And yet… she didn’t complain once. She went through the steps of this grotesque dance like a well-trained dancer. If I didn’t already admire her, I would now. How could you not? I simply stood in awe of this woman and truly believed she was a belle who couldn’t be broken.
“The box is big,” she said as we both just stared at it. “Maybe that means there is actually something for me to wear in it.”
“Only one way to find out,” I said as I moved to lift the lid.
Fallon was the one to pull out the white dress with wide eyes as her mouth opened. “A wedding dress?”
There was no doubt it was a wedding dress with the layers and layers of delicate lace, and hand-stitched embroidery.
She looked at me with confusion in her eyes. “They wouldn’t expect us to get married tonight would they?”
I chuckled as I rolled my eyes. “No. No way. We aren’t supposed to marry the belles. They’re just meant for—”
Fuck me.
Sometimes I didn’t think before I spoke. A brief moment of pain flashed in her eyes and then she took a few steps away from me, still holding the dress to her chest.
“Yeah, us belles are just here to be fucked and hopefully broken. What an idiot I am to even think otherwise,” she snapped.
“That’s not what I meant. I didn’t mean—”
“I get it. Belles aren’t marriage material,” she said with venom lacing her words.
I took a step toward her and wished for a white flag to wave. I didn’t mean to upset her. “I’m sorry.”
She took another step away from me and shrugged. “I’m not delusional. I know that you precious Order boys are meant for some rich bitch socialite who has been groomed to be your wife.”
She looked up at me for the first time since I put my foot in my mouth. “I grew up in Darlington, remember? I know exactly how this works.”
Without saying another word, she marched to the bathroom with the dress in hand and slammed the door behind her.
Picking up the white tuxedo out of the box, I started getting dressed myself. I could go and try to knock on the door, maybe grovel some, but I knew Fallon. When she was pissed, she needed time to cool down. When the woman closed up, there was no opening her at all. And right now, we both needed to focus on the Trial coming up because something told me that this one was going to push us even further than all the other Trials combined.
“You look beautiful in that dress,” I complimented as we walked toward the ballroom.
“Good thing we aren’t really getting married since it’s bad luck to see the dress before the vows,” she said in a biting tone she hadn’t lost since I accidentally insulted her.
Regardless of how she felt toward me, or how we both felt as we walked toward an evening that no doubt would be awful, we did appear like bride and groom with her long flowing wedding dress that hugged every curve of her body, and my white tuxedo with a violet lily boutonnière breaking up the all-white.
“If I had to marry you tonight, I would,” I said softly.
“Yeah, well… annulments are easy to get. So, if we have to then we have to. Whatever it takes to pass the Trial tonight,” she said, staring straight ahead.
The sound of her heels clicking on the floor, and the swooshing of her dress helped distract me from her sharp response. But still… her words stung.
“I mean that I wouldn’t want to do this with anyone else but you.”
“Yeah, okay,” she mumbled.
“Come on, Fallon. We need to go into this room as a team. A unit. I’m sorry I misspoke. I didn’t mean to piss you off, but can you please let it go? We need to be united before we face the Elders.”
Rather than answering me, she simply opened the door to the ballroom and entered. Ready or not, we were going into this Trial. I just hoped this wasn’t really going to be our wedding day with the bride pissed off at the groom. The thought of marrying Fallon though… fuck. I blinked a few times. I couldn’t say I minded that idea. The thought shocked me a little. I knew my mother expected me to marry a socialite from among her circle at some point, but I’d always imagined myself as a loner. The thought of Fallon at my side, as my partner in life, though...
I expected to see all the Elders as well as members of the Order in the ballroom when we entered. Hell… part of me expected to see a room full of wedding guests and a full-on wedding party. But instead, there was only one Elder in his silver cloak.