Prince Darrius

Chapter 33

Chapter 33

“You look beautiful, darling,” Maximus compliments me as I stand in front of the mirror in my room and I admire the dress Isobel quickly made for me in less than 12 hours. Maximus stands just behind Isobel, who is standing to my right, a smile on her face when she sees the dress on me, “I’ll get Darrius,” Maximus is smiling widely as he eyes me up and down. But then he leans forward until he can whisper in Isobel’s ear and he says, “Nice work, sweetie.”

Isobel rolls her eyes and takes a small step forward, not responding with any words. Maximus joyfully stalks his way out of the room to get Darrius, who is also dressing up.

“You didn’t even have measurements,” I say, as I take in my reflection. The dress was strapless, and simply hugged all my curves and flowed out from my hips, brushing just past my ankles. 

“Don’t worry, it was easy,” Isobel says, looking really tired. She probably didn’t sleep at all last night, “I just hope you realise that it isn’t safe for you to stay here,” she sounds like she is scolding me. 

I give Isobel a shrug.

“I’m getting used to it. It’s not that bad…” I trail off as I turn to see Maximus stalk his way back into the room, Darrius behind him. I can’t help but grin when I see him dressed from top to bottom in a black suit, “No leather pants…?” I ask and I see Darrius’ eyes light up with amusement.

“Not tonight,” he says, his eyes glued to my dress. He quickly walks up to me and puts his hands on my waist, appraising me, “Perfect,” he murmurs. As he appreciates me I admire that he doesn’t look so barbaric anymore with the proper outfit he is now wearing. He reaches up to lightly grab one of my curls of black hair and he grins back at me, “I’m glad you’re wearing your hair out. Let’s go now. The wedding will begin any moment. We’ll be late if we don’t hurry.”

“You know it’s against tradition to walk with me up the aisle,” I say and Darrius shrugs in return, unfazed.

“It doesn’t matter. I want you to be as safe as possible so I will walk with you. This wedding isn’t religious either, it follows the rules of the vampire world so it won’t be what you expect. Your vows as a human are already written out for you. Here,” I watch curiously as Darrius reaches into his pants pocket and takes out a folded piece of paper. He passes the paper to me and says in a growl, “Don’t be upset by them, Jennifer. It’s just the way things work,” I take the note with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and I slowly unfold and read the contents. 

“Darling,” Maximus says from just beside Darrius, amusement laced into his tone, he is trying not to laugh, “You should see the look on your face right now.” My cheeks flush in anger and embarrassment, and I give the note back to Darrius. 

I don’t know what to say. I know if I refuse the vows Darrius won’t care, not really. I decide to deal with it when the time comes, when no one can stop me from changing a few things. 

“Well?” Darrius asks.

“Let’s go, we don’t want to be late for our own wedding,” I gather my strength to me and grab Darrius’ hand that he holds out for me to grab. 

“Come on, Isobel,” Maximus says, “I have to put you back in our room.” Isobel, who is stonily silent, walks up to Maximus but keeps her distance as he follows Darrius and I out of the room. 

“I have something else for you,” Darrius says as we walk through his adjoining bedroom, he comes to his wardrobe and takes out a purple rose on a clip from the top draw. 

“What’s that for?” I ask, and it comes out snappy. Those vows really hit a nerve with me.

“You said your favourite colour was purple,” Darrius states, reaching over to clip the rose in my hair, “Now you have something your way at this wedding.” I’m happy about the rose but it no-where near calms the nerves rolling around in my stomach.