Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97577 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
When he broke away, he rested his forehead on mine.
“We’re going to have to stop at home to get the ring,” he said.
He kissed me one more time and ran back to the sail. I just stood there, shaking. This was crazy. I was marrying him so I could keep dating him.
I was marrying him because everything felt good.
I was marrying him because I liked him...a lot.
Chapter 24
For a royal to get married in Ersovia, you needed the blessing of the sovereign. Once given, the press would be told a month after the proposal, and the wedding would then take place seven months after that. The sons of the reigning monarch needed to be married in Brauenburg Abbey by the Archbishop, and the day would be a public holiday so everyone could watch the bride come down the abbey road in a red and gold carriage, surrounded by six royal guards on horseback. The bride of the Adelaar had a train fifteen feet long, and she wore a golden crown. The wife of every other prince could have a train of no more than eight feet, and her crown would be made of white and silver diamonds. There were no surprises. There were no spur-of-the-moment decisions. Everything about that day would be planned to the last detail.
It would be the exact opposite of today.
Sitting at a round table in an empty courthouse because we were late, there was a licensed notary still there who offered to help us. All we needed was the sixty-seven-dollar fee for the actual marriage license that went to the county auditor and to fill out the marriage license application.
“Sir.” Iskandar’s grip on my shoulder was like iron. “Please wait until we hear from your brother.”
“Isn’t this the news he’s been waiting for anyway.”
“Yes, however—”
I looked back at him. “You are ruining my wedding day, Iskandar. Passport.”
He stared at me, begged me, but I just held out my hand, waiting. He looked to Wolfgang, who was still on the phone. He shook his head, meaning he could not get hold of my brother.
“Iskandar, have you ever heard the saying it is better to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission?” Odette spoke to him with such a calm and steady confidence when the woman left our table to get her stamp.
“Iskandar, passport,” I said again.
Frowning, he begrudgingly reached into his suit jacket and gave me the Bordeaux-red passport, and I flipped it open, writing down the numbers.
“Edgar DeLacour?” Odette read over my arm.
I nodded, whispering, “It wasn’t a complete lie. Edgar was one of my names, and DeLacour was my mother’s maiden name. We use different names if we are traveling under the radar, but it is legally me.”
“It fits your formal accent, at least.” She giggled, signing her signature at the bottom.
I shoved my elbow into her, and she shoved back.
“Good, you both are finishing,” the older woman said, coming back to us. “When the legal part is done, we can do a small ceremony. Do you have any vows you would like to say?”
We both looked at each other.
“No, it’s okay—”
“Actually, I do,” I said. Looking at her, she stared at me with her brown eyes wide, and she shook her head. Leaning closer to her, I whispered into her ears the truth, “Odette, because of you, I laugh, I smile, and I dare to dream of a future that is worthy of poets. The reasons that brought us together weren’t the best or the most romantic, but I am glad for them nevertheless, and I swear to you that from now until the day I die, your dreams are my dreams. Your joy is my joy. Your pain is my pain, and I will never betray you. You are now my body, my mind, my soul, and my heart. You are my sun, my moon, and all of my stars.”
I kissed the side of her cheek before moving my head back.
“No fair,” she whispered, resting her forehead against mine. “What can I possibly say back to that?”
“Promise me you will be patient with me on the days I am not so romantic.”
“I promise,” she said gently, her lips just above mine, but just as I was about to kiss her, the woman beside us both spoke.
“Then, by the power vested in me by the great the state of Washington, I now pronounce you man and wife.”
Holy hell.
Holy blood hell.
I didn’t know what to think. We just grinned, then thanked the woman and left. Odette was silent as we entered back into our car. Her hand was still in mine, and she was right beside me. But I got the sense that her mind was reeling based on the dazed look in her eyes. If not for the fact that I was so captivated by her, I was sure my mind would be spinning, too. She was holding me together, and a part of me was wondering when we’d both snap out of it. Every few moments, she turned her hand over to stare down at the ring I had given her—the ring my mother had hidden in the fold of my bag to make sure she would get it. The diamond was red and in the shape of a teardrop, set in a gold band, surrounded by a dozen smaller white diamonds at the bottom end of it. It was a two-part ring, and the second half was normally given during the wedding ceremony, but seeing as no one thought we would elope, that part was still back in Ersovia. I would explain all of that later, but right now, I was letting her process. I looked up at Iskandar, expecting him to be calling my brother again, but he was just staring blankly out the window.