Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Ophelia moved in behind her daughter, giving her a soft smile, then lifting her arms, moving them around Pandora to rest a necklace on her skin.
“Something borrowed,” she said as she clasped it. “Lucy told me she had old handled. And I know you said Victor got you new and blue. I wanted to give you your borrowed.”
“It’s perfect,” Pandora said, reaching up to touch the single teardrop ruby on a delicate black chain that made it disappear into the dress, leaving the ruby looking a bit like a blood drop on her chest. “Thanks, Mum.”
Next, Lucy, Kora, Maribelle, and Bellatrix all got themselves into their dresses.
“Have I mentioned how much I love you for picking simple black dresses?” Kora asked. “The last wedding I was at made us wear crinolines that I swore were three yards wide. It was insane.”
“The sun is about set,” Henrietta said as she tied the final bowtie on her last male dogs. The girls were wearing little pink tutus.
The other aunts had just barely been able to talk Henrietta out of making Pandora and Victor use her dogs as flower girls and ring bearers.
“So exciting! OK. We have to go and get to our places,” Ravenna said, shooing the women out of the room.
The sudden quiet made Pandora’s ears ring.
“We need more champagne,” Kora said, pouring the bridal party another round as they waited for the knock on the door.
It came twenty minutes later.
Lucy opened the door to find Elias standing there. He was acting as a stand-in for Victor’s side of the bridal party, since the only friend Victor had was Sebastian.
“Look at you,” Elias said, gaze moving over Lucy. “All polished up.”
“Wow,” Lucy said. “Careful, that almost sounded like a compliment. Are we ready?”
“We are.” He offered her his arm.
“Ugh, fine.” Lucy chugged the last of her champagne, then grabbed her flowers and allowed him to lead her from the room.
Bellatrix, largely ignored by everyone all day, save for her own mother, followed next.
Rolling the tension out of her shoulders, Pandora followed Kora and Maribelle out of her room.
The castle was a sprawling place. And with each step, Pandora felt her nerves jangling in her bones.
Suddenly, this didn’t feel right.
Not only lying to her family.
But more so, lying to Victor.
How could she make the man marry her when he didn’t even know who she really was?
She managed to keep her worries to herself as they all walked – leaves crunching under her feet and the cool wind kicking up the ends of her hair – toward the mausoleum. Yes, mausoleum. She was getting married at a mausoleum. It was one thing her family had refused to bend on. They’d rambled on and on about traditions and family.
The only reason she’d given in was because the mausoleum actually kind of looked like the place in the Pride and Prejudice movie where Mr. Darcy first confessed his feelings to Lizzie.
It was a massive round stone structure with charmingly chipped pillars.
She could hear the rumbles of conversation from the crowd at the other side of the structure, but it was big enough that she couldn’t see anyone yet.
“Pandora?” Lucian called to her, waiting for his daughter as the rest of the bridal party moved toward the other side of the mausoleum.
And, suddenly, it just burst out of her.
“I can’t do this.”
“Do what? Get married?” her father asked, concern etched on his handsome face.
“Marry someone I’ve been lying to since I met him,” Pandora said, her stomach twisting into tighter knots. “It’s not right. I can’t stand there and say vows and make promises when I’m being dishonest with him. He doesn’t even know who I am. What I am.” Pandora was ranting now. “How can I possibly marry someone who doesn’t even know I’m a vampire?”
“Pandora, stop!” Lucian said, something in his tone making her blood freeze as she suddenly whipped around.
And there, a few feet away, completely within hearing distance, was Victor.
30
He just stood there, looking at her, disbelief and hurt taking turns playing across his handsome features. While it felt like the ground had just opened up beneath her.
“Victor,” she whispered.
At the sound of her voice, he turned and strode away.
No.
No, it couldn’t end like this.
“Go after him,” her father said as she watched his figure disappear into the darkness.
“He doesn’t want to see me.”
“Yes, he does. He’s hurt, but he does.”
Pandora wasn’t convinced. But the idea of hurting Victor made it feel like someone had ripped her heart out of her chest.
She grabbed handfuls of her skirt so it didn’t trip her up and started to rush after him.
As she rounded the mausoleum, she saw Bellatrix standing there, a smug look on her face that made Pandora think she might have had something to do with Victor coming around the back of the mausoleum at the exact right moment to overhear her.