Chapter 9: The Dreaded Wedding

I stared into the looking glass in my bedchambers on the day of my wedding, and my vacant expression seemed acceptable, unless someone peered into my viridescent eyes; I felt as if I were on the way to my funeral.

My wedding dress is gorgeous, made of the finest silk from China. It is fitted to me, with a laced up bodice in the back and a ball gown style that I dislike, but my mother prefers. The neck is wide, showing off my collar bones and a bit of décolletage. Lace decorates the skirt tiers of the gown and sleeves with elaborate gold trim running down the dress like a waterfall. My hair is done up in it usual chignon, with my veil tucked into the elaborate hairdo. The veil is a gossamer white, with spanish lace trimmed at the sides. I am wearing my mother's tiara from her own wedding, and my white boots are brand new from Asia. All in all, I look like an elaborate white pastry from the market, but I do feel very pretty; if only I was not dreading the events of they day, I might have enjoyed being able to wear such a frock. Alas, it is not to be.

"The carriage has just arrived" my mother informed me, whilst fixing my hair once more. This is the last time she will ever have to bother. How fortunate for her and me.

She turned me round to look at me once more, in order to ensure every pin and ribbon was in place, before stopping me and nodding once in approval, "you look beautiful, Adeline. Remember what I said, not one word" she reminded me tritely, and then she was gone and I was left to stare out the window to where my love was waiting.

I only hope our plan works. Quasimodo will come down during the ceremony, and immediately after the rites are read, he will object to the proceedings and we will escape out the side from Notre Dame and take a carriage to Spain. I had taken money from my dowry to pay for the trip and Quasimodo had packed our bags. Once there, I will attempt to find a job as a ladies-maid, since I speak Spanish, while Quasimodo finds an abandoned estate or flat for us to live in since many of the homes have been abandoned since the war. I nodded resolutely at Notre Dame, before turning from the window to gaze at my childhood room. I will never return here, and I felt somewhat melancholy for the many treasures I had accumulated from my adventures and travels that I will leave behind. But I will not need material items where I am going, all I need is Quasi.

I lifted my numerous skirts and petticoats to walk downstairs, ignoring the jeers from my brothers and the jealous comments from my sister as we walked to the carriages. I had already given a cryptic goodbye to Pierre, much to his bemusement, and I felt no need to address anyone else from the Lapierre family. I rode adjacent to my irate father in the carriage, and tried to ignore the many cheers and calls of congratulations as we rode over the Seine and into Paris. Most of the parisians had lined up to see the daughter of Lord Lapierre read her marriage vows to the Captain of the King's men. I cringed from the attention, but nodded cordially to the peasants and townsfolk as the horse-drawn carriage stopped before the intimidating structure of Notre Dame. I felt, once again, they eyes of the stone saints judging my actions on this day, and I ignored their heavy stares as I was ushered quickly into the Cathedral to avoid the parisians who were shouting my name.

Soon, they will no longer hold me in their esteem. I will become gossip, and in a few months time, a forgotten noble. The poor daughter of Lord Lapierre that lost her sense on the day of her wedding and was carried away by the deformed Hunchback. And our story will be passed down as a fairytale, teaching children the importance of listening to one's parents and looking and acting normal.

As I entered the house of God, I felt a coldness rush over my body. Before I could ponder my sudden reaction, the organ began to play a song that sounded distinctly like a dirge as my father marched me down the aisle. I avoided the gaze of the Parisians and nobles staring at me, judging me, trying to understand my secrets and evaluating how well I fit into their ideals of a "lady." I lifted my eyes to the end of the aisle, to the Captain, and he stared at me in the same way as the other onlookers. I cringed back from all of the judging eyes, but my father kept rushing us forward until I was standing at the altar. My father placed my hand in Phoebes' hands- encased in cold, smooth gloves, and I scowled darkly at the gesture. Ownership, passed from a father to a husband. I am no more than a crop, and animal, a piece of land to them. Only worth what my plentiful dowry can give. I glared into the Captain's fine army jacket, refusing to meet his eyes, as we waited in tense silence for the wedding to start. I distantly heard the Bishop commence the ceremony, and I felt my heart seize in my chest.

