Wedding Bells

Tessa Gray smoothed down the layers of golden satin clinging to her damp skin, and tried to control her breathing. She was on the verge of hyperventilation, and although there were plenty of other reasons to be panicking (given the day and the hour) she blamed it on the corset. There was no reason she should be afraid this day. This was a day of joyful bliss. The string quartet struck up, and the first few notes of the wedding march rang throughout the Church, even to the room behind the doors where Tessa lay in wait for her cue. She counted the beats of the music, and her breath caught when it lead to a crescendo. That was her cue. With a fluttering heart, she pushed open the great oak doors to the wedding chapel. The sound of the music overwhelmed her, and her eyes wished to look in a hundred different directions, but they caught on one thing. William Herondale's smile lit up the chapel, shining like a beacon to her through the crowds of her friends and acquaintances. His blue eyes shown triumphantly, and all her fears fell away. She took her first step of many up the aisle, all the while keeping her eyes on the glorious smile that could light up the whole world. She took step after step, taking her closer to her future as Mrs. William Herondale. She was almost to the alter when a white shape near the front of the Chapel caught her eye. A robed figure, with runes of red covering his white hooded cloak. Tessa knew immediately who lay beneath that hood, and her heart stopped still. The scarred face of James Carstairs stared at her from the dark corner of the chapel in which he stood, a sorrowful smile playing on his lips.