Thorns of a Rose #1 (Howl's Moving Castle fanfiction)

Chapter 14: Unconditional Love

When the chapel bells echoed twice from the tower above, the sound resonated in painful shivers throughout Sophie's body. The loud clang of the hour marker was an agonizing reminder that time was up. Her walk down the aisle was any minute now.

She held her dress up and hurried over to the window that surveyed the Kingsbury Palace. She was taken by several guards through the courtyard to the Palace chapel, hundreds of people hoping to find a glimpse of the future Princess of Kingsbury.

Sophie shut her eyes tightly. Princess Sophie – that was always her sister's dream. Lettie said that she would marry a Prince one day, and part of Sophie always hoped that her dream would come true. That was before she had met the cursed scarecrow and the heartless wizard.

Sophie rested her palms on the windowsill, watching as the crowd migrated to the front entrance below, hundreds of people all dressed in their finest attire to attend the wedding of the year. This was not her dream wedding. As a child, she always pictured a small, simple wedding with close family and friends. Lettie and Martha would stand up, both as maids of honor, since she would never be able to choose between the two. Her husband-to-be would watch her as she walked down the aisle, his eyes glowing with wonder and awe. His words would express nothing but love and gratitude, saying it was fate to have found someone like her.

Sophie never thought she was worthy enough for anyone. No matter how many times Howl explained to her that it was quite the opposite, it was hard to believe when she had been known as the lesser of the three sisters all of her life. The eldest of three, and the most likely to have a simple, boring, going nowhere life.

She just had to go looking for her fortune.

Sophie heard shuffling through the hallway and backed away from the window. She hadn't seen Gwenda since her mission of finding Howl, but she prayed she hadn't been caught by Suliman. Sophie was still a little skeptical to the idea of telling Howl the truth, but Gwenda assured her that it was their best option. Gwenda seemed to have good instincts about these things, so she trusted her opinion.

She heard two people laughing and one opened the door to her room. Suliman waved off her companion and made eye contact with Sophie. Her cynical smile widened as she gently shut the door behind her. Sophie's shoulders began shaking, causing Suliman to let out a hefty laugh.

"I can see you shaking, my dear." Suliman said. Sophie froze, taking a moment to calm her thoughts and relax her fears. Though Suliman scared her more than most, she knew that exposing it was worse than the fear itself.

Suliman walked with her hands behind her back toward the round table near the dark walnut armoire. Sophie's wedding bouquet sat in a vase, eleven pure white roses without a single dead petal. Justin's trademark, Sophie thought. Only fitting for him to see his bride-to-be carrying his prized flower down the aisle.

Suliman added the one rose in her hand to the bouquet, completing the dozen. She primped the bouquet as a young girl would primp her curls. Sophie clenched her fists, her recently manicured nails digging into her palm.

"Stressed, are you?" Suliman asked. "I'm actually surprised with how well you're handling the situation, my dear. Lettie didn't have the strength to hurt you the way I did, though you have no trouble breaking Howl's heart by marrying another."

"I'm not doing this to hurt him, I'm doing this to save him." Sophie said through clenched teeth.

Suliman laughed. "Please. With the situation I've placed you in, Howl's heart will be helpless either way."

The lights danced a torturous melody in Sophie's eyes as they glistened like two crystal balls. Her nightmare was flooding back to her. Suliman clutching Howl, staring at him hungrily, her hand reaching inside of him and pulling out his beating heart – maybe it wasn't just a dream after all.