Chapter 19 - The dine and dash
Trista thanked the group of people before her for all their well-wishings and turned her head around to look for her husband. That term still felt odd to use. She'd never seen herself marrying during her years as a squire. Spotting his bronze-colored mane amongst a cluster of people near the large statue of Rasiel the Resilient at the center of the garden she briefly announced her leave to those she had been conversing with and made off towards her Corbyn. She grabbed the hem of her dress to adjust it as she moved through the crowds of guests that all congratulated her as she passed by. She couldn't get used to wearing clothes like this.
This day had been more intense than even some of the worst back when she had been a squire. There was just so much that they had had to do. Both she and Corbyn woke up at three to begin with all the preparations and get ready for when the guests started arriving at nine. After greeting the first of them it had all just been a flurry of things that had to be completed before the actual service, both ceremonial and other. Since the actual ceremony, she and Corbyn had barely had a minute of free time to trade words with each other — which was especially irritating as she had something she needed to ask him.
As Trista approached the center of the garden with determined steps she scanned the people around her. She couldn't believe Scarlett was here. She'd kept worrying that blasted woman would do something the whole ceremony. Instead, Scarlett had just sat there in the audience, completely still. And when the speeches were over and the reception started Trista had quickly lost sight of her in the crowd. But knowing the woman, she was probably planning some kind of deceptive scheme.
Trista couldn't understand what she was doing here. Did she sneak in? Or did Corbyn invite her for some reason? She loved the man, but sometimes he did the most stupid things. Locking onto his back with her eyes she walked past a group of her fellow knights and gave them a short greeting before walking up to Corbyn and tapping him on his shoulder. He stopped his conversation with those in front of him and turned around. "Trista!" he exclaimed with a large smile and leaned in to kiss her. She returned the kiss before gesturing to the side.
"Can we talk for a moment?"
She saw him scrunch that nose of his in confusion as he sometimes did before he nodded his head. "Of course." He took her hand as they moved a short distance away. "What was it that you wanted?" he asked as they stopped next to a small concrete plinth. He was tall, even for a man, so he ended up looking down at her.
She stared up at him. "Did you invite Scarlett to the wedding?"
"Scarlett?" He gave her an inquiring look.
"Scarlett Hartford."
A look of understanding spread across his face. "Ah, Baroness Hartford! Yes, I did send her an invitation."
Trista sighed. "Why did you do that?"
He looked confused again. "Shouldn't I have? The Hartfords have some involvement in my business so I felt it was only right."