Can't Fight Time

Grim adjusted his tie as he gazed in the mirror. For the first time in years, he was wearing the Bloodspurn insignia carved into the ring on his index finger. It was the ring given to every Bloodspurn King upon succession to the throne. Sure, it was a little early, but given the circumstances, his father had decided it was time.

Grim turned away from the mirror and toward the man in the corner. “Thank you for your support, Father.”

Tuoni smiled brilliantly at his son. For the first time in centuries, Grim saw his father for the man he used to be, before the whoring and madness had taken him. “You never need to thank me, Grim. We are family, and family, is everything.”

“He’s right, you know. Family makes you do things you never thought you would,” Grim’s mother said as she walked into the room, her tone filled with distaste.

Grim turned his head to face his mother, and blinked in surprise at the olive-green dress she wore, covering most of her skin. How long had it been since I’ve seen her skin and not bones? Grim wondered as went to greet her.

“Morrigan!” his father announced pleasantly as he went over to his wife. “You look beautiful.”

His mother smiled sadly and reached out to grasp her husband's hands. They kissed cheeks briefly before she pulled back and turned to Grim. “Would you give us a second, Tuoni? I want to speak with my son.”

“Of course, my dear. I feel my mind slipping away, so it’s probably a good time to leave.” The king squeezed her hands before saluting Grim and heading out the door. But his father was always like that, there one moment and gone the next. Grim just hoped he wouldn’t adopt the same trait as he grew older. He hoped he wouldn’t inherit a lot from his father.

Grim stared at his mother for long moments, only able to see his brother. They both had the same red hair and myrtle-green eyes. When he was younger, it used to bother Grim to look at Morrigan in her human form and see no connection between them.

Even at a young age, he’d known the difference between Morrigan and Ivona—it was the way his father spoke about each woman. Love and longing reflected back in his eyes when he spoke of Ivona, and pride and power reflected in his eyes when he spoke of Morrigan.

But Morrigan was the only mother Grim had, and no matter how hard she’d been on him or how coldly she’d treated him, he couldn’t say he hadn’t started it. She’d been a stranger and for the better part of a century he’d treated her that way, and perhaps they’d just fallen into that pattern. But Grim never doubted her love for him; for all her faults it was obvious that she held affection for her sons.

“It’s your wedding day.” Morrigan began with a sad smile as she glided over to one of the floor-to-ceiling windows and gazed out to the courtyard.

Grim went to her, the sounds of his footfalls absorbed by the thick rugs. “Yes it is, Mother.” He stood beside her and looked out at the hundreds of carriages lining either side of the drive. Some of the guests had come to see the human, others to show their support, but all had been expecting this to be a political marriage between the Castoffs and the Bloodspurns. Now that it wasn’t, they were all curious as to what would happen.

Grim was wondering the same thing. The Castoff King had yet to respond to the letter he’d sent, and he’d received no word back from Krithi and Tylend. It had been weeks, and with every day that passed Grim wondered if he wasn’t starting a war with his actions.

“Mictlantecuhtli?” Morrigan said tentatively, turning away from the window to face her son.

For once Grim didn’t cringe at the use of his birth name, but he did take note of it. “Yes, Mother?” Grim’s voice was soft but held a note of censure. This was his wedding day, and he didn’t want it to be ruined by his mother badmouthing his fiancée. He would take her criticism and commentary to a point.

“Let’s put down our swords, shall we?” Morrigan gestured to the crimson chaise and two armchairs. “I want you to sit and listen to a story.”

Grim’s lips twisted as he remembered a time when he’d said the same thing. He mimicked the motion of sheathing a sword before going to sit in one of the armchairs. “Fine, mother, the swords are away. What is it you would like to tell me?”

Morrigan arranged her skirts in a fan around her ankles as she sat opposite him in one of the chairs, hands resting in her lap. “You know that I don’t have the greatest… affinity for humans, Mictlantecuhtli.” Morrigan began softly. “But you don’t know the story behind my feelings.”

