The reception was being held inside the Royal Court's Throne Room. Lissa had insisted that they use the throne room for the reception and Sonya and Mikhail had reluctantly accepted. Adrian and I walked in hand-in-hand. I stopped in the doorway, staring incredulously at the sight before me. The Throne Room looked more like a ballroom. It was massive. Adrian, confused, looked over at me, our hands still clasped together.
"What's wrong?" He asked. I shook my head and smiled at him.
"Nothing. I just wasn't expecting the room to be so big, that's all." Adrian swept me up into his arms and spun me into the room, I laughed and let go of his hand.
"Sydney!" Squealed Jill and she ran, sort of, to me and hugged me. "You look beautiful!" She gushed and I tsked her.
"No, Sonya looks beautiful." Behind me, hands planted on my waist, Adrian laughed.
"Sonya may be the beautiful, blushing bride. But you are the most beautiful woman in the room." He said resting his chin on my shoulder and turning his head in to kiss the underside of my jaw. I snorted.
"Adrian, your opinion is biased. I am only merely pretty in this dress." Adrian stood tall and sharply spun me around, his hands firmly holding my head.
"No, you are not merely pretty. You have never been merely pretty. My opinion is not biased, it is the truth. As I said on Halloween and then again when I expressed my feelings towards you; you are the most beautiful creature I have ever seen walking this earth. Here tonight, you outshine the bride." He leaned close to me then so he could whisper in my ear. "And when we marry, you will be the most beautiful bride I have ever seen." He kissed me then, pouring all his passion, love, longing, a hint of lust and the promise of a happy future into that kiss. My insides burned and melted, making me warm.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention." A loud voice boomed around the room. Adrian and I hastily pulled apart and looked around the room. I spotted him first; a Moroi man was standing in the doorway, an expectant smile gracing his ethereal features. The doors had been closed, cutting off the outside.
"I am pleased to introduce for the second time this evening; Mr and Mrs Mikhail and Sonya Tanner." Everyone applauded and the sound echoed off the walls making it sound like there were more people in the room. The doors opened and Sonya and Mikhail walked in arm-in-arm. Mikhail wore a proud smile on his face, while Sonya was looking at Mikhail in adoration. He looked down at her, smiled even more broadly, and kissed her passionately. There were loud cheers from some of the guests, while others, Adrian included, whooped and called out things like; "Get in there Mikhail!" or "You can do it...all night long!" This last one made everyone laugh, including Sonya and Mikhail.
Adrian took me by the arm and led me to one of the tables set up on the far side of the room. There were a lot of tables, for a lot of guests I was assuming. Even still, there was space on the floor large enough for dancing. We stopped at one of the tables and Adrian pulled my chair out for me, his hand extended for me to take. I took his hand and he helped me into my chair. As I sat, he pushed the chair in and took the seat next to mine. I reached for his hand and clasped our fingers together. After a bit of maneuvering, Adrian grabbed ahold of my chair with his other hand and pulled my chair closer to his, so we were sitting right next to each other. We smiled at each other and I reached a hand up and held it on the side of his face. He leant into my palm, eyes closed. He turned his head and kissed the palm of my hand.
"I love you." He murmured. I smiled and removing my hand from his face, leaned in and rested my head on his shoulder.
"I love you too Adrian Ivashkov." He looked at me and I looked back. "What is it?"
"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to you saying you love me." He said softly, his green eyes sparkling.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I still can't believe your mine." He said and I tipped my head back and pressed a kiss to the underside of his jaw. It was a bit prickly. He hadn't shaved.
"You haven't shaved." I said.
"I'm sorry. I should have." He said. I shook my head from where it lay on his shoulder.
"As long as you don't grow a beard its okay," I laughed, Adrian joined in. "I like it when it's like this." And as if to prove my point, I ran my free hand along his jaw revelling in the roughness.
At that moment, someone appeared over my shoulder and placed a plate down in front of me. Someone else, or maybe the same person, did the same to Adrian. I pushed myself off of Adrian's shoulder and looked down at the plate in front of me; prawns covered in a delicious Thousand Island dressing. Picking up one delicate prawn, I popped into my mouth and was instantly bombarded with flavour. A moan escaped from my mouth and I stopped chewing and stared around the table, my eyes resting on Adrian. He was the only one looking at me. And he was smiling.
