit was a term of endearment in Ville-You, an homage to the realm's cultural affinity for foxes.
"My boy made his choice to pursue you many years ago. He knows what he's getting himself into and will face it head on, because he loves you."
"Thank you, Mrs. Lee. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help today."
The pins and needles sensation creeping down Alori's spine was replaced by a wave of unexpected emotion. But if Taelan could face a massive crowd for her sake, she could endure a few minutes of rare motherly comfort without crying.
Mrs. Lee smiled knowingly. "It's the least I can do. You saved my son's life once, and mine. I can never thank you enough." Her soft voice caught in her throat, her dark gray eyes shining in the bright morning light. "Tae has always been gifted, but it still feels like a dream that my boy is marrying the angel who rescued us on that horrific night so many years ago. I don't know how he managed to pull it off."
"Well, he was dedicated." Which was an understatement, if Alori had ever heard one. "That, and he was raised well."
"Thank you. It isn't easy to raise a boy without his father, but I tried my best." Mrs. Lee blushed, fussing with the dark red ribbon tied around her waist. "Now, let's see this lavender gown I've heard so much about from your sister." She clapped her hands to lighten the mood, breezing across the room to stand in front of the wardrobe.
Alori watched with detached fascination and a dull pang of sadness as Mrs. Lee peeled over the craftsmanship of Liahfey's couture design, studying the simple yet effective boning in the bodice, which had been added as a replacement for a more traditional corset.
"The detail is breathtaking," she murmured, gushing over the intricacy of the stitches and beading in the gown's flowing skirt.
Would the queen have reacted similarly to Liahfey's talents, had she lived long enough to discover them? The eldest princesses had still been children when their mother had become too ill to engage in most daily activities. It had never occurred to Alori that dresses and jewelry and frilly things might have lost their appeal because she'd been denied a proper introduction to them.
The return of a mother's example was one gift Alori hadn't expected out of her marriage, but she was grateful for it. Hamoni had been a goddess-send, and would always hold a sacred place in Alori's heart, but she could get used to having Mrs. Lee around. Taelan's mother was every bit as kind and thoughtful as he was. It was no wonder he had turned out so lovable.
Alori welcomed the familiar emotion settling into her chest with bittersweet acceptance, knowing that some things hurt as they healed.
"Yes," she said to Mrs. Lee, a little belatedly, running her hand along the delicate embroidery of the wedding gown she would soon be wearing. "My sister has quite a talent for fashion."
A noise jarred the door, startling both women away from the wardrobe. It was more of a bang than a proper knock.
A flash of fear raced through Alori, but she knew she was overreacting. Not every bump and thud was a bad omen. Proving the point, Liahfey barged into the room in her typical carefree style, holding a tray of pastries and fruit balanced on her arm, a trick Alori was surprised to see her pull off without the help of magic. It wasn't everyday– or ever– that the younger princess waited on her older sister, or anyone for that matter. But Alori was glad to see her excitement. Liahfey had worked hard on the gown design for weeks. She deserved to enjoy the day, too, however it pleased her.
"Scone or biscuit?" Liahfey pointed to the fruity, powdered offerings. "Good morning, Mrs. Lee," she added upon noticing Taelan's mother mooning over Alori's jeweled kitten heels. "Aren't those shoes amazing...? There's enough treats here for everyone to have a couple. Personally, I recommend the caramel-chip scones." She dipped at the knees, easing the tray onto the tea table in the reading nook, like she'd practiced the trick a hundred times. "Ira wanted to come, but I made her stay back with Ari. They can both see you after you're fed and dressed. We don't need children crowding you this morning."
Alori raised an eyebrow. "They're fourteen."
"Precisely. This tradition is for women."
"Speaking of which," Alori said, in an attempt to hide her amusement, "where is Hamoni?"
As if on cue, the antechamber door swung open again. The marchioness' rich laughter echoed into the room.
"Good morning, my dears," Hamoni announced, finishing the boisterous conversation she'd been having in the corridor. A deep forest green dress brought out the sparkle in her eyes. The crystal atop her cane had been replaced with a matching translucent green gemstone. "I've been on my way here for the past half hour, but every time I see someone I end up chatting with them!" She pushed the door shut with her cane and ambled across the room. "My eldest granddaughter is getting married today, in case you hadn't heard."
"You don't say?" Alori grinned and crossed into the antechamber, her arms outstretched for a hug. Embraces usually made her uncomfortable, but today she was feeling generous.
"My dear, sweet Alori, no one deserves this fairytale moment more than you." Hamoni patted the back of her Alori's head, then drew back, waggling her silver eyebrows. "Now, shall we get to your hair and makeup first, or does that go on last? I'm too old to remember these things anymore."