Grim nodded for her to continue, and after a deep sigh, she did. “Your father and I did not marry for love, but for power and allegiance. You already know this.”

Grim nodded, and folded his hands in his lap. “Yes.”

Myrtle-green eyes met his, but darted quickly to the side before he could read them. Then her voice shifted, became lower and softer, and she was suddenly speaking in a dead language that she’d taught him as a child. “That was a lie, Mictlantecuhtli.” Morrigan paused and sat up straighter. “When your father and I married, I was a maid; in fact, I was Ivona’s maid.”

Grim’s jaw clenched, as he searched his mind for the language and the words he needed. “You’re lying. You are the niece of the Darklore Queen, fifth in line for the Darklore throne and queen of the Bloodspurn kingdom. I know who you are, Mother.”

Morrigan shook her head and clenched her fingers tight until her knuckles turned white. “The Darklore Queen is one of our greatest supporters. She was desperate to keep the peace between the kingdoms, and your father was too distraught to marry anyone. I was just the logical and available choice.

“I married him quickly, and I let him grieve in any way he wanted while I raised you. Ivona wanted it that way. She trusted me, and wanted me to be the one to raise you, just perhaps not as your mother.”

Morrigan paused, and took a shaky breath in before blowing it out. “Only a select number of people know what I’m about to tell you, Mictlantecuhtli.”

Grim didn’t know the woman sitting across from him. Where was his mother; the woman who was constantly hysterical, hated humans, and was always disappointed with her sons? The woman in front of him now seemed scared, fear in her eyes. Whatever secrets she carried with her weren’t easy ones.

Grim didn’t speak, didn’t so much as twitch a muscle. All he did was wait for her to continue, wait for her to tell him the deep, dark secret she kept so close to her.

“Your mother went into premature labor because one of the Castoff royalties attempted to assassinate her. We were never sure who exactly it was, but we knew they were exceedingly powerful.”

“How did they do it?” Grim interpreted.

“Poison.”

Red curls bounced as Morrigan turned away from Grim and seemed to look into the past. “You see, Ivona wasn’t just the Bloodspurn Queen; she was everyone’s hope.

“Your father had been working with Yin and Yang to try and come up with a way to keep her alive after the birth. They were close too, but she went into labor after the assassination attempt and died.”

If what she was telling him was true, then he might not have been the cause of his mother’s death. If Yin, Yang, and his father had been close to discovering a way to prevent her death, then she might’ve still been with him.

Clenching his fists tight, Grim locked his jaw. He leapt his voice low, with just a sliver of hope embedded in the words. “Yin and Yang are forbidden to meddle in reaper affairs.You’re sure it was them father was working with?”

“I’m sure, Mictlantecuhtli.” Morrigan nodded as her eyes darted around the room. “Yin and Yang were trying to find a way for humans and reapers to have children without the human dying. Because if they did…”

Grim knew the answer. It was the reason reapers and humans had first mated. Reapers needed humanity, because humanity kept them from being lost and consumed by their own power. When the power had consumed reapers in the past it had led to battles, wars, senseless murder, and had almost destroyed them all. It was a symbiotic existence for both species.

“Why would the Castoffs want to stop this?”

His mother shook her head softly at him. “You can’t think of the reason?”

Grim stared at his mother for a long second. Slowly the pieces came to him. Why she’d married his father and claimed to be part of the Darklore Kingdom. Why the Castoff Kingdom had tried to assassinate his mother. It all came to him slowly, but clearly.

“They think that if we mate with humans too much, then we would become humans ourselves and lose our power,” Grim said lowly, realization dawning on him.

Morrigan nodded, her hands clenched tightly in her lap, bunching the fabric of her dress. “They fear losing power. They fear change they cannot control. Can you then understand why we wanted you to marry the Castoff Princess?”

