Chapter 653: Nyrielle’s Betrothal Gift
"If I could," Nyrielle said, raising a hand to gently caress Ashlynn’s soft, tender cheek and feeling the warmth of her lover’s skin under her cool fingertips. "I would give you a grand wedding this very night because I cannot bear to deny you any happiness."
"But as much as I wish to give my darling Ashlynn the grand wedding she deserves," Nyrielle said as she turned to address the crowd. "There are two things standing in our way, and we must resolve them both."
Across the great hall, a few people stared in open-mouthed disbelief at Nyrielle’s words. She was the Harbinger of Death, and she was betrothed to the Mother of Trees! What could possibly come between them?
"By the customs of her people, as much as it sickens me, my dearest Ashlynn is still considered the wife of Owain Lothian," Nyrielle said. Her brows furrowed and her entire expression darkened as her shadow grew larger behind her until she forcibly reigned in the fury in her heart at the notion that a man who had treated Ashlynn the way Owain had could still have any claim to her beloved.
"Until Owain Lothian dies, we can never be considered properly married in the eyes of her people," Nyrielle explained. "And there’s a greater gift I wish to give my darling on her wedding day, but this is the second thing that stands between us and our union."
Cradled in Nyrielle’s embrace, Ashlynn felt her heart begin to race as Nyrielle vented their frustrations. It wasn’t only because of customs or the opinions of the Church that they couldn’t be wed, it was also because Ashlynn herself couldn’t take that step until she had buried the ghosts within her heart that haunted her dreams and clawed at her spirit whenever something pressed up against the scars Owain left on her soul the night of their wedding.
But Nyrielle was too kind to expose the things that tormented her lover, and so she revealed only a portion of the truth to their people, leaving the rest as a secret between the two of them.
"My darling deserves to have her family in attendance at her wedding, but her parents are weeks away by even a fast carriage, and bringing them here, at present, would be far too dangerous," Nyrielle continued, as though she were truly helpless to solve the problem. "Worse, her sister is held captive by Owain Lothian, and she may yet be forced to take my darling’s place as his bride in the name of the marriage alliance between their two families."
Instantly, the temperature in the hall felt like it rose by several degrees as countless eyes blazed with fury at the notion that the man who had tried to murder the Mother of Trees would then force himself on her younger sister. At the back of the hall, even Darragh struggled to resist the surge of bile that rose in his throat when he heard that his lord would even contemplate something so vile.