"We are gathered her today, in the house of God, to celebrate the union-" I discerned vaguely through the fog of my mind. We turned stiffly to sink to our knees, facing the Altar; our left hands still clasped together, binding our fate. I glanced upwards towards the crucifix, praying for Jesus to have mercy on me. My dress felt too leaden, my hair too tightly woven, and the Cathedral too balmy. I felt I was in a furnace, although the Cathedral is normally drafty, and I willed for my bell-ringer to come save me from this nightmare.

My heart's wishes were thwarted when I heard Phoebus give his traditional vows tonelessly, his deep voice echoing around the room of his indifferent sentiment towards me: "I take you to be my wife and I espouse you; and I commit to you the fidelity and loyalty of my body and my possessions; and I will keep you in health and sickness and in any condition it pleases our Lord that you should have, nor for worse or for better will I change towards you until the end. I receive you as mine, so that you become my wife and I your husband."

My heart began to pound against my breast, and I felt on the brink of hyperventilation. The despondence I felt grew as each second passed, further proving that I have been forsaken by the man I so love!

I was able to choke out my vows, repeating all the same except with the added: "I give my body to you, in loyal Matrimony." I almost wretched at the words as Phoebus replied he would "receive it." I am an it! Oh, Quasi come quickly, or it will be too late!

The doors of Notre Dame were flung open with a crash. "Stop this travesty at once! I have reason to suspect that woman is a wanted criminal!"A voice thundered, and I turned around to see a boney finger pointing at me and black eyes dancing with mirth and lust in unison as he stormed down the aisle.

Claude Frollo.

"Where were you on the day of the festival?" He asked above the murmurs from the startled crowd, but I held his gaze and answered in a voice only slightly shaking from nerves.

"I attended with my family before leaving to pray and confess at Notre Dame, leaving the next morning" I finished, widening my eyes to appear innocent and hoping beyond hopes that he does not recognize my face. He did, however, for despite everything he is, he is not a fool, and I could see the calculating gleam in his eyes they roamed down my body.

I will never let him touch me! Je vais d'abord mourir!

The bishop interrupted then, "but, M'Lady, there was no confessional offered on the day of the festival! All the clergymen were in attendance" he finished, looking at me with a disappointed gaze for lying, and I gaped at him and the leering Frollo.

Merde! Shall I never have respite from God!

"Yes, I thought so" Frollo sneered at me as my face drained of all color, "we had a helpful informant who gave us all the information" he said lightly, and pointed towards the tower stairs in a nonchalant manner and I gasped. No! It cannot be true, Quasimodo would never give Frollo information about me!

"Oh, yes. He told me that you dressed as a gypsy, freed him whilst knowingly disobeying my orders, and then lied about the fiasco to the Captain the next day in order to gain your freedom" Claude Frollo addressed me and the crowd as one, and I heard shouts of outrage and betrayal from the citizens and nobles alike as they had been searching tirelessly for Esmerelda. My eyes began to swim with wretched tears. How could Quasimodo betray me? Perhaps... perhaps Frollo threatened him?

I looked around the massive Cathedral, and my eyes landed upon the rose window gleaming in the sunlight and allowing beautiful colors to stream all around the stone wall with the virgin Mary holding her infant in her arms at the center. I then glanced to the members in attendance for my wedding; so many faces, and yet not one I care for or who cares for me. Well, they came to see the spectacle of a lady being wed, and now they will have a spectacle of same that lady being arrested. I glared at Frollo in disgust and took a deep breathe, knowing I was about to admit my crime but needing one final justification.