"Don't smile at me like that." I said. Adrian shook his head still smiling and leaned in and kissed me. I could taste the prawns and the dressing, mixed with the usual Adrian taste; alcohol-how he managed to get that when he was beside me the whole time I'll never know- and just Adrian's natural scent. I noticed he didn't smell or taste like smoke. This made me smile as we kissed. Someone coughed and it sounded uncomfortable. Adrian and I pulled apart, smiling, and went back to eating the prawns, all the while sneaking glances at each other. Once everyone had finished, Mikhail pulled Sonya out onto the dance floor. Always by Bon Jovi began playing over the speakers and Mikhail spun Sonya around. The moved as one around the dance floor, before stopping in the middle of the floor and just swaying to and fro in each other's arms. Other couples moved out onto the floor, joining the newlyweds. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Adrian standing, his hand out and a smile on his face.
"Dance with me?" He asked. Nodding my head, I took Adrian's hand and got out of my seat. Adrian led me out onto the floor and pulled me close. He put one hand around my waist, the other trapping one of my hands in his and holding them to his chest. My free hand curling itself around his middle. I rested my head on his chest next to our clasped hands, his head resting on top of mine. he moved his head from its position on top of mine and rested his head on my shoulder, face turned into my neck. He was saying something so I listened closely. He wasn't talking; he was singing. Adrian Ivashkov was singing along to Bon Jovi. And what's more, he was whispering the words in my ear. He was singing it to me. I smiled. He had a good voice, not super amazing like characters in a book, but he had a good voice and I listened to him singing. When the song ended I kissed him. The next song was faster and I tried to pull away from Adrian, not really liking dancing to a faster song, but Adrian kept hold of me and moved us across the floor. I found myself laughing and eventually dancing.
All of a sudden, he let go of me and moved through the floor and interrupted Mikhail and Sonya. He said something to Mikhail and Mikhail smiled, nodding his head. Mikhail kissed Sonya's hand and pulled away from her. I pushed my way through the throng of dancers to Sonya.
"What were they talking about?" I asked her. Sonya shook her head.
"I have no idea. But whatever it was, it's left me with a funny feeling in my stomach." She said. Rose, Lissa, Jill and Angeline pushed their way through to us.
"Hey. Why did Adrian and Mikhail pull Dimitri, Christian and Eddie away?" Rose asked.
"We don't know." Sonya and I said at the same time. The lights switched off, leaving the room in complete darkness, except for a couple of spotlights. Some of the guests complained while Guardians searched for the emergency lighting. The beginning of 'I Was Made For Lovin' You' by KISS was playing over the speakers. At least they were still working. Someone had started singing and I vaguely recalled hearing that voice sing before. Realization hit me; Adrian. It was Adrian singing. I looked around for him, but couldn't see him. Soon enough, he was joined by more voices. Mikhail's, Eddie's, Christian's and Dimitri's. The lights blazed back on and I got a better view of what was going on. There was a small stage over by the door everyone had walked through. The five of them were all standing on it singing. And somehow, they'd changed out of their formal wear and into their regular clothes. I pushed my way through to the front, the others following. We all stopped at the front of the small stage and looked up. Adrian winked at me and went back to singing. It was unbelievable! I felt a nudge and looked to see Rose looking at me, her body moving to the music. She stopped for a second and leaned in,
"They're singing it to us!" She shouted. Oh. So basically, we were being serenaded by our boyfriends, or in Sonya's case; husband. I let out a little giggle and danced, singing along. At the end of the song, they all jumped off the stage. Adrian jumped down in front of me and looked at me from his height. He was so tall. And he was mine. That little thought made me smile, until Rose grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Adrian and up onto the stage. We were handed microphones and Lady Marmalade from Moulin Rouge started playing. We moved about, singing, our bodies swaying to the rhythm. Our men stood in the front just as we did and stared at us. Their mouths opened in shock, eyes glazed over with lust. We grouped together, hands on each other's shoulders as the song melted into another song from Moulin Rouge; Sparkling Diamonds. Sonya and I had to hitch our dresses up to just above the knee so we could move about more freely as we were the only two on stage with floor length gowns. I kicked off my shoes, making it even easier for me to move about. Again we grouped together, our hands on each other's shoulders, kicking our legs up high. We ended the song with our arms around each other, laughing our heads off and out of breath. I carefully stepped off the stage and unhitched my dress, letting the soft material pool around my feet once more. Adrian had my shoes in his hands and held them up for me. Grateful, I slid them back on my feet, Adrian holding onto me so I didn't fall.
