The Wedding

"Your highness. I just received word that your groom is ready too."

Wheel Elvira bit down on her lips in order to stop the smile that spread on her face.

"Bring Donald to me."

Mrs. Margaret nodded and walked away, then came back shortly.

"Make security tight. Do not let lord Lucas or his son in no matter what happens. If it must happen, then let it be after the knot is tied."

Donald understood the assignment well enough. "Yes, your highness."

"Your highness, if I may ask...why will you not let them in your wedding? Afterall, Adrian was your childhood friend." Mrs. Margaret said as she brought the neatly folded dress for Queen Elvira to examine.

She ran her hands on the fabric and gave an approving nod. "He was not my childhood friend. He just hung around me. And now he wants more than I am prepared to give. Adrian, Mrs. Margaret, is not the innocent child you used to know."

Mrs. Margaret nodded and held Queen Elvira's delicate hand, then helped her up. She then slowly directed her to the grand dressing room where she would dress her to become a bride.

It took at least an hour, with the big majestic dress of precious pearls and deep purple silk that hugged Queen Elvira's upper body and then flowed down to her foot proving to not be an easy wear.

She was slim, but she still needed a corset.

After wearing it, they finally started to straighten her hair, only to curl it at the ends and then ended it with a tiara that put her veil up.

"You look stunning, Your highness." Mrs.Margaret said and she nodded.

"With your help, of course."

"I will bring the groom's train to the chambers, and then direct them to the hall. There, your groom will await you."

"As it should be," Queen Elvira replied. She needed the assurance that at least once, Hector would wait for her. She had done all the running. All the chasing. All the needing. Sometimes, she needed to know at least, he has resigned to his fate of taking her as his wife. She just wished he did.

She sat on the stool in front of the dresser, waiting for some kind of announcement.

"The groom is nowhere to be found."

"The groom has called of the wedding."

Something like that. But it never came.

"Your highness. It is time."

She stood, drawing in a deep breath. She did not realize just how nervous she was until she had to hold her hand to stop it from trembling. But she would not avoid it when it is all she wants.

The chambers doors opened and eight maids walked in, four on each side. They held the same roses that decorated the palace and assisted her with the long train of her dress that settled behind her.

They sprayed the floor her feet touched with the purple petals, and she walked slowly till she could hear the music emerging from the hall where the wedding would take place.

It was, as she learnt the same hall where her father's wedding to her mother had taken place, and she loved how she was here with the man she had finally fallen for.

The bridal train stopped in front of the door as they waited for it to slowly open. The light from the hall was almost blinding, and Queen Elvira squinted her eyes a little to adjust her them to the light.

When she did, she could finally see him. Hector was wearing a simple shirt and trousers under the heavily embroidered black coat, and his hair was Gelled back.

He had his hand clasped before him, and his eyes were dropped to his feet. Like he was waiting for the Queen, not his wife to be.

Nevertheless he was still the most perfect man in her eyes and she didn't care in the least.

"Your highness," The maid in front said, signaling for them to move.

Queen Elvira nodded and stepped forward, he breath in her throat. She was just about to take another, when an arrow swooshed past her, almost slightly hitting her nose and lodged itself in the wall right beside her.

Everyone gasped and her eyes widened as she slowly followed the trail of the arrow, to the message left at its blunt end.

"Do not take one more step, Queen Elvira."

Hector raised his head, his heart beat quickening as he watched interchangeably between her and the arrow she was now glaring at.

Slowly, she moved the rose bouquet to her left hand, then pulled the arrow out of the wall. Hector watched as she broke the arrow in her palm, then ungracefully let it fall.

"Dare me," She muttered under her breath as she took another step forward. Then another and another.

She knew it was a little too quiet. Something was bound to happen for sure.

Before she could reach Hector however, another arrow came in, missing everyone in the hall. Queen Elvira's soldiers covered the large windows with their shields promptly, just as arrows began to rain in the hall.

Queen Elvira did not stop walking, even as an arrow hit one of her maids in the shoulder and she dropped the basket of petals.

She walked forward to the shielded canopy where Hector stood, his eyes wide and moist.

"Your highness..." He started to say, then turned to the crowd. Most were still sitting upright, soldiers shielding each dignitary. The maids in the hall were the only ones exposed, but apart from the one that was hit on the shoulder, there was no other casualty.

"You will get used to it," She said as the coordinating elder brought the scroll of vows.

"Are you not hurt? Do you not think this is too much to do for someome as lowly as me?"

It was a question he had always wanted to ask. Why was she doing so much for someone who is not worth it?

She did not reply, just opened the scroll and read her vows out loud. She only lifted her eyes on the last sentence. "I, Queen Elvira, daughter of King Richmond the third, Queen and owner of the throne of the pearl city, take you, Hector, a nameless servant as my husband. To love, to cherish and to walk with till there is no more distance to cover. In front of the authority of the subjects of pearl city, and in the eyes of the sovereign priest of marriage, I thus pronounce."