Then I watched as she bandaged my arm with the same care she'd used when arranging my hair, and I knew without a doubt that I'd chosen the right person to be my maid of honor, that I'd chosen the right girl to be my best friend, years before.
"Thanks," I repeated as she tucked the tail of the cloth so it looked as neat as possible.
When Mindy stood up, I raised my arm, thinking that the bandage, which I'd worried would mess up my appearance, was actually strangely right. Lucius would have a nearly identical one, tied on by Raniero.
"Should I take this out?" Mindy offered, reaching for the tray.
"No, wait." I stopped her with a hand on her arm. "I'm not done yet."
"No?" Mindy's raised eyebrows—and the way she kind of yelped—told me that, while she was doing a great job coping with a vampire wedding, she'd seen me shed enough blood for one night.
But I had no choice, and I took the knife again, not scared this time, because I knew I could handle the sting. Using my left hand, I marked the palm of my right with a deep X. Once again, the blood seeped out, and I picked up the last clean cloth, grasping it tightly in my fist to stanch the flow.
"Lucius will mark his left hand," I told Mindy, who seemed understandably confused. "So when we hold hands at the ceremony to speak our vows, our blood will be blended, palm to palm."
"Oh, wow..." I could tell that Mindy, always a romantic, was torn, thinking this was either the most beautiful or the most disturbing gesture ever.
"Some vampires bear the scar for the rest of their lives," I added. "Like a wedding ring that you can't ever remove."
That was why I'd tried to cut my palm deeply. I wanted that permanent reminder of the night I married Lucius. I knew that Lucius would definitely make his cut deep, too.
Mindy didn't seem to know what to say to this, so I nodded to signal that it was time for her to take away the tray—and to stop worrying about whether I would use the knife again. "I'm done now, if you're sure you don't mind...
"Oh, sure." She put the lid on the cup and carried away the tray, balancing it with one hand as she opened the door.
The silent, waiting servant accepted the burden, and Mindy closed the door. As she came back across the room, she asked, "Now what?"
"We wait," I said, "for whoever will lead us to the wedding."
Once again, despite Mom's advice, the butterflies in my stomach started fluttering like crazy. Somewhere in the estate, our guests—vampire and human—would be assembled, and Lucius would be making his way to the ceremony, and...
Who was coming for me?
Another servant? One of Lucius's two guards?
I didn't have long to wonder, because before Mindy could decide whether to risk wrinkling her dress by sitting down, there was another knock on the door, and I again rushed to answer it, too nervous and impatient to let my maid of honor do it.
And this time, when I opened the door, I saw that someone had been very, very busy while I'd been getting ready. I also greeted, with great happiness, my escort.
Chapter 17
"YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL," Dad said, eyes getting a little moist as he stepped into the room to greet us. But he was smiling, too. "Both of you!"
I saw that he took note of my bandage and the cloth that I was clutching in my hand, and a shadow crossed his face. I knew that, having traveled to Romania with Mom when she'd studied vampire culture, he would be familiar with the marriage rituals. And I had a feeling that, while he was always open-minded, he still didn't like seeing his own child bleed. But he didn't say a word.
Like Mom, he was letting go.
"You look pretty spiffy yourself, Mr. Packwood," Mindy noted.
I checked out Dad's appearance, too, appraising him from head to toe. When I got to the tips of his polished shoes, I raised my face to his and heard the surprise in my voice as I asked, "Dad?"
I'd expected my father to dress up for my wedding, but the tux he wore appeared custom fitted, not like some rental dragged from Pennsylvania in a garment bag. It rested perfectly on his shoulders and the pants broke just where they should, at the tops of those gleaming shoes. He'd donned a bow tie, too, tied so neatly, it looked like somebody had checked it with a level.
In short, my dad seemed pretty regal himself.
"It is my daughter's wedding," he reminded me, clearly understanding my shock. "Of course I'm wearing a tuxedo!" Then he grinned and noted, "Although I'll admit that it's a very nice tuxedo, commissioned by Lucius, who apparently has some sort of issue with rented clothes."
