Chapter 13 To plan a wedding
The next few days were a battlefield.
Elowyn had been appointed head of the wedding preparations, a fact she reminded me of at every opportunity. She had already chosen the flowers (golden roses, because of course), the color scheme (gold and cream, because of course), and the menu (seven courses of Aurelian delicacies that I was fairly certain would make me puke).
"The wedding will take place in the Grand Temple," she informed me over breakfast the morning after my confrontation with Cardan. She had cornered me in the smaller dining room, the one reserved for family. "It's traditional. The High Priestess of Solara will officiate. The ceremony itself is quite beautiful, very moving, very spiritual. I'm sure you'll find it... interesting."
"Interesting," I repeated.
"Given your background."
"My background."
"Yes." She smiled her blade-velvet smile. "I understand Hel doesn't have temples. Or priests. You are heathens. Or really any form of organized worship at all. Isn't that true?"
"It's true that we don't worship the sun, if that's what you're asking. We find it gauche to kneel before something that can give you a burn."
Elowyn's smile tightened. "The ceremony will be conducted in the Old Tongue. I assume you speak it?"
"Fluently."
"Oh." She looked slightly disappointed. "Well. That's convenient. I've also taken the liberty of selecting your bridal attendants. We have several lovely young ladies at court who would be honored to..."
"I have my own attendants."
"Your handmaidens?" Elowyn's nose wrinkled delicately. "Surely you'd prefer ladies of noble birth. Your handmaidens are... Hel-born, are they not? It might make the court uncomfortable."
"My handmaidens are Hel-born. They are also loyal, competent, and under my protection." I set down my tea. "They will stand with me at my wedding. Anyone who finds that uncomfortable is welcome to leave."
"The ceremony is a sacred tradition. The presence of Hel-born creatures might..."
"Might what? Offend your gods? I thought your gods were all-powerful. Surely they can handle four Hel-born women standing in their temple."
Elowyn's eyes flashed. "You are being deliberately difficult."
"And you are being deliberately insulting. I'm simply responding in kind."
We stared at each other across the table. The tension was so thick I could have cut it with one of my poison daggers.
Finally, Elowyn rose. "Very well, Princess. Keep your handmaidens. But the rest of the preparations will proceed as I've planned. It's what Cardan would want."
"Is it?"
"He is my brother. I know what he wants."
"Do you? Because from what I've seen, he doesn't even know what he wants."
Elowyn's expression flickered, uncertainty, quickly masked. Then she swept out of the room, leaving me alone with my cold tea and my simmering fury.
\-—————-
I made changes.
Small ones at first. The golden roses? I replaced half of them with night-blooming jasmine, a flower from Hel that only opened in darkness. The gold-and-cream color scheme? I added accents of deep violet and black. The seven-course Aurelian menu? I commissioned the palace kitchens to include three Hel dishes: web cakes, witch-bread, and a delicate soup made from fungus that glowed faintly blue.
"The florist is confused," Liriel reported on the second day. "She says she's never worked with flowers that only bloom at night."
"She'll learn."
"The kitchen staff is also confused. The head chef asked if the fungus was poisonous."
"Is it?"
"Only if eaten in large quantities."
"Tell him to use small quantities then."
On the third day, I sent word to the Grand Temple that the ceremony would include a Hel binding ritual alongside the Solara vows. The High Priestess sent back a very polite, very panicked letter explaining that this was "highly unacceptable."
I sent back an even more polite letter explaining that I was the Princess of Hel and it was my custom.
By the fourth day, the entire court was buzzing with rumors. The Princess of Hel was corrupting sacred traditions. The Princess of Hel was, according to one particularly dramatic lord, "poisoning the very soul of the Aurelian Court with her dark customs."
I liked that one.
Elowyn, unsurprisingly, did not take this well.
\-————————————-
Her retaliation came at the engagement banquet.
It was a grand affair, held in the palace ballroom. Hundreds of guests. Mountains of food. A full orchestra playing Aurelian waltzes. I arrived in a gown of deep violet silk, my hair swept up and studded with obsidian pins. Ash rode on my shoulder, his scales gleaming like cooled lava.
For the first hour, everything was fine.
Then Elowyn rose to give her toast.
"To my dear future sister-in-law," she announced, her voice carrying across the ballroom. The crowd fell silent. "Princess Nyx of Hel. What a journey it has been, bringing her into our fold."
Polite laughter.
"When we first learned of the betrothal, so many years ago, I confess I was frightened. The stories we heard about Hel, the monsters, the darkness, the unspeakable rituals, well. I was only a child. I had nightmares for weeks. I cried so deeply for my brother. I couldn't bear it."
The laughter faded. The silence grew uncomfortable.
"But now that the Princess is here, I see that the stories were, a little bit exaggerated. She is not nearly as terrifying as I expected. In fact, she's almost... civilized."
A ripple of nervous laughter. Someone coughed.
"I'm sure that with enough time and guidance, she'll learn our ways. She may even come to appreciate the beauty of Aurelian culture, though I understand it must be quite overwhelming for someone of her... background." Elowyn raised her glass. "To Princess Nyx. May she find her place among us. Eventually."