Nobody did, because the only person who knew all my secrets was Gracelynn. And now they were buried with her, staining her grave with my tainted past and the bitterness that came with it.
No one should ever use your weakness against you.
Little did she know…
Killian was my only weakness.
“And remember, the vows you take are sacred, my precious girl,” she finished.
Sacred vows, a broken past and a tarnished future.
Killian and I were bound to break, eventually. No matter the vows we took or the relationship we shared.
Two hours later, with the help of Selene, I found myself walking down the wide stairs of the castle.
When William Spencer said this wedding would be nothing short of royalty, I didn’t think he meant a castle. But that was exactly where my wedding was taking place.
Isle Rosa-Maria came into the Spencer’s possession in 1865. Back then it was named Isle Wingintam. But in 1875, when Marquees Wingintam decided to make the Isle his permanent home, he renamed it Isle Rosa-Maria, just before him and his bride settled here.
The Spencers were a direct descendent from Marquees Wingintam. So basically, Killian was somewhat royalty. And this Isle and the castle that came with it? They belonged to my future husband.
When I arrived here yesterday, I barely even had a chance to take a look around what would be my home for the next two weeks. There was no honeymoon, but William specifically told Killian that we were supposed to spend some time alone, as husband and wife.
Hence, the two weeks on Isle Rosa-Maria.
Where there was no paparazzi, no gossips and we would have all the privacy we needed.
Dread filled me at the thought. I could only imagine the cruelty I’d go through at the hands of Killian and there would be no one to help me.
Not when we were basically locked away from the rest of the world and trapped in, what people called, a haunted castle.
“Have all the guests arrived?” I asked Selene, gripping her hand tighter.
“They are all here and waiting for your entrance,” she responded softly. “But as promised, they kept the guest list small. The reception they’d hold two weeks from now, though, will be much grander.”
Of course.
At least my father had allowed me this mercy on my wedding day.
I had specifically asked them to keep the guest list as small as they could. Only because I knew this wedding was going to end in a disaster.
Killian was barely hanging on to the thin thread of his sanity. God knows what he’d do when he finally reached his tipping point and we didn’t need an audience for that.
“Nervous?” Selene joked, as we came down to the last step where my father was waiting for me.
“Terrified,” I breathed, before my father grasped my hand in his.
He eyed the black veil with disdain. I expected him to scold me, but instead, he gave me a soft smile, shoving his anger to the side. “You look absolutely gorgeous, my daughter. If only your mother would have seen you on this day. God bless her soul.”
The lump in my throat grew larger. “Thank you, father.”
“Call me dad today.” The emotions in his voice were unmistakeable. He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss on my forehead, over the veil. “I’m going to miss you, terribly. After Gracelynn, you were the only one keeping me together, keeping me going. And now…”
I wrapped an arm around his waist, my head on his chest and I closed my eyes, feeling my father’s heartbeat. It soothed me. “Just because I’m going to be a married woman in twenty minutes doesn’t mean I’ll stop being your daughter.”
“Ready to walk down the aisle?” he asked.
In response, I wrapped my hand around the crook of his elbow. He patted the back of my hand while Selene handed me my bouquet of white and pink roses. Then, we walked through the double wooden doors and into the castle’s chapel.
The sight of it would have taken my breath away – the flowers, the decorations, the beautiful sunlight casting through the wide panels of the chapel – but none of it compared to who was waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
Killian had his back to me and he didn’t even bother to turn around to watch me walk down the aisle to him. My heart accelerated and my palms grew sweaty the closer I got.
His feet were slightly apart, his arms down to his sides, his fists clenched and his back stiff. He looked more like he belonged in a military formation than his own wedding.
The moment I stood beside him, his jaw tightened and I swore, the muscle in his left cheek almost popped with how hard he was gritting his teeth.
My father clasped Killian by the shoulder. “She’s yours now.”
And that was it.