"You were amazing up there." He said as we made our way back to our table for the main meal. I slumped in my chair and leaned into Adrian. He wrapped his arms around me and held me close.
"And you, Adrian Ivashkov, were sexy up there. Who knew you could sing or move like that?" I said running my fingers lightly over his arms. I felt him move as he laughed. Another waiter placed another plate in front of me. This one had roast chicken and roast vegetables. It looked mouth watering and I couldn't wait to eat it. Adrian unwrapped his arms from around me and I sat up. He got out of his chair, kissing me lightly on the forehead.
"Just going to get some blood," I pulled a face and he laughed. "I'll be back very soon." I nodded as he walked off to find a feeder. Rose dropped into Adrian's seat, moving Adrian's plate out the way and putting hers in its place. I reached for the glass of wine and took a sip.
"Enjoying yourself?" She asked as I put the wine glass down.
"I am actually." I said honestly. I meant it; I was having fun.
"Glad to hear that." Rose said as she took a bite of a roast potato. I picked up my fork and stabbed at a piece of roast carrot and stuck it into my mouth. "Oh hey. I heard screaming coming from your room this morning and Adrian yelling at you to wake up and then you screaming at him to stay away. What was going on?" I sighed and set my fork down.
"I'd had a nightmare and I think Adrian was trying to wake me up. I'd dreamt he was Strigoi and wanted to turn me, but I didn't want to be turned. When I woke up, he tried to hold me but I freaked and ran, thinking I was still dreaming. It took a bit of coaxing from Adrian for me to calm down."
"You know he would never do any of that right? He would never turn Strigoi and if he did, he would never force you to turn. Maybe it was your subconscious freaking out after what happened yesterday between that Moroi woman and Adrian?" I looked sharply at Rose. How did she know about that? Seeing the look on my face Rose smiled guiltily.
"Sorry. Dimitri told me. I had to coax it out of him. He was so worried about you; he thought you'd had a nervous breakdown or something. But then when you asked him to get you away from Adrian he knew something was wrong. As he stood watching the two of you, he'd figured out what had happened. When he came back to the apartment just as you guys were leaving, he'd watched the two of you leave. I pulled him into another room and coaxed it out of him. It took a while because he kept telling me he didn't want to tell anyone." Rose stopped and took a deep breath. "Look, Adrian loves you. Everyone can see that. He would everything he can to protect you from harm." Rose looked around the room and leaning in closer, lowering her voice,
"If you died, he'd use all the Spirit he could to bring you back. When Adrian falls in love, he falls hard."
"Rose." Guilt flashed across Rose's face and I looked up into the beautiful emerald green eyes of Adrian. He rested a hand on the back of my chair and looked at Rose. "You're in my seat. And stop trying to scare Sydney. She's been scared enough lately." I stood and pushed Adrian into my chair.
"Rose wasn't trying to scare me," I scolded. "She was just talking to me that's all. She was letting me know some things and telling me that she'd be there for me if anything went wrong between you and me." Adrian reached out and grabbed me, pulling me onto his lap, his arms snaking their way around my middle. I leaned back and he rested his head on my shoulder.
"Nothing will go wrong for us," He whispered. "I promise."
A little while later, Adrian pulled me back out onto the dance floor. Pulling me into his arms, we just stand there, not moving, not even attempting to dance. Just holding onto each other.
"Why do you think something would go wrong between us?" He asked.
"I don't. It was just an option Adrian. Most relationships go wrong somewhere."
"Not ours," He insisted. "Whatever we fight about, we'll always forgive and come back to each other." His hand moved from around my waist and up to rest gently on the side of my neck.
"Damn it!" Adrian said and grabbed my hand pulling me along behind him. There was a large balcony on the other side of a set of huge doors. They were open and Adrian just walked right through. I had to lift up one side of my dress to keep myself from tripping over it.
"Adrian. What are you doing?" I asked him, slightly out of breath. Adrian didn't stop until he reached a quiet section of the balcony. Adrian spun around and pulled me to him, lips crashing into mine. My body felt like it was on fire as I melt whole-heartedly into the kiss. Adrian pulled back, but only an inch or two. He looked uncertain and scared.
"Marry me?" He whispered. "Sydney, will you marry me?"