Vanish (ONC Finalist)

17. The Day Before the Wedding

The evening before the wedding, the bridal party was gathered together for the formal pre-wedding dinner, attended by all the most important nobles and town dignitaries.

Standing behind Dax, in a smart new uniform, Lupei had little time to relax and enjoy herself. Her eyes were too busy scanning the crowd, searching for anything out of the ordinary, ready to spring to Dax's defence in the, hopefully unlikely, event that someone would choose now to launch an attack.

Where in Thera's name was Marius? This was his job. He should have been here to stand behind his brother on this most important of occasions. Anger, mixing now with anxiety, roiled uncomfortably in her stomach. Marius should have been here. Despite their differences, she was certain Marius was still loyal to Dax.

Lupei was well aware of Marius' opinion about the marriage. Marius thought it was a huge mistake—she'd heard him tell Dax so to his face. At first, when Marius failed to return from Skyber, she'd thought he was deliberately showing his disapproval by leaving his return until the last minute, but as the time before the ceremony grew shorter, she began to worry. Seemingly unperturbed by his half-brother's continued absence, Dax had told her to order a new uniform "just in case." And now here she was, Lupei, standing in as Dax's bodyguard at his pre-wedding dinner.

Marius would have been here, if he could, the thought crystallised in her mind. Something had happened. Something bad. Bad enough to keep Marius from coming back to Angarth, bad enough to prevent him sending a message to explain the delay.

As soon as she finished here tonight, Lupei was going to ask Dax to send a man to Skyber and see if he could discover what had happened to him. She could only hope she hadn't left it too late.

Lupei let her eyes rest on Dax for a moment. He was smiling confidently, talking to the guest seated on his right. He seemed totally at ease, with not a care in the world other than to enjoy the evening.

On second thoughts, she didn't need Dax's permission to send a guard. There was no need to bother him.

~~~

Liviana felt as if she was living in a daze, just going through the motions, eating and drinking, making conversation with the noble at her side. Tomorrow was supposed to be the happiest day of her life and all she could think was that tonight was her last night of freedom. Her stomach felt queasy but at least she knew now that she wasn't pregnant. Her courses had come only a few days ago, much to her relief.

She remembered looking at the red blood, staining the white cloth. A stab of joy had filled her for a shining moment. She wasn't pregnant, there was no need to get married... but then cold reality had crashed in. She had still spent the night with Dax. The contracts had all been signed, cancelling the wedding now would cause too much disruption, too many problems for everyone...

A little voice in the back of her head, said, do it anyway! What's a little bit of fuss compared to a lifetime of misery?

"Head aching again?" asked Dax, quietly, full of solicitude. "Have some water, that will help." He pushed the glass toward her. Gratefully, Liviana sipped the cool liquid. Dax was being so kind—why couldn't she like him more?

She moved the food around on her plate. Now what had Lord Faber been saying? She turned back to her dinner companion. Her head felt as if it was stuffed with feathers, and she couldn't seem to concentrate. She was so tired. Fighting back a yawn, Liviana could hardly wait for this meal to be over so she could go to bed.