The change to Felicia didn’t surprise him. It was all connected, had been in play before he’d been born. “Keep your friends close…”

“... and your enemies closer,” Morrigan finished with a proud smile.

“This game is very old, Mictlantecuhtli.” Morrigan continued. “And while the players might have changed, the positions and stakes never did. It goes back to our history, to the founding of the three kingdoms.”

“Why does any of this matter now? Why should I trust anything you’re saying, Mother?” Grim asked, more out of curiosity than because he thought she was lying to him.

Morrigan reached forward and gripped his hands. “If you believe nothing else, believe that I love you.

“And it matters now, because I—I feel something in the air,” Morrigan sucked in a shaky breath and looked around the room as if there were spies in every shadow. “Something is about to happen. I don’t know what it is, but I can feel it. Trust me on this.”

Grim felt her hands shake in his grasp and he raised her fingers to his cheek. “I trust you implicitly, Mother.”

Grim opened his mouth to say more, wanting to know more, but a knock on the door interrupted him. “Grim? Do you have a second?” Felicia’s girlish voice asked from the doorway, as she peeked into the room.

Turning away from her son, Morrigan rose from the chair. Once again the haughty mentality he’d see her wear since he could remember was in place. She turned and smiled at Felicia, and switched to English. “Dreadful business, this wedding; I am truly sorry, Felicia. I would have loved to have you as my daughter-in-law and not some… human.”

Grim now understood his mother’s hate over the wedding and Nina. It wasn’t that she hated humans, but that she was worried about the past repeating itself. She didn’t want Grim to fall into the depression that his father had, to repeat his mistakes, or worse.

“And the swords are back up.” Grim rose from his seat.

A harsh laugh greeted his ears, before cold lips pressed against his cheek. “I will see you later, Mictlantecuhtli. Hopefully by then you will be dressed properly.” Morrigan turned her nose up and left the room in a swivel of green skirts.

Closing his eyes to compose himself, Grim turned and smiled politely at Felicia. “Come in.”

“Thank you, my king.”

Grim paused as he went back to the mirror to fix his tie. Did she just sound condescending? he wondered as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Dressed in a pink and black striped dress with random bows everywhere, Felicia couldn’t have looked more like a child. Her gentle, but pale makeup also made her look exceedingly young and vulnerable. Grim’s lips twitched; Nina had been right, she does look like a pedophile’s wet dream.

“What can I do for you, Felicia?” Grim asked as he slipped his tie pin into place. He switched his thoughts from the centuries-old game played with reaper and human lives to the woman he loved. He wouldn’t let anything ruin this day, not even his own dark thoughts.

“I just wanted to wish you a happy wedding. I did not want there to be any bad blood between us,” she said calmly, scratching delicately at her covered wrists.

“I appreciate you coming to tell me that.” Grim acknowledged as he turned to face her. “It is very mature of you.”

Felicia smiled a bit too brightly, her tone just a bit too sweet. “You are far too kind, Grim.” She rose from the chaise and smoothed her pink skirts.

“Good bye, Felicia.” Grim said with finality as he turned his thought over to his most important person.

Felicia smiled as she sailed past him, a cloud of black stripes, black ribbon curls, and pink bows. Her voice practically dripped sugar. “I’m sure I’ll see you soon, my future king.”

***

The wedding was more spectacular than Nina could have ever imagined. It was a bona fide royal wedding, one that even the Queen of England might have blanched at.

The ceremony was held in the great hall, which was about the size of a football feild, with ceilings at least three stories high. Down the center of the room was a red carpet, while on either side of the aisle were seats for guests, hundreds of seats for guests. The ceiling was a beautiful display of sheer gold linens, draped and styled so they looked like flowers hanging from the rafters. Nina hadn't been able to see much of the room, before she'd been placed at the entrance by the Bloodspurn queen and told to greet guests with Uri.

