Sinner (MATURE 18+)

20

Two days later, early in the morning, I was told I had a visitor. But my guards that stood outside my door on watch did not tell me who, so I opened the door with a robe pulled over my silky nightgown. My beautiful Carsir stood there, a grin on his gorgeous face. His eyes slid over to the guard standing beside him and he schooled his features to be more solemn.

"Your majesty, I have been sent as your escort by the Demon King," he announced dramatically, a glint in his eyes. Suppressing a smile, I cleared my throat and stood a little taller.

"On what business?"

"Very serious business of course. I am to help you choose a wedding dress," Carsir said, but now his eyes seemed sadder. I nodded and let him in.

"Cael," I said, calling to my assigned personal guard.

"Yes, your majesty?" he replied immediately, fixing his already perfect posture. A single lock of platinum blond hair fell into his eyes and I mentally applauded his control to not brush it away.

"I will be out in ten minutes where we will be following Prince Carsu to the shop," I explained. He agreed respectfully and I closed my door. As soon as I saw Carsir, I bit my lip, hiding a ridiculous grin that threatened to spill out. "I know it's been only two days, but I missed you." He swept in and kissed me gently, his lips working at me softly. He pulled back and rested his head against mine.

"I missed you more," he whispered, his colourful eyes meeting mine. I pressed my lips against him for a second more before moving towards my bedroom. I had to get ready in less than 10 minutes before Cael was to barge in to check on me. I quickly pulled off a tight midi dress off a hangar and set the long, gray fabric on the bed. Carsir sat on my bed, leaning against a pillow watching me. I untied my robe and let it fall to the floor, wearing nothing but a skimpy nightgown.

"Fuck Elena. Don't do this to me," he complained, adjusting his slacks which had a baby blue dress shirt tucked into it. I gave him a look of feigned innocence and continued to undress until I was completely naked. He let out a heavy breath as I put my bra and panties on, followed by the dress. "You looked better without it on."

"I'm starting to think you're only in it for my body," I joked, heading to the bathroom where I swept mascara across my lashes. Carsir appeared behind me as I lightly penciled in my brows, his hands caressing my hips. I finished up with a swipe of lip gloss, distractedly, his hands massaging me slowly.

"I'm in it for all of you," he replied after a few minutes. "Your body is just an added bonus." I laughed, slipped my heels on and grabbed my purse. We both stopped in front of the door, knowing there were maybe ten seconds before my door was to open. I grabbed his face in my hands, our lips meeting in a frenzy. He tasted like sweet minty candy, like the ones my aunt used to buy for me when I was younger. We pulled away breathless, my pink lip gloss smeared all over his lips. I reached out and swiped it off and opened the door, silently leaving the apartment building. We got into a limo and were off.

We pulled into a very fancy and luxurious looking building's parking lot. The sign read, 'Ivory Dreams'. I followed Carsir, Cael trailing behind us. I wasn't naive enough to believe Cael was the only guard with me. I knew at least two more security cars followed us around, and a dozen more sentries would have been next to me, but I insisted on just Cael.

"Welcome to Ivory Wedding Boutique!" the lady at the front exclaimed as soon as we entered. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Saved under Zei," Carsir said, looking disinterested suddenly. I lagged awkwardly as we followed the excited young lady into the shop.

"Well folks, my name is Leah and I will be your personal assistant today. Do you have anything specific in mind?" she asked, gesturing for us to sit on of the couches the showroom at the back. Hundreds of dresses hung against the walls, but another whole wall was covered with a mirror, facing the couches.

"Something with sleeves, preferably," Carsir said. "But the rest is up to you." I stayed quiet, setting my purse down beside Carsir.

"No problem. Elena, right?" she asked, turning to me. I nodded wordlessly. "You can wait here as I go look for a few options." She walked to the opposite end of the room and began expertly looking through the dresses.

"What's wrong?" Carsir asked, leaning his head into me. My eyes flicked to Cael who stood watch at the door and cautiously moved my head away.

"Nothing," I bit out, turning my gaze the other way. "I'm fine." We sat in silence when Leah returned. She ushered me into the dressing room as I changed. I knew she was professional enough to see me partially undressed, it was her job after all. She pulled the first dress on, using clothing clips to temporarily tighten the dress to fit me. I held up the bottom half of the dress and exited the room, frowning before seeing myself in the mirror.

"So what do you think?" Leah asked, watching my reaction and Carsir's. The dress was nothing special, long silky sleeves falling to my elbows, but a rather poofy bottom flowing out of me.

"I don't like it," I said. "It's too much, but not enough at the same time." Leah laughed.

"No problem," she replied, and we both headed back inside the dressing room, but not before I caught the stormy look on Carsir's face. My mood dampened as we tried on another dress, and another. As we pulled on the fourth dress, I grinned, sureness spreading through me. I walked up to mirrors, feeling confident at the dress I wore.

"This is the one," I whispered, my hands grazing the soft fabric. The lacy sleeves ended at my wrists, but the neckline was wide, adding a sultry finish the dress. It followed the curve of my waist, flaring out a little at the hips and continuing straight down to my feet. I turned to Carsir. "What do you think?"

He stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, his expression guarded. I bit my lips nervously, playing with the material. "If you like it, that's what matters," he finally said. I let out a sigh of relief and disappointment. Relief that he didn't argue, but disappointed that he didn't compliment me. I struggled to keep my head high as I changed back to my own clothes, Leah telling me and Carsir about coming back for a fitting and the wedding date and information that flew over my head. Instead, I fiddled with my fingers, as he wrapped up talking to her. We got back into the limo and drove towards my apartment.

"Elena," he called out. I turned to look at him. "My father chose me to be best man." I scoffed.

"I didn't even know our type of weddings had best-men," I commented, moving my body to watch the window and not him. There were no bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girls. It was more of a ritual of two souls coming together, much different from a typical mundane wedding. The priest would make us say our vows as we repeated words from our Bibles, swearing our coming together as pure. I had used to think it was romantic until I had found out who my husband was to be.

"They don't. But he does want me to make a speech at the reception," Carsir replied. He waited for my response but I didn't say anything for a while and instead watched light rain drizzle down the window. "Say something, Elena."

"Okay."

"Okay? What does that even mean?" he snapped annoyed, his voice condescending. I rolled my eyes.

"Well what did you want me to say?" I demanded. "No, Carsir! You could never do something like that to me! I'm hurt!" I mocked, raising the pitch of my voice. I twisted my mouth with distaste, shaking my head at me. "I said nothing to you, and you just started snapping at me for no reason," I continued as the car stopped. I threw my door open, sliding my feet onto the ground. "Either lose the attitude or don't bother talking to me."