Chapter 183 Chapter 183
Violet
There was a knock at the door. One of the maids peeked in, her expression carefully neutral.
"Excuse me, Miss Violet, Miss Cassandra. Hair and makeup will begin in one hour. Luna Aurelia asks that you both be ready."
"I should go to my room," Cassie said, standing up slowly. She looked exhausted, drained, like the energy had been sapped from her body.
"Get cleaned up. Put on the bridesmaid dress. Pretend everything is fine while my brother recovers from being tortured."
The bitterness in her voice was palpable.
"Cassie…"
"I know," she said, raising a hand to stop me. "I can't make a scene or embarrass the family or whatever other bullshit reasons Lady Aurelia will give. I know." She moved toward the door, then paused.
"But after this wedding is over, I'm done. I'm leaving this place and I'm never coming back. And if Elijah has any sense, he'll do the same."
She left before I could respond, the door closing softly behind her.
I stood in the middle of my room, surrounded by the trappings of wealth and comfort, and felt more alone than I'd ever felt in my life.
I looked down at my hands, still stained with Elijah's blood despite my attempts to wash them last night.
I moved to the bathroom like a zombie, and turned the shower on.
The shower water ran hot, almost scalding, as I scrubbed at my skin. The blood came off in rusty swirls, and I tried to scrub away the pain and hurt to no avail.
I shampooed my hair mechanically wondering if he'd woken up yet and if he hated me for being the cause of this.
Maybe I should really let go of him and not be the reason he gets hurt.
When I finally emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a towel, I found that the maids had laid out my maid of honor dress on the bed.
I looked at the dark lavender silk dress with complete detachment.
The hair and makeup team arrived shortly and chatted excitedly among themselves while I simply sat in the chair to let them do their work.
After what felt like hours, they all stepped away from me.
"All done!" the hairstylist announced cheerfully. "Take a look!"
I glanced in the mirror they held up and saw a stranger looking back at me. My hair was styled in an elaborate updo with soft curls framing my face. My makeup was minimal.
On the outside, I looked beautiful but inside, I felt hollow.
I stood alone in my room, dressed in my costume, looking at myself in the full-length mirror.
I looked the part. Played it perfectly. No one looking at me would guess that I'd spent last night on the floor beside a beaten man's bed, holding his hand while he lay unconscious from poison and trauma.
No one would know that my heart was breaking. That I was being torn apart by guilt and fear and feelings I didn't know how to name.
My brain wouldn’t stop thinking about Lady Aurelia’s deal, about alpha Alaric’s words of how Elijah had killed his own brother or about Elijah’s kiss where he'd said he felt "everything" for me.
I thought about all of it, trying to make sense of the contradictions, trying to figure out what was real and what was manipulation and what was just the toxic dynamics of a broken family.
A glance at the clock told me it was time to go.
I stepped out into the hallway and nearly ran into Cassie again. She was dressed in her bridesmaid gown which was a slightly lighter shade of lavender than mine, differentiating the maid of honor from the bridesmaids.
We walked together toward the ballroom where the ceremony would take place, our heels clicking on the marble floors when she suddenly muttered.
“Shit, I forgot my phone. You go ahead.”
The grand ballroom had been transformed into something out of a fairy tale.
I stood at the entrance, taking in the crystal chandeliers, array of colorful orchids, roses wrapped around pillars and over the windows and that massive screen in the backdrop where Nicole wanted to play some stupid clips of everybody thanking her.
But somehow I imagined myself walking down the aisle, dressed as a bride while a tall, handsome man who was not scarred or hurt, who could smile and laugh freely waited for me at the aisle.
I simply stood there for a while, imagining Elijah looking dapper in a black suit, smiling heartily, the dimple shining bright just like his face.
What would I give to see him smile like that again, laugh and live like not the weight of the entire world was on his shoulders!
But all this wealth and beauty was being thrown on the least deserving people on the planet. I suddenly felt sick just looking at it.
I forced my legs to move, to take a step forward when I was pulled to the corner suddenly.