"Justice!" I yelled to the crowd, turning my head to glare at them all, the guilty, "Quasimodo did not deserve what you did to him. The Lord says we must protect the weakest around us, but you all allowed your judgements of his deformity to cloud your souls. You are no better than the men and women who contemned Jesus to die upon a cross. Do you not feel guilt when you look upon your savior's face, know you treated a man just as cruelly, even now? If I had not saved Quasimodo, he would have died from blood loss. But perhaps he deserved it, after all he is different," I screamed loudly, pointing to the crucifix whilst denouncing the men and women around me who had stood and jeered a week ago. Nervous murmurs began to spread through the crowd as people contemplated my words and I nodded in satisfaction. I had spoken my piece, I can only hope the people will heed my sacrifice.

"We have seen and heard enough blasphemy; Captain, please take this woman to jail for her crimes against the country of France and myself" the Archdeacon said coldly, and without further argument, Phoebus grabbed my arm and dragged me back down the aisle of Notre Dame, avoiding my gaze and silent pleads for mercy.

"What were you thinking Adeline!?" Phoebus yelled at me as he threw me roughly in the carriage and told the driver to head for jail. I glanced at Phoebus, his furious expression caused me to flinch and I whimpered softly as I stared straight ahead, disbelieving the events of the past hour had actually occurred.

Somehow riding to your inevitable death in a wedding dress seems horribly ironic.

Phoebus refuses to see sense! I glared at him as we jerked about from the hasty carriage ride, "it was wrong what the people, Frollo, and you did! In the book of Pslams, it says to 'rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked'" I exclaimed, outraged, my voice shaking from nerves and fear of what was to come.

"It matters little your reasons, or your word games, for you disobeyed the law!" Phoebus yelled in rebuttal as he bound my hands tightly, and when he noticed the fear in my eyes he soften his movements slightly, "do you realize what Claude Frollo will do to you? You almost killed him!" He whispered brokenly, and I nodded with a nervous swallow. Yes, I know my demise was approaching.

"It was wrong what those people were doing to Quasimodo! Please, Phoebus, I never meant for anyone to get hurt!" I pleaded for him to understand, but he shook his head with a pained sigh and turned away. Everyone has always turned away from me... except Quasimodo. And now even he has succumb. God, I wish I could have told him of my love! Now...now he will never know.

The rest of the carriage ride was endured in tense silence, and I could not refrain from shedding one tear in the midst of my fate as I stared out to the desolate streets of my home. As I looked out now, however, I felt a stranger.

I was abruptly hauled from the carriage by Phoebus to the awaiting jail, La Tournelle, where I was flung in the nearest holding cell. I examined the squalor of the cell, and I cringed from disgust and fear. Rats were devouring one another and the cot on the floor seemed to be dancing from lice. When Phoebus spoke to me next, it was a cold offering. He had gone from my fiancé to my jailor within the past hour. He held no pity for me in his eyes when I turned to face him, and only a diluted sense of respect for him kept me from screaming at his abrupt change in attitude. My beauty is not enough for him now, I suppose. I am so easy to cast away, now that I am tainted.

As he peered at me through the iron bars that I clutched with cold fingers, I felt his authoritative voice washing over me, binding me like the rope he had twisted around my hands to restrain me: "you know the law. You have committed a felony against the Archdeacon Claude Frollo. You knowingly caused a public disturbance, and resisted arrest by lying and disguising your identity. You threw a knife at Claude Frollo, intending to kill. You are found guilty of all of these treasonous crimes against the country of France, and you will burn in the square as an example of what happens to those who flought the law" his voice broke slightly on the last word, and I found myself gazing at him with equal parts sympathy and foreboding. Phoebus cleared his throat and averted his eyes, and I suppose it is easier to sentence a human to death if you refuse to acknowledge their humanity.

"May God have mercy on your soul" he prophesied solemnly, and nodded to me once before walking back down the hallway we had miserably ventured down moments before.

And I did not call to him, and he did not pause.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunchback or Notre Dame