"First." Liahfey pulled out the chair from Alori's vanity, beckoning her sister with an excited gesture. "Hair and makeup is always first. I'll do the honors."
Alori chuckled softly. Her sister would know.
Hamoni grabbed a scone and took up residence in the rocking chair. "I'll watch from here. These pastries taunted me all the way up the stairs. I must have one... or two."
An odd, elusive feeling overcame Alori as she sat down before her vanity and looked in the mirror. She'd been told she resembled her mother most of all her siblings, and that peering into her eyes was like gazing into the past, but Alori had never felt her mother's presence in her own reflection. She'd often felt sad that she wasn't able to make that connection, but this time something was different. Maybe it was because she was feeling a bit removed from reality, like she truly was in a fairytale; or maybe it was just that she was getting older, closer to the age her mother had been when she'd known her.
Whatever the cause, when Alori looked into the mirror this time, she saw her mother smiling back at her. There were only four women in the room, each supportive in their own unique way, but a fifth watched over them from behind the glass, extending her blessing and eternal love from the great beyond.
A niggling tear slid down Alori's cheek as Liahfey began brushing her hair, but she managed to wipe away the moisture before anyone noticed. Eventually she gazed past her own image, focusing on the smiling faces of the joyful women standing behind her. They were each so different, but their impact on her life would never go unnoticed. A small part of her wondered if her mother had played a part in sending them to her, to fill the void she had never wanted to leave behind.
As always when she thought about the hands of fate, Alori's thoughts wandered to the man who would stand beside her at the altar, promising a lifetime of his dimpled smiles and faithful support. Had her mother brought him to her as well?
In those quiet, poignant moments before the most important day of her life– in the room she'd grown up in, and found a love deeper than she'd thought possible– Alori felt a sort of contentment, a kind of peace she hadn't known in far too long.
♪♫♪
Royal weddings were an extravagant affair, but Alori had begged her father to keep the guest list and public aspects of the event minimal. Crowds didn't particularly bother her, but she had never liked the idea of wasteful opulence. No one needed grand ice sculptures and parade processions to celebrate the sanctity of marriage. Alori and Taelan had both agreed on a more modest wedding.
At the time, she hadn't realized Taelan might have been motivated by stage fright. Although he was a performer, he wasn't ostentatious. Thankfully the king had been easy to dissuade from his original idea of having the newlyweds perform a spectacle in front of the palace steps at dusk. It turned out there were at least a couple of things her parents had done that Alori didn't have any intention of repeating. The longer she was with Taelan, the clearer it became that they needed to forge their own path. The former queen and bard prince had set a beautiful example, but she and Taelan were different people with their own personalities and convictions. They would do better to mold their own reign than to blindly repeat history, and Alori was more than ready to begin.
In keeping with tradition, the ceremony was held on palace grounds in the Church of the Pentagon Order, its distinct conical roof topped with a five-pointed star marking it as a place of holy worship. The church itself was not overly large, as royal standards went. Ville-Saseum's purple banners emblazoned with the Villenata family crest typically hung below the cathedral windows on both sides of the chapel, but one side had been replaced with the white banners of Ville-You and their crest of a snowy fox perched on a cliff. Alori's family and the king's councilors crowded the pews to the left side of the altar, while Taelan's much smaller group of relatives just filled the first pew on the other side of the aisle. Behind them were honored guests from all over the Ville-Realms, including the ambassador to Ville-You and certain esteemed members of the court.
Reeve and Yuka were among the quartet of bards playing traditional wedding songs while the last guests were seated and the bride's attendants congregated near the entrance. Happy smiles lit their faces when they spotted Alori around the corner from the chapel's arched doorway.
The king was standing close by, waiting in his finest regalia to walk her down the aisle. He greeted Alori with a quivering smile and dark glossy eyes.
"You look beautiful, Ali. Absolutely stunning."
Alori dipped her head, golden ringlets sliding in front of her shoulders. She reached up a gloved hand, in case her tiara decided to topple off. "Thanks Papa," she whispered, holding out her other arm to him.
They waited until the music transitioned to the bride's processional, then stepped onto the carpet that had been rolled out along the center aisle. Alori glanced up, taking in her first unimpeded view of the chapel, her gaze immediately drawn to Taelan in his handsome white suit. Something like magic lightened her step as she advanced toward him. He stared at her almost without expression, but Alori knew better. It wasn't a lack of emotion he was feeling. The day he'd thought beyond his reach for the past eleven years, and the life he'd dedicated himself to achieving at any cost, was finally his.
No, it was finally theirs.
Alori willed her hands not to shake off her arms as each step brought him nearer. She would have gladly kept her focus fixed on him, but she wasn't ready to start crying.