I started laughing as Dad added, mimicking Lucius, "'I have come to understand your passion for recycling, Ned, but I must draw the line at pants. Especially at my marriage!'"
"Sounds like Lukey," Mindy agreed.
Then my father held out his arm for me, elbow crooked, and offered, "Shall we? Your guests—and your groom—await the princess!"
Although the gesture was also kind of teasing—a fancy flourish to go with his suit—we both got serious. In a heartbeat, all the laughter stopped.
Mindy sensed the mood change, too, and wordlessly stepped behind me as I took Dad's arm. I waited while she gathered up my train so it wouldn't drag along the floor when we walked.
It's really time, Jess.
"Dad," I said quietly as we stepped toward the door, "do you know where we're going? This castle is like a maze!" I didn't want my father to give away Lucius's surprise location—not when I'd waited so long in suspense—but I was honestly worried about getting lost.
"Don't worry," he said. "We'll be fine."
Then he reached out to open the door, and I got the full view of something I'd only glimpsed as my father had slipped into the room.
"Oh, it's beautiful," I gasped, stopping short.
Or maybe Mindy said that. Maybe we both did.
The entire corridor was lined with hundreds of flickering votive candles in small leaded-glass holders. They were each about a footstep apart, the only light in the otherwise dark hallway.
Taking a deep breath, I squeezed Dad's arm, signaling that we should go, so the three of us began to follow that glowing trail.
We walked in silence for what seemed like a long time, heading into parts of the castle that I swore I couldn't recall seeing before. Or maybe Lucius had shown me these places, and I couldn't remember them. Everything looked different that night.
My heart, which had slowed when I'd become a full vampire, beat harder with each step. Yet I was getting strangely calm, too.
Lucius—my future—is waiting at the end of this path. This is the moment our parents planned for when they signed that scroll, eighteen years ago.
Ahead of us, I saw a bend in the corridor that was so sharp that for a second it looked like Mindy, my father, and I were headed toward a dead end. When we made the turn, I felt a warm breeze on my face and smelled fresh air scented with flowers. A few yards away, the candles stopped at a curved archway cut into the stone wall.
I stole a look at Dad's face and saw that he was smiling again, like he knew what I was about to see.
As we stepped under the arch, Mindy released the hem of my gown, letting it fall to the floor, while I pressed my hand against my chest, forgetting that I might stain my dress with blood from my palm, because my groom...
He had definitely outdone himself for me.
Chapter 18
LUCIUS HAD CHOSEN for us to get married not in some grand ballroom, as I'd guessed, but in a small courtyard—like a grotto—that was bounded by stone walls smothered under creeping vines and twisting tendrils of moonflower that snaked all the way up to the high eaves.
The only light came from the moon and even more candles, which were tucked into the sills of tall arched windows that lined the walls and clustered by the dozens on a stone table where the small silver cups waited.
The whole scene was perfect, like Lucius had promised. Although we were at the center of a castle that he maintained with an eye for order and precision, the courtyard had a chaotic
beauty. It sort of reminded me of my love for Lucius, which was like this out-of-control place at the center of me—someone who'd once insisted on rational, mathematical order, too.
Yes, that garden definitely caused me to draw a sharp breath.
But it was the sight of the vampire I was about to marry—not the amazing setting he'd created for us—that made me break protocol and say his name. "Lucius."
He stood waiting for me at the end of a path through the foliage, before the stone table, and I'd never seen him look so serious. But this wasn't the dark side of Lucius that sometimes came out. I knew that he, even more than I, was thinking not only about our future together, as individuals who loved each other, but also about history, and the fulfillment of that pact our parents had signed to unite our clans.
Although I was aware that our guests were waiting on rows of wooden chairs, I didn't walk toward him right away. We just stood for a second, sort of capturing the moment. I knew from his expression that he'd never forget how I'd looked when I entered the garden, just like I'd never forget the sight of him standing with his usual confidence, his broad shoulders drawn back and his hands clasped behind his back—a pose that was familiar to me.