The only she'd noticed was that everything, from the heavy drapes covering the windows, to the flowers wrapped with thread on guests seats, was that everything was in deep reds and glittering gold, colors of the Bloodspurn kingdom. It was strange to see such intense colors in such a bleary and dark place, but Nina supposed she shouldn’t be surprised because the Underworld itself was intense.

The only thing that ruined the event were the angry vibes she got from the guests. No amount of color could replace the black hatred almost every reaper shot her way. Nina couldn’t hold the small shiver that wracked her body as she stood by Uri in the hallway and smiled to the people as they moved to sit down.

Reaper custom dictated that she greet her guests in her wedding dress before the ceremony began, and Nina didn’t see any reason not to. Besides, they were breaking enough rules by getting married, the least Nina could do is at try to participate in the customs.

Uri tried to lighten the mood. “Don’t worry about them; they’re just jealous because you look so hot.”

Nina hid her laugh behind a cough as she clutched Uri’s arm and tried not to trip on the train of her dress. Careful, careful, she counseled herself over and over as she tried not to fidget and teeter in her heels.

Looking down at herself in her scarlet mermaid gown with an inverted flange skirt, Nina couldn’t help but amaze at how stunning it looked. The dress was accented by dozens of teardrop-shaped pearls sewn into her hair, a matching necklace and earring set, and a pair of gold pumps with flames licking up the sides of the shoes. They'd been a gift from Uri, one that Grim had nearly killed him for giving to her, but one that she’d appreciated nonetheless.

Fingering the pearls, Nina looked towards the quickly filling great hall, transfixed by the glass crystals hanging all around the thrones.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Nina turned to Uri and gently tugged on his sleeve. “What are those?” She nodded her head to the vials.

“Trophies,” Uri whispered back. “They’re the ashes of the people old Bloodspurn kings have killed.”

Nina’s smile cracked for a moment as she nodded to a reaper dressed as an Egyptian pharaoh before she regained her composure. Grim’s words resonated in her mind: The Bloodspurn kingdom has the fiercest warriors. He hadn’t been kidding.

She could understand why Grim had always seemed reluctant to talk about the kingdom and his role as its king. From the first moment she’d met him, Grim had tried to conform to the rules, tried to keep himself and his kingdom in check. Now it made sense why he was so stringent about rules, why he’d tried to keep himself away from her. He didn’t want to repeat the past. Grim didn’t want to be the cause of another battle or war. It was in the teardrop vials hanging behind the throne, like a mother’s tears forever falling: Grim didn’t want that to be his legacy, didn’t want murder, mayhem, and death to be his signature.

Then why is he marrying me? Nina had been wondering about his motives for a while, but love… Well, that emotion had no rhyme or reason, did not know right from wrong. But she’d been wondering for a while why Grim didn’t just bequeath the throne onto Uri, give the prince the power. Or why didn’t uri just marry Felicia and still keep the connection?

Out of the corner of her eye, Nina regarded Uri. “Why don’t you just marry the Castoff Princess? Wouldn’t that solve the whole thing?”

Uri turned his head and smiled at her, and for the entire world the smile looked pleasant and doting, but to Nina it looked strained. “That’s not how it works here.”

“What do you mean?”

Uri cocked a brow at her, and Nina had the sudden urge to roll her eyes. Grim’s comment, 'curiosity killed the cat,' came back to her. It wasn’t her fault that she was forever curious, wanting to know as much as she could. Maybe it was something in her genes.

“The marriage itself doesn’t matter, it’s the power the position allows. Any second born child holds a lot less power both as a reaper, and for myself, as a prince?” Uri turned and nodded to a reaper who was rocking the whole skull-and-bones look.

“So?” Nina got the less power thing, but the other kingdom would still have a foothold in Bloodspurn politics, still create an alliance. Didn’t that count for anything?

