31. Callie

My sister had just married a monster and my heart slammed against my ribs as I realised I was next. How could this have happened to her? How could it be happening to me? I’d come so far to save her from this fate and yet I found myself joining her in it instead, my body an unwilling slave to the power of the deceitful gods.

I fought against the hold Idun had on me, crying, and raging in silence, trapped within my own skin while externally I smiled up at a monster as if he were the love of my goddamn life.

Fabian drew me closer to the priest and my body followed him willingly. I was anything but willing, but no one could see it, only I could hear my screams of protest, could feel the cries of panic.

Fabian turned me towards him, his hands gripping my hips as he stared down at me intently. His gaze was filled with a deep longing, and a part of me which wasn’t really me at all ached to fulfil his every desire.

No, no, no, no.

My traitorous hands slid down his chest until my fingertips were resting just above his belt and a teasing smile found its way to my lips as lust burned in his dark eyes.

I wanted to scream, cry, and beg for my freedom, but if Idun could hear my thoughts, she wasn’t interested in them. How could she be doing this to me? I thought she wanted us to destroy these creatures. What could she possibly gain from this?

Her amusement rattled through me again and I was filled with the knowledge that this wasn’t about me. It was about Magnar. I was just a toy for her to torment him with.

As my mind fell on the warrior who had saved me in so many ways, my panic increased tenfold. What if I couldn’t stop this from happening? The priest was already talking about love and commitment, and my feet hadn’t moved a single inch. I should have been running as far from this place as I could get with Montana in tow, but I was rooted to the spot as if I’d never take another step again.

What would Magnar think if I married one of his greatest enemies? How could I betray the vow I’d made with him like that? Would he even try to come for me when he found out? Or would he abandon me to this fate the moment I succumbed to it?

As I battled my will against Idun’s with everything I had, a single tear slipped from my eye and tracked its way down my cheek.

My fingers started trembling with the effort I was summoning to try and regain control of them, but I was still helplessly trapped within my own skin, a puppet for the gods to command.

Fabian frowned at me as he noticed the line of moisture rolling down my cheek. He raised a hand and brushed the tear from my face, his cold fingers lingering against my skin despite the way I thrashed within the confines of it, desperate to break free.

I wanted to jerk away from his touch. I didn’t want his hands on any part of me, but I still couldn’t move so much as an inch, and my heart was filling with dread as the seconds ticked away at my fate.

His palm stayed on my cheek, cupping my jaw as his thumb brushed over my bottom lip. It didn’t feel comforting, it felt possessive, like he was laying claim to my emotions, my body, my fucking soul, and I couldn’t even utter a single word against it.

“Fabian Belvedere, do you take this woman as your chosen wife?” the priest asked. “To admire and protect for all of time?”

“I do,” Fabian replied loudly, his voice sending fear deep into my soul as he peered into my eyes. Panic rose in me like a tide as the priest turned his attention on me. I knew what I’d be forced to say when he asked, and I couldn’t bear it, couldn’t believe it had come to this, that the goddess had betrayed me so cruelly after I’d vowed to follow in the path she laid out for me.

“Callie Ford, do you take this man as your-”

A heavy bang rang out as the door to the cathedral flew open and every eye in the room swivelled towards it.

My chest swelled with hope as I turned too, expecting to see Magnar charging down the aisle with Tempest and Venom raised to destroy this monster who was going to chain me into wedlock.

A strong wind blew along the aisle, tossing my hair around my shoulders, but there was no one there to save me.

A tinkling laugh rang out, and my eyes swivelled to find Valentina sitting in the front row with a hand pressed to her mouth. “I’m so sorry, I lost control what with all the excitement and blasted the door open. It must have seemed like someone was coming to ruin the ceremony!” The wind swirled around the room before catching the door and slamming it shut again. The rest of the congregation began laughing too, and my hatred for her flared as they all mocked me.

My heart plummeted as Fabian chuckled, taking my chin between his fingers, and pulling me around to look up at him once more.

“No chance of that,” he murmured. “There’s no way I’d let you go so easily.”

My pulse pounded in my ears as the priest cleared his throat and started again.

“Callie Ford, do you take this man as your chosen husband? To treasure and adore for all of time? To bear the fruit of his loins and join him in his eternal form?” he asked.

I looked up at Fabian and my treacherous arms slid around his fucking neck like I was some simpering fool, the panic in me rising beyond measure, my heart thrashing against my ribcage so hard it hurt.

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.

