Chapter 62: The rabbit and the fox

Chapter 62: The rabbit and the fox
As we walked towards the stage, my hands became sweaty to the point where I refused to hold Nicholas’ hand. He frowned and then gave a reassuring smile. After wiping off what I could from my hand, I gave it to him. Immediately, I could feel a cold sensation against my hand. It was gentle and calming, like a soft, cool, refreshing breeze on a warm summer day. I looked up at him again and he smiled back at me before softly rubbing his thumb against my hand, letting that soothing, cool feeling flow through me.

“Would you like me to do the talking?” he asked softly.

I shook my head before saying, “Y-you can begin. I’ll finish it off.”

He nodded in understanding and then we took to the stage. There were quite a few eyes on us, some confused, others frustrated at us having stopped the fun. And then there were the cameras, staring almost right into our souls. I never once let go of Nicholas’ hand, and he never made me.

He cleared his throat into the mic, catching everyone’s attention before speaking.

“Greetings to the subjects of Bouvardia, and to all of the viewers in the rest of the world. I am King Nicholas Carden of Iris, and this is my beautiful fiancé, Ariya Raine. We would both like to announce that our wedding ceremony will be held in a month’s time, the venue, still to be decided…”

He then turned to me and nodded his head slightly before another reassuring smile. I moved closer towards the mic and cleared my throat a few times before finally speaking, my mind completely focussed on the eyes staring back at me.

“W-well… with our marriage will come the complete abolition of all of the laws enacted which pertain to human servitude. We are therefore giving all legislators a month to abolish these laws and create new laws which strive to create equality between the humans and lycans.”

I nodded and stepped back. For a moment, it was completely silent. And then suddenly a few claps sounded from the corner. It was Theo, Kiyan, Parker, Ophelia, and surprisingly, Aura too. It was the catalyst to the entire place erupting into applause, with loud strings of ‘congratulations’ being sounded.

I felt as though a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. With our marriage date being mostly set, we just needed to pick a venue. Bouvardia was certainly starting to grow on me. It was so bright and friendly here. So far removed from what we’d been running from.

Once we’d made the announcement, we joined up with the group again. Everyone seemed excited to actually partake in the festivities and so we all split up into our respective groups.

Naturally, I went with Nicholas and we found ourselves lost in the festivities. The first thing that caught my eye was a small stall where a young woman painted faces in intricate designs, almost like masquerade masks. When she saw me, she smiled and told me that she had something in mind. A rabbit. She sat me down opposite her and Nicholas stood next to me, watching curiously. The feeling of the brushes and sponges and paint felt soft, slightly wet and pleasant. Once she was done, she gave me a mirror to look at myself. The paint was exquisite with shades of gold, brown, black and white.

The painter then turned toward Nicholas and motioned for him to sit. He shook his head and refused until I pouted and urged for him to go. He reluctantly agreed and then sat down patiently. A few seconds in, I already knew what his face was being painted as, a fox. He had shades of orange mixing with gold, white and black. He looked so adorable, and I had to resist the urge to kiss him once he was done.

He thanked the painter and then we moved deeper into the festival to where a group had gathered and a band was playing loud music. As we got closer, I realised that the group of people were dancing. Rows and rows of dancing people ebbed and flowed between each other creating intricate lines of movement.

Nicholas’ grip on my hand was firm and so I halted a few feet away from the dancing. He immediately turned towards me; a questioning look on his face.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

“Dancing?” he said in a “duh” tone. I shook my head and backed away from him. I didn’t know a thing about dancing like this, and I was terrified of making a mistake.

Nicholas frowned teasingly and then pulled me closer towards him before whispering against my hair, “That’s alright, just follow my lead.”

He didn’t even wait for a reply before tugging me towards the large intertwining dance circles. He then pointed at his feet and motioned for me to follow him. It was simple, two steps forward, two steps back, a hop to the left, a hop to the right. I followed closely, moving my feet the way he did. After doing the same movements twice he then instructed me to take a large hop to the left and then hop forward immediately. As I did this, so did the row in front of me. We did this a few times, getting deeper and deeper into the circle. I was honestly having a great time with Nicholas, following his lead and laughing all the while. It seemed almost so surreal to be enjoying ourselves after all the hell we’d been put through. And so, after Nicholas and I had grown tired of dancing, I pulled him to the side and shared my thoughts with him.

“I think we should have our wedding here in Bouvadia.”