To My Dearest Stardust, To My Dearest Moony - Fenrys' Mate

Chapter 26 - A Royal F*cking Wedding I

(Bit of a long one. I have no regrets.x)
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Yrene

The plan... was nothing short of damned awful. It was far, far too simple and easy... so perhaps it was the best route to take afterall. If they- whoever they are- suspected that any of us had even an inkling of their plan- which they knew for a fact that one of us did- they'd expect us to pull out all the stops. Which had been my idea I supposed.

There was one floor of course.

We had no idea how many people exactly were involved in this scheme. At least two. At most... I didn't want to think about that. The entire guild? The thugs and ruffians they had recruited those years ago when burning down cottages and causing disturbances across Terrasen and Adarlan like they had done to Silas those years ago.

Fenrys had been right from the start. There had always been the bigger picture. Nothing had ever gone away, they'd never given up or settled, but plotted further and further until- until it was almost too late for anyone to realise.

They'd gotten their biggest problem out of the way almost too easily. Playing on how much Fenrys cared for Luna, how strongly he wanted to protect her. It had been so easy to get rid of him.

The whole hall was packed with people. A lot of which I didn't recognise, which wasn't comforting. Not when all of those people could be... not on our side. But how would we know? There was no way of telling, was there? It would've been easy had their scheme not evolved since the clearing. The void black eyes would've been easy to spot. Yet if they were regular people, threatened with theirs and their families lives... No, there was no way of knowing.

"You look nervous, love." Chaol said, breaking me out of my trance, his face was soft with the lack of worry.

Nervous? That barely covered half of it. A light sheen of sweat drizzled down from my hairline, trailing down my neck and racking a shiver down and throughout my body.

Secrets had never been my forte, especially not around Chaol, but it had been Fenrys' idea to keep the plan hushed. And well... he hadn't been wrong yet. Eighteen years ago, when convinced the disturbances across Adarlan and Terrasen had been linked; the night they'd come for Luna in her cot; Arobynn Hamel's heir and the guild.

I bit my lip, keeping my worries to myself and forcing a smile onto my face and choked out a brief laugh. Fake to even my own ears. "I'm about to officiate a royal wedding. Of course I'm nervous." My transparency was obvious, if only going by the frown Chaol replied with. But before he had time to ask, I quickly ushered, "Go and sit down. It's going to start any minute."

It was then, as he turned to walk away, that I noticed the limp. Clear as day even when he tried his best to conceal it. The almost silent scuff of his boot against the stone floor and uneven tempo of his footfalls.

I hadn't slept. Not so much as a wink, too tense to rest even a singular moment and now he was the one suffering. And I hadn't even told him why.

The nerves were instantly washed away by an overwhelming wave of guilt as Peter stood to help his father to his seat. Chaol had always been too proud, smacking away the offered hand and pushing his way past to his allocated seat.

"Good morning, Yrene."

"Your nose has healed nicely I see." I said in greeting, turning to finally face the man, or groom I supposed for the time being.

"I had a good healer." He winked.

I turned back to the crowd, searching for any sign of Fenrys. Aelin had just made her way down and past the seats parted to from an aisle, pulling at the collar and lapels of Sam's shirt and jacket. She was so good at it- through more than enough practice I was sure- acting like there was nothing going on.