“You have to understand, Nina. These alliances never last long. They’re only as good as the power they allot. The less power the less stable the hold. Even if I did marry the girl now, it would have little to no hold. It’s all a game, Nina.” Uri gave her one of his winning smiles. “That’s all it ever was and all it ever will be.”

Carefully, Nina transformed her face into a mask of neutrality. The way Uri had said the last part disturbed her. It was as if he knew something they all didn’t. Her eyes caught on a glint of glass, the vial. She could understand Uri’s explanation, understand that the rules that governed his society were different. But Nina wanted to know more, wanted to understand the power they all spoke of, the illusive thing that allowed them to be, but also ruled them. She wanted to understand the culture, understand why things were what they were and why they didn’t change.

But then the music started. Uri turned to her, winked and extended his arm. Another reaper custom, Uri would walk her down the aisle. A hundred plus eyes fixed on them as Nina placed one foot in front of the other and told herself she couldn’t fall.

“Uri...” Nina started, wanting to give him some sort of assurance, and maybe take a measure of it for herself. She’d been too naive in accepting Grim’s proposal. He was a king, after all. No matter what her plan past this point was, if she went through with it, she would be a princess and then a queen, if they followed human rules.

Could she really take on that burden? Did she even want to?

“Everything is going to be fine.” Uri squeezed her hand comfortingly. “Don’t worry about anything else past this moment. Right now, just be happy.”

Looking dead ahead, she spotted Grim standing beside his father. Tuoni spotted her and gave a wiggle of his fingers and an exaggerated wink. Again Nina wasn’t sure whether he was crazy or absolutely sane. They were at a beautiful but gloomy wedding, and the king was smiling as if he was at the carnival.

Do reapers ever have carnivals? Nina wondered, then realized how stupid that was. Here she was, seconds away from marrying Death, with her homicidal father on the other side of a portal waiting to kill her, and a pissed-off ex-fiancée who looked like she wanted to rip Nina’s skin off and make a coat... and she was thinking about carnivals. Would wonders never cease?

Turning away from her chaotic jumble of thoughts, Nina tried to bring her focus back to Uri. There was something different about him, something had changed ever since the Castoff Princess had come to town. It was that sixth sense feeling again, clawing in the pit of her stomach, warning her.

Swallowing down her panic, Nina saw the altar looming in front of her. She only had a few more seconds before she sealed her fate. “Uri, if you know something’s going to—”

He squeezed her hand a second before they stopped. Uri drew Nina aside and bent down to her and cool lips brushed her cheek; “Try not to worry. Don’t stories with princes and princesses always have a happy ending?”

Nina laughed softly, and returned the kiss he’d given her. Amongst the swirling of her violent insecurities, Uri was there to bring her back and reassure her. If she’d met him first, maybe she would have fallen in love with him. Maybe. But right now, she was just happy to call him a friend.

Nina smiled up at him. “Thank you, Uri,” her voice was soft, and held only the slightest tremble, “I’ll see you later.”

Nina pulled back only to feel strong arms grip her and spin her around. “Thank you, Brother,” Grim growled warningly as he tucked Nina’s hand into the crock of his arm and walked them up to the alter.

Grim was decked out in full Bloodspurn regalia: pressed black pants, a stark white shirt, black silk tie, crimson waistcoat, and a gold and red threaded cloak on top. Nina hadn’t seen anything like it, and wondered if she could actually get it off of him.

As if Grim couldn’t get it off himself. She mentally chuckled, feeling a flush of heat run through her body.

The king didn’t look much different, aside from the gold crown on his head embedded with the same vials behind him, and a broach, with the Bloodspurn insignia on it, secured to his cravat. Talk about a king who cleans up nicely, Nina whistled a mental catcall.

Beside the king stood an exquisite woman, dressed in a flowing green gown that looked like it had been poured over her body, and a green velvet choker with a brooch carved with the Bloodspurn insignia hanging from it. Thick, wavy red-locks flowed down her back, and a crown similar to the kings, but more feminine and delicate, was on her head.

