Sofia endured it all. Picking the decorations, tasting the cake, and deciding on the menu with the wedding planner her father hired. She only met Maxim one more time, when they headed to the jeweler’s to measure their ring sizes. Sofia lifted her hand, gazing at the engagement ring Maxim gave her. He’d chosen a simple white-gold band set with an enormous round-cut diamond at the center.
They weren’t engaged for long. Maxim and her father decided a month of mourning had been sufficient. It wasn’t, but Sofia had no choice.
It took Sofia a second to realize someone had been knocking at the door for a while now.
Taking three measured breaths, Sofia opened the door and found Silvia standing there. She wasn’t alone.
Lev Semenov stood next to her, immaculately dressed in a gray suit the same color as his emotionless eyes.
Another beautiful monster in a suit, but Sofia wasn’t marrying Lev. Maxim’s brother unnerved most people, but Maxim seemed to trust him without question, so Sofia supposed she should as well.
“The ceremony’s starting,” Silvia said, taking great pains to keep some distance from Lev.
“And why are you here?” Sofia addressed Lev. “Worried your brother’s fiancée would run out on him?”
“Maxim told me I should make sure you appear at the altar at any cost,” Lev answered in that disturbingly toneless voice of his.
“I’m no coward,” Sofia snapped.
Set your own rules, her aunt had said. So be it. Sofia didn’t want Maxim to think for a single second that he would get a docile and obedient wife.
“No, you have the same steel in your spine like your sister,” Lev said oddly.
Before Sofia could ponder on his words any further, Silvia gently steered Sofia back to her waiting entourage.
Sofia didn’t know the bridesmaids that well. They were a mix of her cousins and Maxim’s. This was far from the perfect wedding Sofia envisioned when she was twelve years old, but it hardly mattered. All of this was a farce.
Sofia remembered once asking Aurora how she could do everything their father had asked of her. She told Sofia it was all a matter of making others believe you were more capable than you really were.
To fulfill her sister’s dying promise, Sofia became Aurora that day.
One of Maxim’s men opened the heavy wooden doors. Sofia couldn’t see the crowd gathered there, given she was at the back of the line.
Someone handed her a bouquet of blood-red roses. The veil got in Sofia’s face once again, and she was tempted to take it off along with the ridiculous diamond tiara.
Only a little more, Sofia told herself. After this charade of a wedding was over, things would be easier, or so she hoped.
“Breathe,” Sofia whispered to herself.
The procession began. Since looking at the guests unnerved her, she decided on one focal point—the altar and the simple wooden cross looming above everything else in the church.
A wizened priest stood on the steps, and next to him stood Sofia’s future husband.
Maxim looked perfect in a tuxedo, just like he did in a suit and tie. His steel-colored gaze met hers, and Sofia’s breath hitched. Her heart hammered. Lorenzo soon took his place by Sofia’s side, but she hardly noticed his presence. He would drag Sofia to the altar if need be, Sofia knew, but she walked out of her accord.
Then it was only Maxim and Sofia standing in front of the priest.
Most of the time, Maxim’s expression was difficult to read, but standing this close, Sofia could see the vicious hunger in his eyes, and something else. A hint of cruelty.
Sofia’s pulse quickened. No man had ever looked at her the way he did. Most men Sofia passed on the street barely gave her another glance, but Maxim looked upon her like a feast.
Sofia shuddered. Her nipples tightened under her lace bra, and she felt moisture gather between her legs.
The veil got in her face again, and she desperately blew at the fabric. As the priest continued in his monotone voice, Maxim reached out and ripped the veil away, somehow keeping the tiara still poised on her head.
“Much better,” Maxim said, smiling.
Sofia shivered, and what little courage she’d managed to summon disappeared completely.