Masked Prince - Nikolai Andrew Page 0,60
open door of the great cathedral and offered his arm. The red autumn leaves of the enormous oaks that lined the church grounds whispered a hushhhhhhh in the breeze.
Organ music began to rumble through the open doors, and an eager quiet fell over the gathered crowd that packed the pews inside. But outside the cathedral, for the moment, it was just the two of us, along with my ladies in waiting who were hurrying to adjust my long, white silk train.
I couldn’t believe any of this was happening to me. Me, a simple milkmaid from a simple place, with simple expectations. And yet, here I was, getting married to the king, dressed in white silk and diamonds.
I clutched my bouquet tight in my fist. It all felt so surreal, so dreamy, but I knew that as soon as I saw Randal at the altar, I would feel steady once again. He was my anchor; he was my light. I loved him more than I ever thought one human being could love another.
A little squeeze of my arm brought me back to the moment. In the months since Randal had been crowned, his father had regained some strength, but we had learned that the queen had been poisoning him for years and it was very likely that the damage had already been done. None of us knew how long he would be able to survive, but we took each day we had with him as a blessing. He had told me time and again that I had helped him get a bit better; I’d started studying with the palace medical man to become a physician myself.
I’d never thought of royalty doing useful things like becoming doctors, but then I’d never heard of milkmaids becoming royalty either. It was a brand new world for me. And I had never been so happy, especially to have helped Randal’s father. Because it meant on this day, this most important of days, he could walk me down the aisle. I looked up into his eyes, which sparkled in the autumn light. They were nearly the same color as Randal’s, but less piercing and intense.
“You look beautiful, my girl,” he said.
Behind me, I felt the gentle tug of my train being fanned out to its full, luxurious length. I glanced back behind me to see Bonny, who had been helping me at the farm since she was a girl. She looked so beautiful in the dark green brocade that I had chosen for all my maids for my wedding day.
For today wasn’t just my wedding day. It was also the day of the harvest festival. And, in honor of that very first time Randal saw me, I chose dark green for my maids and a bouquet of wheat and roses. The tables for the feasts after the ceremony were spilling over with cornucopias of red apples, at Randal’s special request.
I adjusted the crown of wheat and lavender I wore. Then I got up on my tiptoes and gave Randal’s father a kiss on the cheek, his white scruff gently scratching my skin. “Thank you, father.”
“Ahhh,” he said, smiling up at the sun. “Never gets old to hear you say it.”
The music changed to a march and everybody in the cathedral rose. “Shall we?” Randal’s father asked. And we were off.
We stepped inside and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the shimmering light that spilled through the enormous stained-glass windows. But I knew where to look, even as my eyes adjusted. At him, always at him. And as the scene got clearer, I saw him. Randal. My love, my King, my everything.
He smiled at me the whole way down the aisle. Each step brought me closer and closer to my future, to my new life.
At the front of the church, Randal’s father gave me a peck on my cheek and then handed me over to Randal. I melted into his strength and took a long deep breath to fill my lungs with his warm, sexy scent.
Together, we walked the last few steps to the altar. His forearm was even bigger than I remembered somehow, and gleaming in his ceremonial silver chain mail, with a deep green velvet beneath. Green was to be our color. The color of prosperity, good fortune…and fertility.
As I gave my bouquet to Bonny and took his hands, I gazed up at him. There was a whole private universe between us; a whole realm of secret desires and experiences unspoken.