But that night, Lucius didn't bow his head and pace. He stood perfectly still, eyes fixed on me as we shared a very deep happiness that I also wanted to remember for the eternity I hoped lay ahead.
We might've stood like that for hours if Dad hadn't taken his arm from mine and kissed my cheek. I finally broke my gaze with Lucius to turn to my father, whose eyes glistened with tears again as he told me, "I love you, Jess."
I wanted to tell Dad that I loved him, too, but my throat suddenly caught. I knew he got what I wanted to say, though.
Then he stepped aside, because the tradition was for me to walk the final few feet alone. I didn't even carry flowers. I was supposed to approach Lucius empty-handed, to symbolize that from that night on, there wouldn't be anything between I nodded to Mindy, who stepped ahead of me and began to walk slowly down the pathway, and when she reached the end and took her place by the table, the guests stood up and turned, too. But I barely noticed them, or Mindy, or Raniero standing at Lucius's side. I was too transfixed by the sight of my soon-to-be husband.
His black hair gleamed in the moonlight, which, together with the candles, illuminated his features, too. The high cheekbones, straight nose, and strong jaw that I'd first noticed back in a Pennsylvania high school, a place that seemed a million miles from where we stood then. He wore a tuxedo that fit him as perfectly as the garden fit our ceremony. The suit was understated—no tails or shiny silk lapels—but its simplicity only emphasized Lucius's self-assurance, as though he didn't need flashy clothes to prove that he was a prince. Somehow, he managed to look like royalty in nothing more than an impeccably fitted dark coat, white shirt, black tie, and black pants.
He stood straight but at ease, like the warrior he'd been raised to be, and I could hardly believe he was mine. I was pretty sure he was feeling the same way about me.
As I began to walk toward him, he pulled his hands from behind his back, reaching for me, and I saw a flash of white on his arm—the bleached cloth that peeked out from under his sleeve, just above his hand.
"Antanasia," he said, when I was close enough to hear him whisper. But he couldn't seem to say anything else. Had I actually rendered Lucius Vladescu speechless—maybe for the first time in his life? "I ... I..."
I did smile then, because I knew that I'd succeeded in taking his breath away, like I'd hoped.
I took my place next to him, and Lucius smiled, too. Holding out his left hand—the one he'd scored—he clasped my similarly marked right hand, squeezing our palms together, both to join us and to reopen the wounds we'd just made so our blood could combine.
The incision on my hand stung again, and Lucius seemed apologetic about having to hurt me. I shook my head, though, trying to tell him that it was okay. Then we twisted our palms slightly, so our blood was shared, the way it was supposed to happen.
We stood that way for a long moment, because this part of the ceremony was so important to vampires. Then Lucius squeezed my hand in a different way, and we turned to face the eldest of the Elders, who had joined us at the stone table and announced, "Let us begin."
Chapter 19
AS OUR GUESTS took their seats again behind us, Alexandru Vladescu, the ancient vampire presiding over our ceremony, reached across the table and rested his hands on both our foreheads, compelling me and Lucius to bow slightly while he offered our families' equivalent of a benediction.
"We gather this evening to unite, for eternity, Prince Lucius Vladescu and Princess Antanasia Dragomir, and to offer them the blessing of our clans," he said, fingers firm against my head. "From this day forward, as promised in the pact sealed at their births, they shall live—and rule—as one."
Then he took away his hands so Lucius and I could straighten, and I knew that I'd just witnessed one of only two times Lucius Vladescu would ever bow down before another vampire, no matter how venerable or powerful that Elder might be. The next time Lucius lowered his head would be at our coronation. If that day ever came.
I shifted my eyes slightly to see Lucius in profile. Would he ever really be king? And could I really be queen?
"But first," Alexandru said, summoning my attention forward, so I found myself looking into eyes that were darkly familiar. Vladescu eyes, which had seen centuries, maybe millennia, of marriages, births ... and destructions. "First you must accept one another as bride and groom, before your witnesses."
