War on Kitaris

Chapter 8 - Wedding Bells

I sat outside, in the palace gardens, soaking in the early morning sunlight. The view, I had to admit, was very lovely. The flowers were blooming and were far more colourful than the ones at home, with the vibrant blues, purples, pinks and yellows that were scattered across the grounds.

I looked down at my dresses that I was wearing. One of the maids had given it to me, along with many other dresses in the wardrobe. The dress was gorgeous, strapless and heart-shaped, reaching my knees, and a dark emerald green. The back was like a corset, but I was wearing it so it wasn’t so tight.

Yes, the dress was amazing, and I was expected to wear dressed like this every day, but I longed for my Converse that Alisanne had thrown out and my ripped jeans and band shirt. I longed for my iPod and my computer, and boring school days with Skye, and Gossip Girl with Jane, and toy cars with Tom.

I longed for many things that I shouldn’t be longing for.

It was worse enough, realizing that you were spending an eternity in a beautiful world away from home, but what was worse was the fact that I was spending it married to the wrong man. At the age of freaking eighteen, too. And I was turning eighteen tomorrow, by the way. I thought that it took “steps into adulthood” far too seriously.

Alisanne was inside the castle somewhere, probably eating breakfast with Marcus. Devin hadn’t spoken a word to them ever since I had agreed to marry Marcus yesterday, so I doubted he was going to be eating with them. My jaw clenched when I thought about Alisanne. Talk about having horrible in-laws, hey? Try having one that tortured you and the man that you shouldn’t even be caring about. She may have had her reasons for doing what she did, but I still didn’t even want to look at her, I was that angry. She got what she wanted.

And then there was Marcus. I hadn’t spoken to him, either. I had a feeling he knew that the only way Devin was going to be saved was if I agreed to marry him, and that’s why he brought me back to the palace. Fair play, the crafty bastard. He never specified how his brother was going to be saved.

And finally, Devin.

That was one person I was trying not to think about. As soon as I had let him go, Marcus had taken him out of the prison and I had, not entirely sure what to do, gone upstairs to sleep. I had slept until the afternoon and I was woken by two maids who had been sent by Alisanne to get me cleaned up and fed.

Then, I had slept until early this morning, ate breakfast in bed, and here I was. Sitting by myself in a royal garden that I soon was going to share with Marcus. So yeah, I was trying my best to not think about Devin. Unfortunately, that was extremely difficult for me. My dreams were filled with pictures of him, and he was all I could think about, no matter what.

So here I was, trying to figure out this mess that I called my life. My not-so-regular teenage life that I had no control of and I couldn’t quite figure out. And maybe you could say I was in denial or that I was trying to distract myself from everything, but hey, could you really blame me?

I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel to my left, and I turned my head to see Devin standing there, the sun shining in his dark hair and highlighting his cheekbones. Damn, I was trying to avoid him. He had a black eye and a split lip, but he looked far better than he did yesterday. Behind his clothing though, I knew there would be bandages covering his gashes and wounds.

“Is that seat taken?” Devin asked, nodding towards the space beside me on the bench. I smiled nervously.

“Yeah, it’s my imaginary friend Sophia. She says hi.”

Devin laughed softly, but he was cut short when his face frowned and he placed his hand to his stomach. Laughing obviously still hurt. I tilted my head with worry, but he sent me a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, really. Does Sophia mind if I take her place?”