The blood pounding in her ears made it almost impossible to hear anything but she just barely heard the sound of knuckles knocking on the door and suddenly she remembered her handmaid awaiting them outside. She couldn't make love to her husband-to-be with her handmaid and all of her guards just on the other side of the door.
"Ignore it." Theo sounded pleading when she stepped out of his arms and prepared to call out to whoever had knocked.
"It might be something for the wedding, something important," she pointed out. A part of her didn't care about who was on the other side of the door but she knew that if she did not use the excuse to control herself then she would not make it another twelve hours without ripping Theo's clothes off.
"You will just have to wait until tomorrow as we promised each other," she announced in an overly cheery manner, holding onto his forearms to push herself onto her tiptoes and kiss his cheek before she called towards the door. "Come in!"
Just moments later Tressa opened up the door. She stepped inside and curtseyed respectfully before announcing, "Forgive me, your majesties but Lady Fleur, your wedding dress has arrived."
"My wedding dress? But that…" she began but the urging expression on Tressa's face suddenly made her realize what the handmaid was attempting to do.
"Ahh! It wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow morning!" she gasped. She then grabbed Theo's arm and squeezed gently. "My love you've already broken one pre-wedding rule. You have to go. I can't allow you to break another."
Theo looked like he might argue for a moment. His lips parted. He huffed and closed them again. Then finally he sighed. "Fine."
He bent down to kiss her cheek before bringing his lips to her ear and whispering, "I know you are just trying to get rid of me."
Fleur's heart stopped. Was he mad at her? In her mind she returned to the days when she had been a servant, when upsetting a noble or royal had meant severe punishment, and her entire body began to tremble.
But when Theo straightened up he was smiling down at her playfully.
"My love, you have no need to look so frightened." He raised a hand and caressed her cheek before giving her one final kiss upon the head. "I made a promise and I intend to keep it. Until tomorrow."
He then gripped her hand and kissed her knuckles before leaving the room.
Tressa continued to remain bowed until he was gone then she quickly slammed the door shut and breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close."
"Too close!" Fleur exclaimed. "Thank you."
Over the last few weeks her handmaid had gotten exceptionally good at predicting when she was in need of a romantic block. It was as if she had some kind of internal radar for such things and Fleur loved her for it. She only hoped that it would be broken after their wedding day.
Chapter 19 - Theo
The palace chapel was so filled with people that Theo couldn't remember the last time he had seen it so full. It appeared as if every one of his subjects had turned out to witness the ceremony and many of them hovered outside, gazing through the open archways that were the only windows needed in a place where it was always warm. Theo had ruled it a free for all to fly day just so that everyone would be able to attend the wedding and witness for themselves when he married the love of his life.
The mood in the chapel was cheerful and there were so many voices all humming excitedly, waiting for the ceremony to start, that Theo could barely hear himself think. His parents and brothers—Ember, Drake, Blake and Asher—were all standing at the front of the crowd. Each one of them wore the proud and respectable smile of a royal family member but Theo struggled to figure out whether the smiles were genuine or not.
He had struggled to sleep the night before, worried that something might go wrong, worried that Fleur might have a sudden change of heart but now here he stood, wearing his pearlescent suit, his wings beating eagerly behind him as he awaited his bride-to-be. When the harpist began to play, the noise in the room died almost entirely. With so many people crammed into one space it was impossible to ask for utter silence.
Or at least Theo had thought until the huge double doors at the other end of the aisle were opened up. The moment that Fleur fluttered, her orange and brown wings glistening as though she had been sprinkled with pixie dust, the entire world grew entirely silent. It was as if the entire palace had suddenly been dropped into the depths of the lake where no sound could reach.
The beating of her wings was all that could be heard as Fleur flew over the heads of their subjects to meet him at the altar. The sun hit her in such a way that to Theo she looked like an angel. The white of her dress was so bright that if he had been able to move, he might have looked away. But his gaze was caught by the sight of her, taking in every detail, every inch of her gemstone encrusted bodice, the golden coronet that nestled in her glossy mouse brown hair, the orange jasper teardrops that hung from her ears.
When she finally stood before him, holding a bouquet of orange roses, Theo still could not believe what he was seeing.
"You...you look beautiful," he stammered, unable to control his racing heart. He wanted now more than ever to take her into his arms and fly her away somewhere private so that he could take advantage of her.
It was only the sound of the fae priest clearing his throat to start the ceremony that stopped him.
He knew that afterwards he would not be able to remember much, mechanically repeating the vows that the priest gave to them, but there was one thing he would remember for sure.
The spark that erupted between them upon their first kiss as husband and wife would be remembered by all. It sparked so brightly that when Theo hard the gasps of the audience, he knew that everyone within and without the chapel had seen it for themselves, leaving Theo with no doubt at all as to whether he had made the right choice.
It wasn't until he heard someone gasp, "Look! Her wings!" that he finally opened his eyes again and when he pulled away from their kiss he saw that Fleur's wings were no longer just orange and brown. They were tipped with gold, shining so brightly that it hurt his eyes.
Theo remembered suddenly how his mother had told her that when her fate had been sealed with his father, her wings had changed. Now, seeing Fleur's wings, he knew that fate had done the same for her.
Now she has wings fit for a royal, Theo thought, knowing that she had always felt like she didn't belong at court.