~~~Dominic
I wanted to say no.
Because this wasn’t about love. It wasn’t even about loyalty. It was about power. Politics. A show to unite two powerful houses and keep the humans wrapped around our claws.
And yet… there she stood beside me.
Emily.
Her hand steady in mine. Her spine straight. Her chin high. She wasn’t trembling, not even behind that veil. If she was scared, she didn’t show it.
She didn’t look like a girl being forced into a marriage.
She looked like a queen walking into battle. And for a second, just one stupid second, I wondered what it would be like if this had been real.
If I had chosen her. If I hadn’t been chasing a ghost in the woods with red hair. If she was a werewolf.
The silence stretched. Too long.
Derek subtly elbowed me from behind.
“I do,” I said fi
