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Cal's POV
It's weird. The fact that Mare and I work so well, yet we don't really know each other at all. Years ago we were totally different people. I didn't have many real friends, and I was still following orders blindly. I was still blind to the pain of red blooded people, my people. My brother still came to me to train, and we still watched Evangeline and her brother in the training room, googling at her. I still had my father to bend me back into a perfect princely mold. I still had a whole life of perfecting my stance in front of a congregation of people. I don't think I realized just how painful it was. How damaging it was to do the same things everyday, to follow orders everyday. It took a certain brown haired girl to show me who I could be.
Kiliorn watches me from behind the mirror. I fix my medallions hanging on my suit. He rolls his eyes.
"You going to keep messing with those dumb trophies? Because I know for a fact, Mare really won't care." He said, chuckling. I sighed.
"I know she won't, but sadly the whole group of people are going to be watching this, and I have to look a certain way to be considered official, or something like that." I muttered the last part, trying to stop my hand from fidgeting. Kiliorn smiled at this, and messed with his own collar. I had to stop from being too nervous, trying to keep the flames under control.
Mare's POV
I wonder if he's as nervous as I am. My sister pulls my gown out, puffing it up slightly. She moves silently, and my mother has her hands on my shoulders.
"You're nervous, don't be sweetheart." She says reassuringly. I give her a light smile. I've been trying to work on my kindness, after the war there is no reason I should be so bitter. At least that's what Gisa says. I hear the trumpet from outside of my room and in the banquet hall. I take a deep breath, counting to ten like Julian told me. Gisa plucks the crown from the box in my room, and places it on my head. I feel the veil come down. She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek and a good luck before heading out, my mother behind her. I look at myself. How did a girl from the SIlts, a red, get this lucky? In Norta tradition, the woman walks alone of this special day, different than red tradition. But I gave into this one, knowing my father would have a hard time doing so. I heard a different noise, the sound of a song. Picking up the rose flowers, I walked to the hall.
I knew this tune must have been requested straight from Cal. The song we danced too at a ball years ago.
"Oh I don't love you, but I always will,
I don't have a choice, but I still choose you…"
Cal's POV
We danced to this song years ago. I see her walk down, her white dress flouncing on the floor. I knew years ago that she was mine, when I met her in that bar. In another life, my brother could feel what I feel. The welling of tears, the pain of pure love. In another lifetime, he would be the one waiting for her at the end of the isle. I would watch him, and I would hope it was me. And now it is.
She meets me, and I reach for her hands. Their soft, warm, and shaking slightly. I know if it had been up to her, it would have been a private ceremony. The officiant reads off a list, and I answer with I do. She does the same, and her eyes start to tear up. One falls, and I wipe it away. She leans towards my touch and I smile. She says I do.
"And with this power, I now unite both Red Blood and Silver Blood into a strong bond. With this ring, and these vows, Mare Molly Barrow becomes Mare Molly Barrow Calore. She becomes married soul and blood to Tiberias Calore, and they are now inducted as your King and Queen." the officiant says, and Mare starts to weep. I hear more cries and look out to see her mother sobbing, and Gisa trying to keep the tears in as she smiles at us. I look to Julian and Sara, and see them beaming. As I turn I catch a flash of a woman in gold, her auburn hair shining like the sun. She smiles at me, and clutches the hand of a younger man. I know this is my mother, and father. They both are gone soon enough, and and know this is it. I lean and kiss Mare with intensity. She laughs in the kiss, and the whole crowd goes wild with laughter.
I think to myself as we both leave, her hand intertwined with mine, what would happen if I had not given her money at the bar all those years ago, and if I hadn't even gone that day. I quickly forget about it, and lean down to kiss my wife, the queen.
"I love you Cal." She says, and I had never heard her say it out loud. Just at night when she thought I was asleep and would play with my hair. The images of war too graphic for my now wife to sleep. I want to kiss her so hard that she'll never be able to let go. I want to show her how much I love her. "Run away with me?" I ask and she nods, and we run away from the crowd and towards our now shared bedroom. Before I close the door, not caring about the people outside, I look into her eyes. "I love you Mare."