Chapter 33 (Cora)

Evelyn and I headed to the church together, His Majesty had already headed over to make sure the Archbishop understood that I was Elanora. He was one of the few people who had seen Elanora in the last few years.

Evelyn chatted about different stories of my mother and her when they were younger to distract me on the ride over. Which I appreciated more than she would ever know. When we reached the church His Majesty King Emerson was there waiting for us to arrive. After getting out of the carriage and greeting him. He took my arm leading me towards the church doors.

“You may not be my real daughter, Elanora, but I do hope that you get all you deserve with this marriage. You can blame your mother for everything that is happening to you.” he whispered to me through gritted teeth. I was not going to let him talk about us like that.

“Thank you for this opportunity, Your Majesty, I plan to reap every reward I get from this marriage.” I held my head high as I whispered back to him.

Tarak had taught me something from our last meeting with the king. He was not omnipotent, he was human like us and I was going to treat him as such. I was done bowing my head to anyone, My mother was safely away from here and I had nothing left to lose, I was done playing by the rules.

“So be it, but you are leaving tonight, and I will be bringing your mother over from the annex so I can take care of her.” He said haughty not realizing my mother was long gone.

“Mmm I do wish that I had never agreed to that with you, but you're right about one thing. I can blame my mother for raising me the way she did. Because of her love I put us both in this situation.” I whispered so no one could hear us as we passed by them.

The short walk up to the altar, seemed to take forever as I eyed Tarak. He was breathtakingly handsome standing there waiting for me. He truly looked like a God of war today in that outfit. His dark petticoat and trousers seemed to be tailored to him perfectly. His tan skin and green eyes popped against his black hair even more than usual today. Which was tied back today letting me see his face perfectly today. The scar on his jaw seemed as if it was almost meant to be there finishing his God of war persona.

As the Emerson gave me away to him, my hand was placed in Tarak’s by his Majesty. The whole word seemed to stop as I looked at this man.

“You are radiant, I wish I could stop time and relish in your beauty Elanora.” he looked me up and down. My heart sank a little, how I wanted to tell him the truth, to have him call my real name even for today, but I would never reveal that desire to anyone, especially to him.

"You to Ara, I thought you were a God descended upon us when I laid my eyes on you.” I countered trying to make him blush even a little bit as much as I was from his complement.

I could see a little bit of red creep onto the tips of his ears, and I relished in the fact I had made him that way. In this most holy place I was thinking of some unholy thoughts, like what else I could say to make his ears turn even redder.

The vows seemed to drag on as the Archbishop preached on about holy matrimony and how God would punish those who were deceitful in their vows. His sermon seemed to be indirectly attacking me and my deceit towards Tarak. When it seemed he was satisfied that he had chided me enough through his prayers, he wrapped up quickly.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife the new King and Queen of Andal. You may kiss your bride.” He announced to the awaiting crowd.

We hadn’t talked about the kiss, if we would kiss or not wasn’t something I thought to talk to him about before right now. but I did remember him saying he would do nothing without my consent. I wanted everyone here to know that I wanted this man, no one was forcing me to marry this man anymore. I was doing this for my own reasons and not for the political gain they wanted.

He stood awkwardly hovering above me as if silently asking for my permission before going any further. Standing on my tiptoes I placed my hand on his chest to balance myself so I could meet him halfway our lips crashed into each other.

I had never kissed anyone, but I had seen many maids and male servants kiss under stairwells when no one was looking and it didn’t look like it would feel like this.

Before I could pull away one of his hands snaked their way through my hair while the other snaked its way around my waist. His big arms holding me up against his chest. As his lips began to move against mine. They felt soft and warm as he continued to move them, my own responding to his.

As he pulled away, I could hear his low chuckle rumbling through his chest as he looked at my dazed face. I came crashing down back to reality as the sound of the crowd reminded me I were still in front of people and I had just kissed him so intimately.

“I told you Princess, you need to be careful when you touch people.” he dipped my head so he could whisper in my ear. “I truly regret not allowing us time together before we head off to Andal. I would love to be the one to help you out of that gorgeous dress.” The soft rumble of his words tickling me to my core.