Selene kissed my cheeks. “It was my pleasure, Jules.”
At ten years old, my life changed in an irrevocable way. I had needed a mother the most and Selene was there, every step of the way, supporting me, encouraging the little girl with a broken heart.
I swallowed my tears, sniffling. “Can you pass me my pills, please?”
Selene handed me the small bottle and I popped a pill into my mouth. It had been three months since my last seizure…
There was no way I could skip my medication. Not when it was the only thing keeping me from enduring another relapse.
“Help me up?” I asked, grabbing for Selene’s hand.
With her help, I stood on my two feet, but I wobbled a bit. Sure, I could walk again, but I had a limp and was still unstable. My physiotherapist told me that while I could walk, my legs would always be weak and I’d always walk with a slight limp.
Running again was not even a possibility. Sometimes, if I were on my feet for too long or walked too fast, my limp was more pronounced.
Selene fixed my veil, looking as emotional as I felt. The corner of her eyes wrinkled when she blinked, the tip of her nose was red and she sniffled. “As your foster mother, can I give you one last bit of advice?”
I nodded, feeling the way my throat closed and burned with unshed tears.
“You’re about to become Julianna Spencer, a wife. While you should always have your own best interest at heart, you’re now also responsible for your new family. Their reputation, their image and their well-being.” Selene paused and she nudged my chin up with her index finger, so my head was held high. “Killian is an asshole, true. But you need to be at your very best, so he’ll never be able to point a finger at you or accuse you of lacking something as a wife or a partner. Because we know damn well, he will dig under your skin, find all your flaws and shred you to pieces until your heart is bleeding at his feet. Don’t allow him to do it. No one should ever use your weaknesses against you.”
I licked my lips, tasting my shame and swallowing my secrets. Selene didn’t know even half of my story…
Nobody did, because the only person who knew all my secrets was Gracelynn. And now they were buried with her, staining her grave with my tainted past and the bitterness that came with it.
No one should ever use your weakness against you.
Little did she know…
Killian was my only weakness.
“And remember, the vows you take are sacred, my precious girl,” she finished.
Sacred vows, a broken past and a tarnished future.
Killian and I were bound to break, eventually. No matter the vows we took or the relationship we shared.
Two hours later, with the help of Selene, I found myself walking down the wide stairs of the castle.
When William Spencer said this wedding would be nothing short of royalty, I didn’t think he meant a castle. But that was exactly where my wedding was taking place.
Isle Rosa-Maria came into the Spencer’s possession in 1865. Back then it was named Isle Wingintam. But in 1875, when Marquees Wingintam decided to make the Isle his permanent home, he renamed it Isle Rosa-Maria, just before him and his bride settled here.
The Spencers were a direct descendent from Marquees Wingintam. So basically, Killian was somewhat royalty. And this Isle and the castle that came with it? They belonged to my future husband.
When I arrived here yesterday, I barely even had a chance to take a look around what would be my home for the next two weeks. There was no honeymoon, but William specifically told Killian that we were supposed to spend some time alone, as husband and wife.
Hence, the two weeks on Isle Rosa-Maria.
Where there was no paparazzi, no gossips and we would have all the privacy we needed.
Dread filled me at the thought. I could only imagine the cruelty I’d go through at the hands of Killian and there would be no one to help me.
Not when we were basically locked away from the rest of the world and trapped in, what people called, a haunted castle.
“Have all the guests arrived?” I asked Selene, gripping her hand tighter.
“They are all here and waiting for your entrance,” she responded softly. “But as promised, they kept the guest list small. The reception they’d hold two weeks from now, though, will be much grander.”
Of course.
At least my father had allowed me this mercy on my wedding day.
I had specifically asked them to keep the guest list as small as they could. Only because I knew this wedding was going to end in a disaster.
Killian was barely hanging on to the thin thread of his sanity. God knows what he’d do when he finally reached his tipping point and we didn’t need an audience for that.
“Nervous?” Selene joked, as we came down to the last step where my father was waiting for me.
“Terrified,” I breathed, before my father grasped my hand in his.
He eyed the black veil with disdain. I expected him to scold me, but instead, he gave me a soft smile, shoving his anger to the side. “You look absolutely gorgeous, my daughter. If only your mother would have seen you on this day. God bless her soul.”
The lump in my throat grew larger. “Thank you, father.”
“Call me dad today.” The emotions in his voice were unmistakeable. He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss on my forehead, over the veil. “I’m going to miss you, terribly. After Gracelynn, you were the only one keeping me together, keeping me going. And now…”
I wrapped an arm around his waist, my head on his chest and I closed my eyes, feeling my father’s heartbeat. It soothed me. “Just because I’m going to be a married woman in twenty minutes doesn’t mean I’ll stop being your daughter.”
“Ready to walk down the aisle?” he asked.
In response, I wrapped my hand around the crook of his elbow. He patted the back of my hand while Selene handed me my bouquet of white and pink roses. Then, we walked through the double wooden doors and into the castle’s chapel.
The sight of it would have taken my breath away – the flowers, the decorations, the beautiful sunlight casting through the wide panels of the chapel – but none of it compared to who was waiting for me at the end of the aisle.
Killian had his back to me and he didn’t even bother to turn around to watch me walk down the aisle to him. My heart accelerated and my palms grew sweaty the closer I got.
His feet were slightly apart, his arms down to his sides, his fists clenched and his back stiff. He looked more like he belonged in a military formation than his own wedding.
The moment I stood beside him, his jaw tightened and I swore, the muscle in his left cheek almost popped with how hard he was gritting his teeth.
My father clasped Killian by the shoulder. “She’s yours now.”
And that was it.
Killian didn’t respond. In fact, he barely even acknowledged my father’s words.
“Start,” he barked at the priest.
My muscles twitched at the harshness in his voice and I almost flinched. My nails dug into my palm and the pain soothed me.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join together this man and this woman in holy matrimony,” the priest began and I barely paid attention to what he was saying.
Blood rushed through my veins and I swayed, as the numbness slowly took over. I could hear the pounding of my heart echoing in my ears.