Irish Lullaby (Book One of A Violent Melody Duet)

Chapter Twenty

She was going to become a wife today. She is going to walk down the aisle to marry a man she can't even stand the sight of.
The last few days had been hell leading up to the wedding. They had come to her family home which had been locked down like a fortress. Guards littered the grounds, she hadn't even been allowed to ride Macha.
Nothing could risk this wedding, her entire life had led up to this moment where she would finally be of use to her family. She wanted to run, had wanted to run for days since the first family dinner she had to endure. When at her rehearsal dinner speeches were made and hidden insults were thrown at her. When she had tried to run, had made it as far as the gates before she was stopped and dragged back into the house.
Her father had let Nicholas deal out the punishment for her trying to flee, telling him it was an extra wedding gift. Nicholas had taken the responsibility in stride, it was why her make up artist was spending so much time on her face and arms. The bruising was harsh and hurt from the slightest touch.
He's thrown her into the wall in his room, wrapped his hands around her throat as he explained to her what would exactly happen next time she tried to leave him. He'd kicked and hit and shoved until she was a mess on the floor and he seemed satisfied. It's where she had slept that night, wrapped in the blanket a maid had placed atop her when she had come to check on the fire.
She spent the night dreaming of ending him and her family, of watching them suffer as they had made her for the two decades she had been alive.
It's what kept her going as women cleaned and prepared her. David stood at the doorway watching, his eyes hard as he took note of every time she flinched away from their touch. When it came time to get her in the dress He stood right outside the room as the women helped get it on. She had been able to easily get it on the first time but now with the pain she felt it would have been almost impossible.
The woman left her alone once she was fully ready. She looked different, not like herself. She couldn't look away from the mirror as she took it all in, she looked beautiful in a way that made her sick. She could do this, she could make it through today.
"I'm ready." Her voice came out smooth and even in such a tone that she almost had herself convinced
David opened the door and walked with her down the hall of the church to where her father and bridesmaids waited. Her sister in laws were all dressed in a deep blue, a color her mother loved. Ava gave her a hug and words of encouragement before lining up as the music began to play.
She took in the church, the white walls, the high ceilings. The historic artwork and sculptures lining the halls. It felt more like a museum with how many pieces of history they had scattered around. When the last of her sister in laws walked out to meet their husband and make their way down the aisle she turned to her father. Looking at the lines on his face caused by years of frowning. Was he ever happy? Was anyone in her family ever happy? Ava and Edward might have been the closest to getting everything and even they faced such heartache.
Maybe being in this family she was cursed to live a life like this. Her father and mother never loved one another, each had others on the side they found comfort in. She'd never seen someone truly love another person until Ava and Edward.
He reached out his arm for her to take, plastering a small uncomfortable smile on his face. "Do not ruin this day." His voice, harsh and threatening as she wrapped her own arm around his. She nodded and they both faced forward as the music changed and the doors were pulled wide open.
Her eyes took in the large room, pews were filled with nearly three hundred guests. She knew hardly any of them, most were business partners and friends of her father. The aisle had deep red rose petals covering it and more roses of the same shade waited up ahead for her where Nicholas stood with the pastor. Behind them lay a large stained glass window, depicting Jesus on the cross as his followers mourned for him. There were more windows on the side of the room letting in natural light.
It would have been so beautiful any other day, today though it was all coated in a thick layer of anguish that made even the prettiest of things look hideous to her.
She walked slowly up the aisle, her aching body not allowing any faster of a pace. Everyone watched on, hundreds of eyes staring at only her. She hated it, hated all of them. When she reached the end of the aisle the pastor started to speak but it sounded like white noise as she was passed from her father to Nicholas who took her hands gently in his, she hadn't felt a gentle touch from him since before they were engaged.
The Pastor began to speak and still she made out not a single word, she was too focused on staring at Nicholas and imagining him drowning to death.
The pastor had just finished his long winded speech when noises were heard from outside the room. Everyone's eyes moved from the couple to the door where she could make out the sound of shots being fired. Her own eyes flashed between her father who looked pale as a ghost to the door. Nicholas pulled at her hands, breaking out of the trance the noise had thrown everyone into. He was trying to drag her away but she refused to bend.
Whatever waited behind that door was better than following him. The noises got louder until everything fell silent, she was wondering why no one else tried to leave or pull out their own weapon when she remembered the conversation she had overheard the other day between her mother and father.
The church was very strict on guns not being allowed in the chapel, it was why all the guards stayed outside. When the silence continued an ease washed over the room, everyone taking it as the guards had done their job well and ended the threat. Fallon held doubt though.
When the church doors bust open and in steps a man with blood splattered over his body, his dark hair falling in front of his face, and a gun slung across his chest she felt her heart stop. It was as if time froze and she left her own body, there was no way this was happening. She finally had lost it, hit her breaking point and was seeing things because in no reality was Ronan standing there at the end of the aisle.
He took his hand and swiped back the hair that had fallen into his face, his smile was the cockiest look she had ever seen. He was eating this up, loving the way some guests backed away in fear and others like her brother pulled out the weapons they were not supposed to have.
"Sorry for being so late, finding parking was hell." A laugh burst free of her, she couldn't help herself. This was literal insanity, she had to have lost her goddamn mind. She bent over from the laughter, her stomach cramping from the force of it when an arm grabbed her and pulled her back up.
"Someone fucking shoot him!" Fallon's father screamed. She looked to Nicholas who looked like he was about to be sick and then to her father as his face turned a shade of red she did not imagine possible on people. Shots began to be fired and the arm painfully around her dropped as Nicholas went to flee the room.
She wanted to go after him, to take the large bible the priest was holding and beat him in the head with it until he was unrecognizable but when the windows around the church busted out and more men covered the room she lost her chance. War had begun and she was right in the middle of it.