Familiar faces turned and smiled as she walked past them on the king's arm, some dabbing their eyes with kerchiefs. Alori spotted Paladin Kors toward the back of the room, seated with a few other paladins she recognized but couldn't name off the top of her head, all of them dressed in formalwear that looked out of place on their large warrior physiques. Kors nodded stiffly and Alori smiled in return. Farther up on the same side of the aisle, a shock of bright white hair stood out above a sea of varying neutral shades. A much smaller woman with darker skin and wavy black hair sat beside him. Patrollers Fox and Myka, one grinned and the other raised a hand in the patrollers salute. They hadn't been formally commended yet, though it was in the pipeline. Their invitation to the wedding had been meant as a kind of stepping stone to that end. Before they left, Alori intended on offering them trial positions in Ville-Saseum. The Moon Cherry Blossom Festival was in two months, and they could use the added security during the busiest time of year. Especially this year.
Alori reprimanded herself, silently. Why was she thinking about these things, during her wedding? Maybe she was as nervous as Taelan, subconsciously distracting herself from breaking down into a mess of tears in front of their guests... Or maybe, somewhere in the back of her mind she was worried that the lull of peace they'd been graced with this past month wouldn't last.
Her nails gouged into her palm until she had to remind herself to unfold her fingers.
Now was not the time for macabre thoughts. If anyone saw her face and assumed she was doubting her decision to marry Taelan, she would be mortified.
Her father squeezed her arm, sensing her nerves. Focus. Taelan is waiting for you.
The voice in her head sounded just like the king's, cool and confident.
Despite her trepidation, the aisle was shorter than it looked. Alori's sisters and brother giggled and waved as she stepped up to the altar in front of them. Hamoni blew her a good luck kiss, her keen eyes winking with pride. She was sitting next to Tomso, of all people.
Whatever made the old lady happy, Alori supposed. Like her grandmother had said some weeks ago, their time on Eala was limited. If the chubby conductor made the marchioness feel young and lovely again, Alori would be the first to support their bizarre little affair.
The king bowed, pressing his lips to Alori's glove. Before she realized it, he'd taken his seat on the other side of his mother, closest to the aisle. Alori turned to face Taelan.
The chapel and soft chatter behind her fell away when their eyes met, and this time all her doubts vanished. They might as well have been standing alone together in the twilit abyss, the place where his love had called her back to him. Taelan said nothing but she could hear his voice, affirming his promise to stay beside her through any storm that might arise. They didn't need a public decree, or even spoken words to seal their bond. Today was nothing but a formality.
A priestess wearing Ville-Saseum's sacred silver vestments raised her arms to mark the start of the ceremony. Her name was Macari. She was a disciple of the Pentagon Order, a denomination of believers who lived in devout worship of the five goddesses. Alori and Taelan had met with her twice in the past week to establish the sermon and practice reciting their vows.
Alori would have liked to say she was the picture of pious concentration as the priestess officiated the ceremony, but as much as she revered the goddesses and considered herself a spiritual person, she had never been very religious. Besides, she had heard the sermon already. She and Taelan had recited their vows to each other in private multiple times, in more ways than one. What mattered was how she felt in her heart, and no orchestrated series of speeches would change that. But as custom demanded, she reacted when necessary, at least often enough to keep heads from turning and jaws from dropping.
When it was time for her to crown her bard prince in the eyes of the goddesses and the law, her father handed her the silver circlet he had worn when her mother was queen. Alori stepped across the raised dais toward Taelan, holding it out in front of her with trembling hands.
This was the one tradition that mattered. Seeing the crown on Taelan's head would be a symbol to all that she had found her partner, that she no longer had to bear the burden of Shieldmaker alone. Her bard prince would be with her, the inspiration behind her magic and the framework behind her strength.
Her quiet composer looked so elegant in his old-fashioned suit with its high collar and clean straight lines. His gray eyes sparkled as he tilted his head down in solemnity.
A flutter of emotion rushed through Alori as she placed the crown gently over his raven-black hair.
"By the power vested in me by the grace of the goddess Nyromi, and with Akora's blessing," Macari recited, "I hereby name you Taelan Shin Lee Villenata, Royal Bard Prince of Ville-Saseum, Consort to the Crown Princess and Shieldmaker of Ville-Saseum, the Ville-Realms' Future Queen, Alori Darosa Villenata."
It was a mouthful and a half, but then it was over. At last.
The ceremony had dragged on for so long that Alori was surprised at the abrupt ending, even though she'd known it was coming. The chapel rang with echoes of rigorous clapping as Taelan drew her into his arms. He pressed a tender kiss to her lips, holding her face in his hands.
"I love you," he whispered with smiling eyes, his fingers brushing the edge of the silver collar around her neck. "My queen."
"I love you, too," she mouthed back, reaching for his hand. "My prince."
Perfect, Alori thought as they started down the aisle together. Nothing in her life had ever felt so perfect.