“Is that—?” Nina began to ask, but Grim bumped her hip and the queen shot her a look that clearly said “eat shit and die painfully.”

Nina bit back a smile, having never seen Grim’s mother in anything other than a black velvet cloak and ivory bones. The transformation was truly shocking, though the queen looked less than pleased.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome, friends!” Tuoni spread his arms wide, swaying a little, with his voice in a sing-song melody. “I am so pleased you all could be here on this auspicious occasion to witness the marriage of my son, Grim.”

Tuoni smiled a bit too widely, and Nina felt Grim’s muscles harden beneath her hand. But then the queen stepped forward and smoothly interrupted whatever Tuoni was going to say. And he let her.

“The service will begin. Everyone please take your seats.” Her voice was a sultry purr, even if her tone and her eyes were a bit hard. Nina couldn’t help but be proud of Grim’s mother, despite her own reservations about the marriage, she was still here and willing to help.

Taking a calming breath, Nina tried to focus as the ceremony began. Grim had told her that the ceremony wouldn’t be anything like a human wedding ceremony and he hadn’t lied.

The entire process was extremely intricate, and between the exchanging of blood and power, Grim turning into his skull and bones look, and Morrigan calling on the Bloodspurn ancestors, Nina got lost. Her head was practically spinning when they finally got to the actual ring part.

Morrigan turned to Nina and then to Grim; “The rings, please.”

Though Nina had been able to choose her own bridesmaid, the selection had been scare. She would have liked to have had Krithi, one of the Council of Guardian members that had been nothing but nice to her, and iris beside her, but neither of them could be found. Which had left Nina with a maid that didn’t exactly hate her guts acting as her bridesmaid and maid of honor.

Mentally shaking her head, Nina tried to remember the name of the reaper maid that was standing in as her entire bridal party, but she just came up with a blank space. How sad was it that she couldn’t remember the only bridesmaid she had?

The maid reached into her gold clutch and pulled out Grim’s ring. Nina smiled at the small creation: it was a platinum band with the words 'forever and always yours' carved into it.

Uri had helped her commission it and make sure it was Grim’s size. It looked absolutely perfect, and Nina hoped Grim would love it as much as she did.

“Thank you,” Nina said softly as she took the ring in her hand and turned back to Grim.

They’d agreed not to show each other the rings, but Nina had made the platinum band a rule. Of course, their engagement had been a little different: instead of proposing with a ring, Grim had opted to give her both the engagement ring and the wedding ring at once. In fact, the man had been so confident that she’d say yes that he’d started making the ring a couple days before she’d said the word. Talk about cockiness.

“Mictlantecuhtli Jallgrímur Bloodspurn, first and only son of Ivona Eir Bloodspurn and Tuoni Erlik Bloodspurn, Heir Apparent to the throne, do you take Nina Marie Strathmore to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Morrigan asked and then followed it up by asking the same thing in a language Nina had never heard and she was pretty sure had died a long, long time ago.

Morrigan had been doing so most of the ceremony, switching between English and the other language. She wasn’t sure if that was because the other language was more common, or because it was part of the ceremony; Nina assumed the later, because every reaper she’d spoken to knew English and about a hundred more languages.

Nina would have liked to know what exactly Morrigan was saying, but she knew she had to put her curiosity on hold until later. It was, after all, her wedding.

“I do.” Grim said loudly and clearly.

A thought struck as Nina slid the ring on Grim’s finger and felt his power curl over her and stroke her body. Even if the man wasn’t touching her, his power always was, stoking the flame within her to a roaring fire. At one point, Grim’s power had actually brought her to orgasm, one of the most intense ones of her life. Screw knowing how to use his hands, the man knew how to use his power.

