chill breeze sweeps through me. It’s brisk, bracing, but I’m not left shivering. I stand taller. The ice condenses in the back of my head, radiating cool composure down my spine and into my limbs. My eyes are locked on his as my mouth moves.
“I will honor the pact,” I say. I think I’m repeating the Head Keeper, but I can’t be sure. I can’t be sure of anything beyond the Elf King. Have I ever laid eyes on someone—on anything—more perfect before? How could I have been afraid of this?
This is right. This is how the world should have been all along. A deep sense of unnatural calm fills me.
“I will honor the pact,” he repeats.
“I will fulfill my obligation to this world and those on the other side of the Fade.” We begin to repeat back and forth. “I will uphold the keystones. I will use the powers passed down through my blood by destiny for the betterment of us all—for peace. I will uphold the order that is both natural and crafted.
“I will honor my husband.”
“I will honor my wife.”
Yeah, right, my mind blurts treacherously. But the thought is frosted over by my resolve. I am marrying a king of ice. I will have to be a frigid queen to match.
The Head Elder says a few more words, and the deed is done.
We unclasp our hands and for the second time in one day I stare at mine. What magic was wrought here? What have I done?
I’m married, that’s what I’ve done. Whenever I imagined myself as married—if I imagined myself as married—Luke was standing across from me. I return my gaze to the Elf King’s, seeing his shining blue eyes still on me.
“We should make for the Fade,” he says.
I nod.
The king holds out his hand for me and I take it. His skin is smooth, and cool to the touch, his grip unexpectedly gentle. He leads me by our joined palms in an awkward, rigid way. We walk out of the sanctum, around its side, and start down a side path. I know without needing to be told that this will take us toward the Fade.
The townsfolk collect behind us, moving silently to hover at the foot of the path. The forest is damp; the trees tangle their boughs in the fog like fingers in the hair of a lover. I see flowers bud up, blooming alongside me as I walk. They open to face me, as if bidding me farewell from this world.
Farewell… I shiver but the thought sticks to my mind. Farewell, I’m leaving. I shiver again, more violently this time, and can almost imagine invisible ice shaking from my shoulders. That cold core in the back of my mind fractures.
“Luella!” I hear my mother’s voice, breaking the silence and decorum.
My fragile composure shatters.
I look over my shoulder. We’ve gone farther than I thought. My mother and father stand at the entrance to the path, down by the sanctum. My father holds tightly onto her, smoothing her ruby hair from her tear-streaked cheeks. He murmurs something I cannot hear. But I can see the words are physically painful for him to say.
“Luella!” she shrieks again.
“Mother!” My heart is racing once more. Heat floods my body and my cheeks. I drop my hand from the king’s and begin to run.
He grabs my elbow. I spin in place. “We must go beyond the Fade. There is precious little time.”
The Elf King’s eyes are back to their normal color. The bright magic that shimmered in them is gone. It’s then I realize what he did.
“You used magic on me,” I whisper in realization. That frosty chill, his glowing eyes, both traits I’m beginning to associate with elf magic. Hatred mixes with horror in my gut and twists my face. “The ceremony—”
“You needed to comply.”
“You bastard.” I rip myself from his person once more. Damn his Fade. Damn the wedding. Damn men who think they can manipulate me down an aisle.
An oath taken under magic influence shouldn’t be upheld. But I know no one will take my side.
I am the Human Queen. Even if I wasn’t trained for my role, I know enough from the stories that are rooted deeper in the social fabric of Capton than the trees around me that the Human Queen has no choice. By magic or circumstance…the oath I took was forced.