Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Elara

‘You and Zuriel are getting married,’ Halsey says, hugging me. She can’t contain the excitement in her voice. I’m stunned for a moment, and when it registers, my eyes wander to Zuriel. He looks angry, even when his mother stares at him. His eyes are focused on me. Why the hell does he look like he wants to kill me?

‘I’m not marrying him, Mom, Dad,’ I say.

‘But you are it’s been decided. Even Zuriel agreed to it,’ Mom says, glancing at Zuriel with a smile that he doesn’t return.

‘Why did you agree to this?’ I ask Zuriel. He ignores me in front of everyone and gets a glass of whiskey. Well, this won’t be pleasant.

His mother and my parents are discussing everything. They are so eager, but I keep wondering why he agreed to this absurd wedding. I needed to catch him in private. My eyes go to him again, and I find his severe gaze on me.

With doubt and a pounding heart. I go to him, but he turns and goes to an adjoining room to answer a phone call. I follow him there. I wait for him to finish speaking on the phone,

‘Why are you following me, Elara?’ This is the first time he’s spoken my name in years. My name from his tongue sends a shiver down my spine. I can feel my body begin to heat up again, but I shake my head. He insulted me earlier, and I can’t be like this. I should be angry at him.

‘So, what are we going to do about this?’ I ask. He is silent, watching me, and he makes me uncomfortable with his intense gaze.

‘Don’t you want to marry me?’ he asks. I purse my lips. Marrying him has been a dream of mine since I was ten years old. However, I am not going to tell him that,

‘I don’t,’ I answer.

‘Good. Don’t expect anything from me because I don’t want to marry you either,’ His voice is rough.

‘Then why did you agree to marry me?’ I ask.

‘Because this will fix your reputation. You need it after what I witnessed at your university earlier,’ he says.

‘You owe me nothing. So, why are you doing this,’ I ask sternly. I’ve been in love with him for so long, but marrying him knowing he’s against it is wrong.

‘I have my reasons for agreeing to this, It’s none of your business,’ he says. I bite my lips, containing my intense emotions. Zuriel is such a jerk!

The door opens, and Halsey walks in, ‘ What are you doing here? The photographer is here!’

‘Photographer?!’ We both ask.

‘Yes, we are taking pictures to announce your engagement,’ She explains as she leads us out of the room.

‘And along with the statement about the video, and pictures that were released,’ Mother adds.

‘You expect people to believe it was him in that bed with me?’ I sighed.

Why doesn’t Mom see how wild this is? I messed up, and I should take the heat alone. Why are they involving Zuriel when he clearly is unhappy?

‘But he did say that he had his reasons for agreeing to the wedding,’ Ara says in my head.

‘I don’t know, Ara,’ I sigh.

Two servants walk into the room, carrying a large box.

‘The dress is here,’ Aunty Kaley beams. This is happening too fast. I look in the corner and I see a group of camera crew setting up, and I’m dragged to another room by Shonda. Shonda was the daughter of our chef. I was raised alongside her, and she was a good friend of mine.

‘This is insane,’ I mumble.

‘Insane? You’re marrying the love of your life!’ She exclaims, her golden eyes shining with joy. Does that mean the others don’t know what happened?

‘I was worried when those horrid stories about you came up. Now, this will shut everyone up,’ she says, opening the large box quickly to reveal the most beautiful black dress. It is an off-shoulder dress with a high split. I wore that and twirled. It was gorgeous.

‘You look so stunning,’ Shonda cries. I sit in front of the vanity table as she does my hair into a beautiful updo that exposes my neck. She does my makeup just as I do it, minimalist.

‘Perfect… Just beautiful,’ she praises.

We go into the room, and everyone is gasping and complimenting how beautiful I look, but I don’t smile.

‘Okay! The couple should stand there,’ The photographer says. He was an excited tall, slim man with messy dark hair.

I hadn’t dared look at Zuriel since I entered, but I felt his gaze on me.

‘Can you be closer to each other, please?’ The photographer asks, and we take a step closer to each other.

‘You two make a lovely couple!’

Pictures were taken. However, the photographer whose name I’ve just learned as Sandler wasn’t satisfied with any of them.

‘Can you please look at each other even once,’ I could hear the exhaustion in Sandler’s voice now.

He is no longer as keen as he was when he got here. I’m the first to turn… Doing it slowly. And he does too. Our eyes lock. His eyes are emotionless and sad. His eyes are always sad though, so I can’t blame myself for that. It is clear how miserable he is to be marrying me, but our family doesn’t care, not that they took a long look at us.

‘Yes, nice,’ Sandler cheers.

‘Can you smile, please? And Mr Crawford, place your hands on her waist,’ he instructs. His hands go around my waist gently as he pulls me closer to his masculine, hot frame. My heart is pounding in my chest at our proximity. Ara is howling in happiness.

‘Smiles,’ Sandler shouts softly, holding his breath.

My lips break into a faint smile, and I can tell my cheeks are red. Zuriel doesn’t smile at me, but something in his eyes sparkles for the first time.

‘Good job, Princess. Now, if only the groom-to-be would smile -‘

‘Oh, don’t force it, Sandler. My son never smiles. It might get weird if he did,’ Halsey giggles.

Zuriel’s face leans closer to mine. We are so close, and I can feel his breath on my face. I smile at that genuinely.

‘Perfect!’