I clasped Lucius's hand more firmly and got a little nervous again.
Although I knew Lucius wanted to marry me, the question that was about to be asked wasn't just a formality, like in a regular wedding. In the world that I was entering, where unions really were eternal, the words that would be spoken next were meant to give both partners one last chance to reconsider before the die was cast forever.
"Lucius Vladescu," Alexandru said, voice low, almost ominous, "will you accept Antanasia as your wife, now and always, for as long as you shall exist?"
Lucius and I turned to each other, and he took both my hands, and the moment that I saw his face, my apprehension vanished. "Yes," Lucius said, addressing everybody—but really talking only to me. "I accept Antanasia as my wife, now and always, for as long as I shall exist."
Although I'd known in my heart that Lucius would accept me, and that my momentary fear had been unreasonable, I was still relieved to hear him say those words out loud.
Then, while Lucius and I remained facing each other, Alexandru Vladescu spoke my name and asked me the same question. "Antanasia Dragomir—will you accept Lucius as your husband, now and always, for as long as you shall exist?"
I opened my mouth to answer, hardly even waiting for the elder vampire to finish. But just before the words came out of my mouth, Lucius whispered, "Antanasia ... wait."
Chapter 20
FOR A SPLIT SECOND, I thought that Lucius had changed his mind about our marriage, and I felt all of my blood draining away. But then he lowered his eyes—and raised them again—and I realized that he was actually giving me one last chance to back out. In the last moments before I committed myself to Lucius forever, he let me see that dark, damaged place inside of himself that had driven him to press a sharpened stake against my chest, then break down and cry out, "Everything around me is destroyed!"
We were in public, and he couldn't say anything. But I knew what he was doing: reminding me, one final time, that I was about to enter a very different—sometimes violent—culture, for good, with a vampire who'd once promised that he'd always be "treacherous."
There was no way our guests had any idea what was passing between us as we stood there, just staring into each other's eyes. They probably wondered if I was about to call off the wedding. Claudiu, at least, no doubt wished that was happening.
He wouldn't get his wish.
Without the slightest reservation,
I spoke my vow, too. "Yes, I accept Lucius as my husband, now and always, for as long as I shall exist."
Lucius smiled—as if he'd ever thought I'd really turn him down. Then we released our hands and both turned back toward Alexandru, who nodded first to Raniero, then to Mindy, signaling that they should reach for the small silver cups filled with our blood.
Chapter 21
ALTHOUGH I TRIED hard to be alert to every detail of the rest of the ceremony, time seemed to speed up after Lucius and I said those words of acceptance, and I succeeded in capturing only little moments here and there, such as the instant when Mindy passed my cup to me so I could share my blood with Lucius, and the way he closed his eyes before he drank.
At one point, I also managed to finally really notice Raniero—and discovered that Lucius had somehow gotten his best man cleaned up, so he looked suitable for a wedding. Mindy seemed to have appreciated the change, too. When I looked at her, I saw a familiar gleam in her eyes, as if she didn't think her "date" was so bad after all.
Then, suddenly, it was time for Alexandru to open the genealogy that Lucius had shown me months ago in my parents' garage apartment.
As the ancient vampire slid the book across the stone table so I could sign my name next to my new husband's, I briefly wondered if Lucius might actually get a little misty, given how he prized his family history.
Of course, he didn't shed any tears, but right before I put the heavy gold pen to the yellowed paper, I glanced over my shoulder to see my dad weeping and my mom looking a little emotional, too. I also found Dorin, whose eyes were lit up with the history of the act.
And—just as I turned back around—I caught a glimpse of Claudiu staring up at the sky, arms crossed, as if he couldn't bear to see the name "Dragomir" entered permanently into the long line of Vladescus.
All of those things went by so quickly, up until the moment Lucius slipped a wedding band onto my finger, then held out his left hand to me. And as I took his cool fingers in mine, I saw that he was sort of laughing, the tension gone.