Wedding of the Dead

Chapter 18: To Love With a Love That is More Than Love

One year later...

Celeste perched upon one the many restored benches of Sergius Hall, looking out toward the woods that lined the property of her sister's new home. It had been one year since she met Lord Lucas Sergius, the one year anniversary of her almost wedding to a corpse who had captured her heart in the strangest of ways.

Following the death of Bellona Gaiana - Septimus started setting things right.

Many skeletons were pulled from the closet as the families of the victims of Bellona's greed were at last given the answers they had searched for after years of complete and utter silence. Some demanded compensation - to which Septimus did his best to give in every form imaginable - and others were thankful to know the truth, even though a few were skeptical about his involvement. With each meeting with the different families, Verity sat beside him and did her best to explain the situation - her insight with what nearly happened to her and Celeste made many of the families sympathize with Septimus' situation. Truly, he was a victim just like everyone else was who had crossed paths with Bellona - even though he was her own son.

Myles Castiel had returned to the coast lines a few days following the near wedding incident, needing to wrap his head around the concept of everything that had happened - leaving Celeste and Verity at Sergius Hall with Septimus and Emil. Only after approximately three months of silence did Myles eventually write to them and ask how he could repay for his mistakes. Celeste convinced Verity and Septimus to have their father send some of the monetary compensation to the families that demanded it, as well as leave their lives in their own hands.

Father Augustine, also having returned to the coastline, wrote every week to check on Celeste and Verity to make sure both of them were well. Celeste often replied, explaining that Verity was busy with helping Septimus with tying up the loose ends of the Gaiana family line and had entered courtship with the man in question.

Septimus and Verity made quite a handsome couple in Celeste's opinion - which worked in their favor due to the pain they had gone through within those nearly twenty-four hours Celeste had been missing. Verity often comforted Septimus in the evenings after typically hard days and Septimus was always there for Verity when she needed his strength to lean on. Celeste knew the days she didn't accompany them were spent in content - walking the grounds of Sergius Hall or going into town for a tea date with a recently made friend of Verity's or two, otherwise they would spend time together in the drawing room or in the library. Verity would sometimes come to Celeste with her cheeks flush and whisper about her time with Septimus - the elder eventually pushing the two together into a courtship with a wedding lined up in a few years - one that would eventually happen after everything settled down.

As for Celeste, she worked alongside Emil on days they had guests in Sergius Hall - whether it was helping with the cleaning, serving, or helping restore the closed off rooms to their former glory. She attended several events during the year with Septimus and Verity as her chaperones - pushing herself out there and engaging among the men and women of class. She had a few interested suitors that would call on her from time to time, but none of them made her heart soar like Lucas did whenever he clasped her hand or kissed her. There never was a spark between Celeste and her suitors - she always felt disconnected from them, different.

Although Septimus - like the long lost big brother he became to Celeste - kept pushing for her to keep trying, Verity and Emil knew that the memory of Lucas was still very fresh.

"I thought I would find you out here," Verity's voice pulled Celeste from her thoughts as a warm spring breeze rustled their skirts, pushing some of the cold air up and away from the two sisters as the youngest came around to the side beside the eldest.