Giving herself a mental shake, Nina came back to herself. Morrigan hadn’t asked if any one opposed their union. That was the big thing in most of the television wedding shows Nina was addicted to, but the queen seemed to have just skipped over that part. It was a little strange, considering she'd mentioned just about everything else.

Lifting her head, Nina met Grim’s blue-diamond eyes and her question was instantly answered. Reflected in those depths was the assured knowledge that anyone who disturbed their union would have to deal with Grim. And Nina doubted the way Grim would 'deal' with them would be humane.

It sent a chill down her spine, knowing that the man—reaper—in front of her didn’t conceal his lust, rage, murderous intent, or love from her. All of his emotions were laid out for Nina in the hard gems of his eyes.

“Nina?” the queen asked her impatiently, using her name for the first time.

Turning away from Grim, Nina looked out over the sea of reapers. Dark, gloomy faces stared back at her, eyes devoid of any kind of happiness or encouragement. No one looked like they were actually happy about the wedding, and she wondered if that was because they were reapers or because of Grim’s choice of bride.

It couldn’t have been more than a couple of seconds, but for Nina it felt like forever. She was fighting with herself again, wondering if she was making the right decision. What was the point of the wedding? What was the point of doing all of this if the end result would always be the same?

The memories that she always tried to forget began to creep up, wanting to overwhelm her. Those visions wanted to break her, drag her down to a place she never wanted to go. Nina was spiraling, being sucked down by her own negativity and worry. She needed an anchor, something to pull her back from the brink, something to remind her why she was going through with this debacle.

Grim was there, drawing her back with the cool comfort of his hand, his power rushing over her, curving around her like a security blanket. The memories faded, until they became dust.

Pulling her gaze away from the sad faces, Nina spied Felicia smiling wide and waving at her. The girl was probably a few lifetimes ahead of her, but she dressed like she was her junior. Still, even with the friendly wave and the innocent clothing, something about Felicia left a bad taste in Nina’s mouth.

Gripping herself, and steeling her resolve, Nina turned away from the distraction. It was now or never, make or break time. Before it had been one word, and now it was two. Nina blew out a breath to calm herself before turning back to Morrigan. “I do.”

How she managed to get it out, she wasn’t sure, but the words were food for the wind now. She’d said them, she’d meant them, and there was no way Nina was taking them back.

Cool metal slipping onto her finger brought her back to Grim as he slid on the rings. Nina looked down at the blue diamond cut in the shape of a heart and set on top of a platinum band. She barely recognized the other ring as she looked up into eyes the same color as the diamond on her finger.

Grim raised her hand to his lips and kissed the ring. “So you can always have me near you.”

Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes and threatened to spill, but Nina blinked them away. She didn’t want to ruin her makeup; it was immaculate, and if any pictures were taken she wanted to look stunning.

Morrigan began speaking again, and before Nina could blink she was suddenly wrapped in Grim’s arms, being tilted backwards. In the distance she could hear Morrigan switching to English, but then Grim’s lips were on hers and she didn’t care anymore.

It was just like that first kiss, just as intense, if not more so. She couldn’t breathe past Grim, couldn’t think past him. He was everything to Nina, all she’d ever wanted, and the only thing in the world she couldn’t have.

She gave herself up to the kiss, gave everything she had to the man she loved, even though she’d said she wouldn’t. My father might take my life, but Grim will get my heart.

“...kiss the bride.” Morrigan finished as Grim tilted Nina back up and let her breathe.

Grim pulled her close, blue-diamond eyes dancing with barely contained heat. “Ready to start the rest of our lives together?”

“Yes!” Nina didn’t hesitate, didn’t show any of her sadness or remorse over the lie. She loved Grim, probably more than she’d ever loved anyone. That was all that would ever matter.

He’d never let her go voluntarily, no matter how right it was. This needed to happen. Time wouldn’t stop for them to have a honeymoon, start a family, and grow old together. There was no point in trying to deny it, trying to fight it and call it by a different name; she couldn’t fight fate.