My lips parted to speak the words, but I threw every ounce of my will against them as I fought off Idun’s control with all I had, every ounce of strength that belonged to me. I wouldn’t do it. I’d rather fucking die. I’d throw myself from the closest bridge or plunge a knife into my own heart before I’d bind myself to this monster-

“I do.” My voice wasn’t my own, but it didn’t matter, it had spilled from my mouth, sealing my fate with a clap of laughter from Idun herself, the sound of it only apparent to me.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest was locked in the space between breaths, horror spilling through every piece of my being as the truth of what had happened settled over me.

Clarice stepped forward, presenting two silver rings, and Fabian slid one onto my finger, but it felt more like a chain around my neck. I wouldn’t be bound to him, I couldn’t be. But I was already pushing a ring onto his finger in return, and he was smirking at me like he fucking owned me.

The priest was talking again, but my gaze had slipped beyond Fabian, rising above the heads of the congregation of vampires until I was looking up into the rafters. A shadow moved above me, and I stared at it as my gifts allowed me to pick out Magnar’s face where he gazed down at me, a chilling darkness clinging to his expression which cut me to my core.

My heart cracked right down the middle. I could only imagine what he was thinking, the fury, the hatred, the betrayal. I wasn’t chained and forced to speak under duress so far as he could see. I stood with my body pressed against Fabian’s and a smile on my traitorous lips.

I ached to cry out to him and tell him what was happening, but I couldn’t make a single sound, the goddess’s hold on me still as tight as a fist around my soul.

There was a resounding boom which seemed to echo from the centre of the universe itself, and a deep power slammed into me with such force that I stumbled forward a step. Fabian caught me in his arms, holding me upright as his eyes burned with confusion, the power lashing against him too.

Something was weaving its way between us like a thread which tugged and pulled, a needle burying its way into my skin born of the sickly power of the gods, and a flare of heat shot across my left palm, causing a curse to spill from my lips.

Fabian gasped too, holding his right hand out and revealing a shining silver cross as it formed on his palm. I uncurled my fist, terror inching through me as I found my left hand branded with the same mark, and I recoiled internally. A bond had been formed between us with the power of the deity who was toying with my destiny.

I hated Fabian. He was an undead, soulless monster who deserved nothing but the swiftest of executions. I never wanted anything to link us to each other, and yet I was beginning to feel the strangest pull towards him. It went beyond Idun’s control over me; like a piece of my soul ached to be with his.

I stared at Fabian in horror as the coldly beautiful features which had repelled me so viscerally began to call to me instead, desire forming in the footsteps of the contempt I’d held for him so fully.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. Prince and Princess of the New Empire.”

Clarice stepped towards me with a glittering silver crown held ready. She reached out to place it on my head, and its weight felt like a ton of bricks crushing down on my soul.

“You may kiss the bride,” the priest announced.

Fabian moved towards me with undisguised heat, and my traitorous body pushed up onto my tiptoes as my hands tangled with his hair, gripping the back of his head as I pulled him closer. Inside I was begging, pleading, and offering any bargain I might be able to make to halt this. More tears fell from my eyes, the only sign at all that my mind was my own even if my body clearly wasn’t, but they couldn’t do anything to stop what was happening.

I looked beyond Fabian and found Magnar’s golden eyes once more. My heart shattered as if I could feel the pain my betrayal was causing him, feel the hurt, the hate, the fury.

Fabian’s mouth met mine and my eyes fell shut against my will, blocking out Magnar and the aching loss which pierced my heart so brutally at the press of those ice-cold lips against my own.

Fabian’s kiss was fierce and demanding, his hands gripping my hair as he forced me to yield to his desires. My body continued to betray me as I kissed him back, his tongue burying itself in my mouth, his fangs grazing my lower lip, his growl of pleasure echoing through my soul. And a piece of me, which I refused to accept was me at all, liked it.

The mark on my palm burned with excited energy in response to Fabian’s touch and I couldn’t deny the desire pooling in my stomach. It was like my soul had been severed in two and he was claiming the part of it which I couldn’t control, making it his own and forming it into something which wasn’t me at all. I was bound to this creature of the night. I was his. And he was mine.

His kiss grew hungrier as he felt it too, and I met his passion with my own, tasting the desire on his tongue and aching to give in to the full call of it.

But my heart pounded in fear and longing for a warrior with golden eyes who should have been mine instead. I was losing him in that moment, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

Somewhere deep inside of me, something fractured. And I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to fix it.