Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162269 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 811(@200wpm)___ 649(@250wpm)___ 541(@300wpm)
They were everywhere.
Indeed, tall poles shafted up from both ends of every single pew atop of which was a gargantuan floral display with blooms floating down and even larger sprays of these decorated the altar.
Heavily.
And that did not get into the bunting.
Maybe it was too much.
But a queen only became a princess once in her life.
“Papa, I want a wedding just like this,” Aelia declared.
“Now you’ve done it,” Cassius muttered.
“Gads, but Ellie’s gone pink mad,” Dora said.
“That she has, bean.” Cassius didn’t mutter that time.
“I like pink!” Aelia stated, and I looked down at her.
“So do I.”
“I know!” she breathed. “I can tell,” she continued breathing.
It was then, I started giggling.
Aelia giggled with me.
Then Dora chimed in.
And that was when I felt it.
We were almost to the alter, and I looked to my right, and up, to see Cassius gazing down at me.
His eyes were a starry night.
“I love you,” I whispered.
“Yes, and every day, I thank the gods,” he whispered in return.
My heart melted.
And in mere seconds we stopped in front of the pink-strewn altar, Cassius and I, our girls with us, as the guests filed in.
They found their seats.
The priest in his black robes with his satin sash in colors of blue and silver dangling from about his neck came out.
And our wedding began.
Combined Cathedral of the Gods, Sky Bay
AIREN
It happened after the priest declared Elena, Queen of the Nadirii, to be Princess Regent of Airen and wife to Cassius, and proclaimed him, Prince Regent of Airen, her husband.
It happened after Aelia clapped, King Mars let out a roaring boom, coming up from his seat, his big hands striking each other making a thundering noise, King Aramus coming up with him much the same, King True, their queens, Princess Serena, Cassius’s men, her remaining lieutenant, and the visiting royalty from across the Green Sea.
And amongst the pews, the Zees whooped, and at the back, the Nadirii warriors lent their battle cry.
It was when Elena arched into Cassius, Cassius cupped her jaw in one hand and rounded her waist with the other.
It was when she rested both of her hands on his wide chest.
It was when he dropped his head and hers tipped well back.
His long legs all but disappeared in her bounteous skirts.
His upper body curved around hers, and her torso all but vanished behind the wall of his broad back.
And unlike any Airenzian royal wedding ceremony for centuries, for such an event was never sealed with a kiss, their lips met in front of the eyes of men and women and under the eyes of the gods.
That was when it happened.
When the air inside the Combined Cathedral of the Gods shot with color.
Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. And violet.
These colors deluged every inch with such brilliance, the dust mites floating in the air became glitter.
They shafted out the windows and up through the roof.
Snaking the city, the countryside, and reaching to the heavens.
It would become lore, that rainbow that shone from two lovers.
It would be talked about all the way to The Mystics and the Northlands and Southlands.
The power of the prophecy was fulfilled.
The fate of Triton was in their hands.
Jellan
Road to Sky Bay
AIREN
Jellan was far away, but he saw it.
He stopped Chance and stared at the rainbow streaking straight up into the sky on the horizon.
“Haste,” he whispered.
Then he dug his heels into his mount.
“Fly, Chance! Fly!” he encouraged.
And they galloped toward Sky Bay.
Marian
Road to Seemingly Nowhere
AIREN
Daemon stopped the horse, and as she was gazing glumly down at the ground going by beneath them, in her mind cursing Jellan for making good his escape and leaving her with this creature, this thing, leaving it all to her to find a way to stop it, the selfish sop, she had no idea why Daemon suddenly did that.
Thus, she looked up, to him, to see him gazing at the distance with an expression on his deceptively handsome face that did not make her feel like rejoicing.
“What is it?” she asked.
“This is my query,” he said as answer.
She turned in the direction of where he was staring and blinked.
“It’s a rainbow,” she said.
Though she could not be certain it was. She’d never seen the likes of it.
It seemed to go straight up into the sky without an arch.
And the sky was cloudless, so it was not that it was just very tall, and it disappeared in white.
“It is not thus,” Daemon stated.
She turned her attention back to him. “Then what is it?”
“It is not thus,” he repeated.
“Then what is it?” she demanded snappishly.
And then she jerked away, fear choking her, as his eyes bulged, his head sunk into his neck, his mouth widened, and he snapped at her with teeth gone ghastly.
“I tire of your tone,” his voice rumbled, animal and primal.
“I-I’m…” She swallowed. “I’m sorry. I was simply asking a question.”