Heart of Stone - Stone and Fire #1 [17+] (REWRITING)

Chapter 24

^^ the look for her special day 🤭🤭

sigh a roller coaster ride this one

TW: lots of blood.

Adriana's POV

The mirror didn't lie- in my case, it never did. The black lace clung to my frame, sharp lines cutting against the tan of my face, like a painting where every stroke was deliberate. 

I couldn't help but pinpoint the feeling of the dress as something more like armor. Layers of darkness covering up everything I didn't want anyone to see, but an ode to what might happen within a room full of two rival worlds. 

The rubies in my tiara, necklace, and thigh-strapped dagger -yes, I was gonna wear it the whole time- caught the light of the dressing room just enough to feel like they pulsed. Blood-red reminders of what was always close to the surface, what bubbled beneath skin and didn't always remain nice. 

I saw a lot of that already, last night. This morning I'd woken up to Nikolas's bed empty, my wrist a faint reminder of where we'd only touched skin yet come to a silent agreement that it was the most intimate thing we'd ever done with each other. Maybe it was the chaos of the night before, but I'd woken up a little less frazzled, also because to the missing nightmares. 

God, if I could just cut off his hand and wrap his warm fingers around my wrist every night, maybe-

What the fuck?

Maybe all the blood was getting to me.

After seeing his bed empty, I'd done a full sweep of the whole house, but he was nowhere to be found. And then an hour later Max was there to pick me up, and Nikolas's text was waiting in my phone as I stepped into the car.

I'll see you at the venue.

And that was it.

No thank you, no "please be there next time a stranger tries to kill me", not even a goddamn "I'm looking forward to it." 

I wasn't an overthinker, but I did come to conclusions. And I'd come to the conclusion that I was gonna let Nikolas bleed out next time he stepped into the house with his body bleeding out, no matter how good it might look. 

I'd be lying if I didn't feel guilty, though. A bullet wound from the night before, and he was expected to maintain full security throughout the duration of the ceremony. I knew he didn't have the patience for these things though, so I prayed he shortened the vows somewhat. 

Behind me, my mother hovered, her eyes observing every adjustment made to my dress with careful scrutiny. Unlike most mothers, she didn't flutter about with nerves or tear-streaked concern. I knew her insides were going haywire, probably overflowing as the realization settled in. 

Either that, or she was wondering how my cooking skills were keeping both me and Nikolas alive. But she didn't have to know about god-sent Polina. I decided I was gonna keep her a secret for a little bit.

"Black's an interesting choice for a wedding," Aurora's voice broke through the haze, higher than usual as she played with the silk ribbon of her pastel dress. No fucking shit she was nervous. I could see the way she dragged her eyes down my form, not liking that we were a day away from being separated- for good. I'd have my own life and she'd have hers, soon far away in California where she would spent her days in a dorm room studying. 

"Why not?" I quirked a brow, adjusting my sleeves so they sat perfectly. "White's for the pure and the innocent, and I haven't been either since I was eight."

My mother, who'd been silent most of the time, finally looked at me in the mirror, a faint tremor in her lip. Her hair was set in a perfect curly blow-out, with a sparkly nude dress that spoke more for her elegance than her character. She didn't need to say it; I already knew what she was thinking. That little girl who'd scraped her knees in the garden was gone—replaced by someone who was about to walk down the goddamn aisle.