Chapter 192 - Stop The Wedding To Save Adeline

Chapter 192 - Stop The Wedding To Save Adeline
IVAN
The night air in Eloise’s courtyard was heavy, the braziers casting a golden glow that made the silks shimmer and the guests whisper in awe. Musicians strummed a low, steady melody that was meant to soothe but only seemed to thicken the dread hanging in Adeline’s chest.
She sat before the altar like a carved statue, her red-and-gold gown gleaming, her mask abandoned, her face pale and stricken. The priest stood beside her, speaking words she barely heard, words about vows and sacred unions that meant nothing to her. Every word was a nail sealing her into a coffin.
Her eyes lifted only when her groom arrived. Caelum strode through the aisle in ceremonial finery, his cloak sweeping behind him like the shadow of death itself. He smiled as though this union were a gift from the heavens, as though he were not the man she dreaded, the man whispered about in ugly rumors.
Adeline’s throat tightened. She glanced toward the gates, searching for me. For anyone. No one came.
The priest’s voice droned on, echoing across the open courtyard. “—and now, before the spirits of sky and earth, we bind these two as one.”
Eloise sat rigidly among the nobles, her eyes sharp, but her mind distracted. Where was Ivan? Why was he not yet back from Lykos? The absence gnawed at her control. With a sweep of her gown, she rose from her seat and left the guests behind, storming into the manor’s halls.
She didn’t have to wait long. I came through the corridor at a pace that shook the ground beneath me, my face carved in fury.
“There you are!” Eloise hissed, stepping in front of me. “Where have you been?”
I said nothing. My jaw clenched, my eyes dark.
She looked at my hands, empty. “The liquor… where is it? Did you even go to—”
“The wedding,” I said, my voice shaking with anger, “will not hold.”
For the first time in years, Eloise faltered. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “What nonsense is this? We’ve spoken of this before. You will not defy me again.”
But my silence told her everything. The way my chest rose and fell, the way my hands curled into fists. I had seen something. I knew something. And she, for all her power, couldn’t stop me with words.
“Ivan!” she barked, but I was already moving. I stormed past her, ignoring her outstretched hand, ignoring the threats that followed like knives hurled at me back. I wouldn’t stop. Not this time.
The music outside swelled as the priest’s voice reached its final words.
“By the sacred vows, by the witness of the heavens, let the groom now seal his promise with a kiss—”
“Not on my watch!”
The shout cracked across the courtyard like thunder. Every head turned, every guest stilled.
I stood at the edge of the altar, chest heaving, eyes blazing with fury. My voice shook with conviction as I repeated:
“This wedding ends now.”
Adeline’s breath caught in her chest. Relief and terror tangled together, her brother had come.
Caelum’s expression, so carefully polished, slipped for the first time. His innocent smile faltered into something sharper, darker, before he forced it back into place. He turned slightly, lips curling. “What is this interruption?”
The priest froze, uncertain, the air buzzing with whispers from the guests. Eloise arrived behind me, her face twisted with fury and fear at the spectacle.
But I didn’t look at Caelum. I didn’t look at Eloise. My eyes fixed on my sister, standing pale and trembling by the altar.
“Addy,” I said softly, but firmly. “Step away.”
The courtyard held its breath.